Big News

So as you all know, we are pregnant with Twins. My brother in-law is an ultrasound technician, so for Paul's Christmas present, I had Norm (by bro in-law) give me an ultrasound today so we could find out the gender of our babies. And I am excited to announce (I would have been excited no matter what we were having) that we are having TWIN GIRLS!

My little Reader

Paul and I have made a concerted effort to keep James interested in books since he was really little because we want him to not just be a couch potato, but to really love learning and discovering new things. I've wondered at times if he just endures our reading times, but on Sunday I was getting ready for Church and walked into my closet to find this.


Needless to say, I was pretty excited that he would sit and read a book by himself (even if it was just a book that was mainly just stickers).

What is there to do in Utah?

James and I have had fun over the last few days discovering (and rediscovering for me) Utah. While we haven't gone skiing or even gone up Provo Canyon, it's been fun to get settled and remember how life was when Paul and I lived here. Though James doesn't appreciate it, we drove by our old apartment and past some of the things Paul and I did when we dated. It was fun for me.

On the other hand, James has found lots to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mavis (my mother in-law) has some of the neatest things in her house and James has discovered that this is his favorite decoration. It is as soft and fluffy as it looks. James loves to just lay down when I'm changing him from pj's to clothes and clothes to pj's (cause he's mostly naked) and wiggle back and forth to feel how soft it is.

Another fun spot in Grandma's house is the truck that James can ride. He hasn't quite got the hang of moving himself around, so he moves really slow, but he loves that it's a truck and that it's his.

Grandma took James to the train at the mall today and let him ride. You should have seen his face when he saw it! I have never seen him looked that excited and he was literally dancing as he waited his turn to get on.

Update

Yikes! So it has been way to long since I posted anything on this blog, but I do want you all to know that it is for very good reasons...

First, James and I had the wonderful opportunity to go visit Paul for three weeks in Virginia and I had no internet access there. But it was so great to be able to see Paul again! I did have to live in a hotel for three weeks which isn't the most fun thing in the world (just in case you were wondering) and weeknights Paul couldn't sleep with us--we could just see him for an hour or so on those nights--but weekends and Thanksgiving were awesome! Each weekend, we got him all to ourselves from about 6pm Friday to 9pm Sunday. It may not sound like much, but after 7 weeks apart, it was wonderful. We were able to drive into Washington D.C. several times to see different sites and go to the Smithsonian Museums. Well, we didn't make it to all of them, just four and we had to really keep a good pace through them to keep James happy. Why don't little kids like staring at old artifacts and reading the little placard next to it that describes what it is? Geesh, kids! Just joking, really he did quite well for how crazy busy the museums were and how small some of the things we looked at were. We visited the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Memorial, saw the White House, the Capitol Building and the Pentagon, but unfortunately I can't post any of the pictures of it because I don't currently have the USB for my camera.

Anyhow, the second reason for the delay is that I am pregnant...with twins! That's right, I went in for my first appointment and they (luckily) did an ultrasound and the technician said, "Okay, there's the baby...and there's another baby" and had I not been able to see it clearly myself, I wouldn't have believed her. So needless to say, I am extra tired all the time and just trying to keep up with James has been quite the experience. I go in for my next appointment on Thursday, so hopefully I'll have more fun news then.

The third reason I haven't posted in a long time is that I have been traveling alot since coming back from Washington. As of yesterday, I'm finally settled at my in-laws house for the next little while in Provo. So hopefully I'll be able to post more often and get my hands on a camera so that I can post pictures of what we're doing.

Sorry this has been so much to read, but I guess since I haven't written in a while, this is pretty concise...

Long Time

I feel bad that it has been so long since I have posted anything on this blog. Unfortunately, this one is not being updated much right now because I have created a blog for just Paul so that he can see all the little things that James is doing everyday and I don't want to overload this one with things that will only be interesting to Paul and me. But in an effort to let everyone know what is going on in my life, I will try to post something at least once a week.

James and I are currently living at my parents' house in Rexburg, ID. While it is substantially colder than we are used to, James has taken to it like fish to water and loves going outside as much as possible, especially if Grandpa is using his backhoe. James' absolutely favorite thing to do, though, is to wait with the kids at the bus stop in the morning. Seriously the first words out of his mouth each morning are Savanah (my little sister) and bus because he loves to wait with her at her bus stop.

