Boys Sleeping

Everyone,

I thought I would comment right now on the fact that I put both boys to bed awake tonight and there was no crying. There was some talking to each other, but there was no huge screams. Ahh...I love it when it goes like this. Since I blogged about it, the rest of my week will be awful but I wanted to record this so all week long I can remind myself that it did go well. Once.

They are both sleeping in the same crib right now in their own room. I tried to put them back into their bassinets 2 days ago for something and they are just huge in them! Half a crib seems to be the right size right now. Juice and I are arguing over what we are going to do with the rest of the room when the other crib is needed. Do we take down the computer desk and store it in the attic for awhile? Do we leave it up? Do we move it downstairs and move the computer desk downstairs to the attic? Do we move it into our dining room and move the time out chair another place? (probably the attic). I think either way, something has got to go into the attic. My vote is to leave the desk in there and pray we won't be in this house when they start crawling out of their cribs. Juice wants to move the rocking chair that we currently have in Butterfly's room into their room and there is no room for 2 cribs, computer desk and rocking chair. I'm all about leaving the chair in Butterfly's room but it would be nice to be in their room just for a place to sit down. I wouldn't mind taking down the desk and putting it in the attic but then what do we do with the computer that's there? And the printer? It won't fit downstairs. Something to think about.

Oh, I was talking about sleep. Let's lay out their schedule, shall we?

7:30-8am: Up for day, dressed, changed and downstairs for play
8am-9:30 or 10am: Play time with Butterfly (mostly rolling on the floor right now, some peekaboo, some patty cake)
10am: Feeding and down for nap no matter what. (Professor is pushing this earlier lately...9:30)
10-12: Nap time. Most of it's nap, some of it's nursing, some is both.
12-2: play time or errands for Mommy
2-4 or 5pm: Nap #2. Again, some nursing in the middle. Butterfly "quiet time" of either playing in her room or sleeping
4-5:30pm: Play time with Butterfly and Daddy! Yay Daddy!
5:30-6:30pm: scream through dinner making bolting food a habit for the adults in this house, be bounced at the table, given toys, little sips of water and still scream/rub eyes/look at parents like we must be crazy to keep them awake this long!
6:30pm: Get ready for bed. Pjs, new diapers, bounce on the bed a little (yay Daddy!), nurse and hold hands with Brother
7pm: Down for bed no matter what. Talk, roll, scream, cry, growl, whine, suck thumbs and binkies, etc.
7:15pm: All should be quiet on the front, Butterfly bedtime
10:30-11pm: Professor wakes up for a snack
2am: Professor wakes up for a snack and sometimes I feed Pirate too because I am uncomfortable
5am: Professor wakes up for a snack (do you see a theme?), and Pirate gets one too
7am: More eating and sleeping in bed with Mommy. Daddy gone to work, Butterfly up and dressing herself to play downstairs
7:30-8am: Morning Happy!

It's not unreasonable. I get things done while they are playing or I can push nap times around if we are going out. I do make sure that they are sleeping in their own beds for that afternoon nap. Mostly because I've gotten it to be a habit for Butterfly and she needs it. Or more importantly, I need nap time to have my one break from kids during the day. It keeps me sane.

Of course I have hiccoughs. Of course I don't always do this schedule. But it's the one I try to go by in my head.

Safire

Spoils of War

Everyone,

Back from the huge consignment sale. I got some super deals. All of this stuff only cost me 100 dollars! 2 heavy duty coats for the boys, one brown, one blue. 9 pairs of pants (oops, I meant to get 10...), 12 long sleeved long pant jumper outfits. Some with feet. 3 actual outfits. 3 long sleeved onsie shirts. 3 pairs of mittens (oops, I meant to put a pair back and never did). 3 winter hats (what is with me and odd number of things?!) but these winter hats are for next year. 2 of these hats have mittens that match them. 2 pairs of 6-9 month old soft shoes (score!!).

For Butterfly I got some nice things too although I didn't think I would. Happy accident. 2 pairs of pants. 2 shirts and a pair of holiday red polar bear pjs. These pants and shirts are for the resource center where we paint and do crafty things. This way, I won't care if they get stained. (Looking closer at the shirt, one already has paint on it. Perfect for what I need. And it was only a dollar!)