James likes to go for walks because the blocks around here are huge and we can go on a 4-mile walk around just one block. Plus we see horses, roosters, cows and dogs.

So in a short little blip, that's what we have been up to.

Randomness

I don't know how these two things could possibly fit together, but they happened one right after the other, so I thought it fitting that they should go in the same blog together. I know I'm biased because he's my son, but isn't it so cute?







My sister is doing the face-painting booth for her son's school, so we were her guinea pigs today. This first picture is of a witch's hat, a wand and some magic.



This is a ghost.



This is a bat.

Snowflake

Many of you may think that I have died, or maybe just fallen off the side of the earth (or taken by aliens) but I've really just been pretty busy here in Snowflake. I know that may sound like a contradiction, but you'd be surprised at the many goings-on of a small town. To make a small list, I've been to a "Read under the Stars "(it is exactly what it sounds like), a soccer practice for Maeser, a soccer game for Maeser (can I just say how funny it is to watch little kids play sports), I've been to Show Low once (that's where the nearest WalMart is and I just couldn't bring myself to pay the exorbitant prices for diapers here in Snowflake), James has been sick three days this week with a fever and the only thing he wanted to do was hang out on my lap all day, my sister and I go walking for 3.5 miles everyday, I have run 3 times and I've been to the temple. Okay, I'm going to stop the list now because it's boring me to write it. But James and I have been having fun here. James is making huge strides in his ability to talk. Most of the time I still haven't the foggiest idea what he's saying, but every once in a while, he uses a new word and I know what he's talking about. Here are pictures of things James has done to keep himself busy. Enjoy!

Packing, Policeman and Primary Songs

As you all know, Paul was accepted into the DEA Academy and left on Friday. His first few hours in D.C. were a little frustrating as he attempted to get to the hotel he was staying at that night. With my map reading skills and Paul's ability to follow my directions, we spanned the several thousand mile gap between us and got him to his hotel. Saturday, he checked into the Academy and this strange new experience really began. But back in Tucson, it was a little stressful on my own end as I packed the rest of our things and moved out of our apartment. Luckily I had some ward members and some very special friends, Troy and Eevi--and theirbaby, Saku--who saved me and truly were angels as they moved my stuff, helped me clean and enabled me to keep my sanity as I tried to make the move without Paul. I got on the road at about 4:00pm to go to my sister's in Snowflake.

On the way, I experienced something I've only experienced once before: I was pulled over by a policeman. Unfortunately for me, I was speeding 20 over in a work zone. But lest you think I am a terrible driver, here are the facts and you can judge for yourself whether a simple warning was justified, or whether I deserved a ticket. First of all, I thought the speed limit was 10 higher than it actually was (it was 30 and I thought it was 40). Second, I had just started down a steep hill, and so I was picking up the initial speed that you get right as you begin to put on the brakes. Third, James had just woken up and was throwing a royal fit (which, lucky for me, the policeman witnessed first-hand). And finally, I didn't try to make any excuses or beg him not to give me a ticket. I knew that I was in the wrong--sort of--and that it was what it was. Fortunately, the policeman had compassion on a stressed mother (he even noted that it looked as if we were moving and must have known the stress I was dealing with that alone) and let me off with just a warning. Luckily, nothing else happened and I made it to Snowflake with no further incident. And now I've enjoyed several relatively stress-free days in a row, thanks to my sister, Jeanette, her husband, Rhett, and her boys, Kade and Maeser.

As a side note, Paul and I have been singing to James a lot (well, I guess it's just me now) and this video is of James helping to sing his favorite Primary song: I am a child of God. We're still working on the rest of the song, but I'm happy that he is at least recognizing songs enough to know some words.

A New Job

I am excited to let you all know that Paul just got offered the job with the DEA that we have been working towards for over a year now. He will begin the Academy on September 19 and will be there until February 6, 2010. Although this is going to be a long and arduous journey for our family, I believe we are doing the best thing ultimately for our family and that we will come out the better for it. I'm still not sure what I will be doing during these months. For the first month, Paul will not be able to leave the Marine Base where his training will take place. And then after that, he will only be able to leave on the weekends. This poses a dilemma for which we don't quite have an answer yet. Do I move back to D.C. and hope that we will be able to see him most weekends? Do I fly out several times during his stay there instead? How is James going to deal with all this change? These are questions that keep circling around and around in my head...I'm sure the answers will come to me. But I'm grateful for the peace that I feel because of the faith I have in a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who are always watching out for me and my family.

Building Blocks

One of James' new favorite things is building with his blocks. I think the highest tower he's made is about 5 blocks, but he's getting better at placing the blocks so that they don't fall over. Here is one of his attempts. Is it obvious by his own clapping that we are quick to praise his every move? :)

Have you seen my keys?

James has a new key fettish. Each morning, he looks for my purse and steals my keys so that he can go around the apartment and unlock all the cupboards and doors. Anything that looks like a keyhole, he is sure to put the key into. Luckily he's only tried to put the key into a socket once and we caught him before he could actually succeed. I think we scared him so much that he doesn't even want to try it again. I think the funniest place he's tried to "unlock" is his bellybutton.

Our California Adventures: Days 5 and 6

Our Saturday was spent lounging around for most of the day and recovering from all the excitement and fun from the last four days. James went over and hung out with Aunt Jill and her kids while Mavis and I went to the Saturday Night session of Stake Conference. I was a little worried because he's never done very well with a baby sitter, but he loved being with his cousins so much that he didn't cry at all while I was gone. Sunday was a disaster at Stake Conference because James kept walking away or screaming at the top of his lungs or both. But we made it through and maybe he tired himself out screaming so much in Church that it enabled him to be good on both legs of our trip home on the plane. He was thrilled to see Paul again and he didn't want me to hold him for the rest of the night after we got home. Hurray for being home again! But thank you, Mavis, for giving us such a great trip out to California. It was so good to see you and hang out!

Our California Adventures: Day 4

Another amazing day was planned for us in California. This time, we drove about 45 minutes north of Monterey to the city of Gilroy where we enjoyed an amusement park called Gilroy Gardens. It's set agains some beautiful hills and is full of all sorts of trees and flowers (hence the garden part of the name). Most of the rides are geared toward younger children and I wasn't sure how James was going to react to them because it was his first time on a ride by himself. This picture opitomizes how he felt about the first ride. I'll admit, it was a little fast and up-and-down to be his first ride. I guess I'll live and learn. Everyone who was waiting for their children had to laugh every time James came around because he was the only one not thoroughly enjoying himself/herself.


I decided to try one more ride and thank goodness our next attempt at an amusement park ride went much better. He has really fallen in love with fire trucks, so he enjoyed just going around and around in his own little fire truck. And I was grateful that the whole day wasn't filled with me trying to entertain James while my nieces and nephews went on the rides.


This was James' favorite ride by himself. It was pretty much the same as the fire truck ride except that you could turn the steering wheel and you would move closer to the middle and then further away.



James and I enjoyed riding the ferris wheel 3 times with my niece, Lily. She had fun going up and down and seeing the world from the top. It really was a beautiful view.




They had the biggest set of jungle gym equipment I've seen in a long time and James loved going up and down the stairs and across the bridge that moves and turning the x's and o's. Oh and did I mention that he loves to go down the slide and then climb back up it and then slide down. I tried my darndest to get him to go up the stairs and not the slide, but eventually I got tired of having to take him off of it. Lucky for me he really enjoyed a twin slide so if a child wanted to go down, there was always the one next to James that they could use. :)

I don't have a picture of it, but my sister in-law, Jill, and I went on the roller coaster 3 times. (We probably would have gone more, but they closed all the rides down for the day after our third time). It wasn't the most thrilling one I've ever been on (because it was geared for younger kids like 10-12 year olds) but it served its purpose of giving Jill and me a break from watching our kids for a few minutes. My mother in-law and Kaia were sweet enough to watch them while we let the kids in us out and whooped and hollered with our hands up in the air. :)

Our California Adventures: Day 3

Grandma was pretty tired after two full days of fun and adventure, so we went to My Museum (a children's museum in Monterey) to give Grandma a bit of a break. James had oodles of fun running around the whole museum checking out all there was to see. He and his cousin Henry (as seen in the picture below) had fun doing this slide in the baby area.


There was an entire area devoted to produce where there was a "garden" with wood vegetables stuck in Styrofoam so that they could "pick" fruit and vegetables. James loved pulling up the carrots. :)

James and Henry loved playing in the grapes casket together where you can "stomp" grapes to make wine. They loved seeing how many pounds of grapes they had stomped.


During this trip, James has had the opportunity to learn how to go down slides better. I laughed so hard while I was taking this video of him.



Since he began to walk, James has loved going up and down stairs. I'm not sure what it is that he loves about it, but he could do it for hours. This was a great staircase for him to learn on because the banisters were perfectly spaced and just short enough for him to use.

Our California Adventures: Day 2

Grandma had another awesome day planned for us at the Monterey County Fair. I was really excited that James was old enough to do the Pony Ride this year. Because we go and visit the horses here in Tucson, he was really excited when he saw them and he loved the whole ride. (Although he was distracted for a few moments by some balloons that were by the ride).


There was a kiddie spot where they had some fun things to build with and James loved to carry them around. (For those of you who remember Tinker Toys, they were exactly like that except bigger.)


The fair itself was pretty big and they had lots of big kid rides and little kids rides. The train ride was James' favorite!


My niece, Kaia, was there as well and she wanted to go on some of the big kid rides, but was a little afraid to go herself, so I rode some of those rides with her. It's been a long time since I have been on any carnival rides, so it was lots of fun for me too.

Our California Adventures: Day 1

Last Sunday, my mother in-law called me and said, "I found a ticket for a great price from Tucson to San Jose tomorrow. How would you like to come and visit?" I said yes (of course) and James and I flew out Monday to California. We didn't get to Grandma's house until late in the evening, so we pretty much just rested an hour and then went to bed. Grandma had a wonderful day at the aquarium planned for Tuesday. I was a little worried about how James would like the aquarium, but he loved all the little kids areas they have there.

The otter exhibit was fun, but there were too many people there for James to see the actual otters, but he loved this kids' exhibit where you push the button and the otter goes around and around. He pushed it for seriously five minutes.


James was enthralled by the the little shrimp. I think his favorite exhibit was the sardines. The exhibit is up above your head in a dome and they just swim around and around. He LOVED them!
My personal favorite exhibit were these little...umm...actually I'm not sure what they are, but aren't they neat? They're like a mix between worms and eels.


We spent about 2-2 1/2 hours at the aquarium and as evidenced by the following picture, James was ready to go by the end. It was past his nap time and it was lunch time, so the fit was pretty understandable.

First Haircut

James has always been a little challenged when it came to growing hair. He was born with a pretty good amount, but it soon fell out and it's taken until now for it to be long enough to cut. I didn't do an extensive haircut, but it was starting to look like a mullet in back, so I just trimmed it a little to help it have a more boy look.

Animal Sounds

While waiting for Paul to come out of work one day, I was trying to get James to do all the animal sounds he knows. I didn't quite get them all because he was distracted by the people who were getting into their car in front of us, but here are a few of them. My personal favorite is the cat.

I'm on the Phone

Being such a talker, I find that I'm on the phone with people several times a week having long conversations. James has really learned to loathe the phone because he knows that he doesn't get my full attention, even though I can still build with the blocks, look through books, help him stack the rings and all sorts of other things while still chatting away. The other day, I realized how much I really must be on the phone when I found James playing with my phone like this.


I guess it was inevitable that he would learn to use a cell phone at such a young age.

Picking up Sewing

For Mother's Day, Paul got me a sewing machine which I've wanted for a long time. I haven't had as much time to play with at as I would like, but I have begun a few projects and I was even able to finish this latest one. I don't know about everyone else, but I haven't been able to find an affordable diaper bag that has as many pockets as I would like, is the size I would like and has the right design. So my friend Eevi turned me on to this wonderful book of baby crafts from the library and I knew I had to make my dream diaper bag.


Don't you love the big flowers? And there are pockets on both ends on the outside as well that are perfect for a bottle or a sippy cup or a water bottle. The only thing that I wanted that it doesn't have is a snap to keep it a little bit more shut, but I'm really happy overall with how it turned out.