I went a little crazy in the toy section this time. Normally I don't. But I went there first because there was not a huge crush of people and got some cool things. A book for Butterfly's church bag. (My little pony look and find.) A birthday present for Butterfly's BFF Vinny. (Leap pad book thing. He's turning 5 and this will help him get into reading. It was a steal at 4 dollars!) Christmas presents include a play kitchen for Butterfly (I wasn't going to do it but it was 3 dollars and it's small and we should have some room in her room for it. Hopefully!), play food and dishes for the kitchen (2 dollars). See and stack blocks for the boys (2 dollars). And a Care Bear movie for Butterfly's stocking (4 dollars).

I got almost everything on my list. I didn't get any costumes (they were eh and people were swarming them so I didn't get a great look). I didn't get a new high chair which I may regret. (There was one that matched our old one for 40 dollars with all the toys and stuff. Kicking myself about that one a little!)

At the sale, the girl racks were all nicely spaced out. And the boy racks were so jammed together I had to lean into the clothes with my butt hanging out in the main isle to get to them. I'm sure there were some great deals that I missed in the back. I think they may need to move to a bigger venue next year because this one was to the gills JAMMED with baby stuff. I love going to this sale though because I get all of their clothes for a really good price. I can then afford to buy other things a little nicer. Like shoes and Sunday clothes and more toys for Christmas. I will probably volunteer at the next sale and sell some of the infant clothes that they boys never wore or only wore once. And a few odds and ends, a few toys and the like.

Now with these buys, all the clothes our friends have given us and the clothes I've bought Butterfly on sale, I think we are set for winter. Well, except shoes for Butterfly (ordered today), tights, socks for the boys, and a few other odds and ends. We are set for fall! So bring on the cold weather!

Oh, before I forget. There were 2 of these huge sales today. One by my moms of multiples group, and one by just moms in the area. I went to both back to back and let me tell you, the multiples one is MUCH nicer. Small space aside. The clothes are in better shape, they offer more, and it's cheaper than the other one. So all you local gals, gear up for the end of March when they have it again. You better believe I will be there.

Safire

PS- Edited to add...here's a look at the sale the night before. Tons of stuff!

I'm So Totally There

Everyone,

It's that time of year again. The time where I wonder if Butterfly's shorts can get any shorter. And I realize that all she has that fits her are sandals and it's cold today! And do we have a jacket for her? Where? Does it still fit? This year I've added new thoughts to my clothes list. Mainly, all I have for these boys are summer clothes! I have no winter clothes! I have no socks that fit them! Arg!

Then I am saved. Saved because tomorrow is my moms of multiples mom's group semi annual consignment sale. (Say that 5 times fast.) I am stoked because last sale I was still pregnant and was able to buy a bunch of big stuff for the boys for about 80 dollars. That I apparently didn't blog about like I thought I did. But I did just go back and read all about the boys pregnancy. I talked about it a lot, huh?

Anyway, tomorrow morning bright and early I will be at the sale, enjoying the spoils of other people's twins. Now, if only I could find some kind of pirate thing for BOTH boys there...

Safire

So this is what life with twins and no help is like.

Everyone,

Lately I feel like I have been drowning a little. Okay, a lot. I move from project to project to kid to kid to kid to dog to project. Nothing seems to be getting done. Or I feel like I'm actually making headway to be interrupted by screaming babies (Professor you loud baby you!) or whining (both Pirate and Butterfly are excellent at this) or some sort of catastrophe. Like yesterday. Butterfly came upstairs where I was nursing babies and sheepishly told me she drew on the couch. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time but when I saw the damage, I was livid. It's about 20 long blue streaks down one of the arm rests. I thought maybe she saw she drew on the couch and stopped and came and told me. Or maybe she drew on the covers we have on the cushions and that would be no big deal because we can wash those. This, I have no idea where to even begin getting out. And every time I look at it I'm angry so it has to come out. Any ideas?

I have started to let the boys cry themselves to sleep for naps and sometimes for bed and it makes my heart sad to do this. Yes I know they will be fine. Yes I know that it will probably be better for them in the long run. But my babies! Are crying! Need to go help! I also fear that this will somehow emotionally scar them.

One thing that has been going well is Christmas shopping. Yes, people, I always start this early. And while I do find it a little sad not to shop during the holiday season and enjoy the mall, etc at Christmas time, I get things done early and can enjoy a slower paced season. (Plus my parents are coming to visit in 2 weeks (from today!) and I want to send Utah's Christmas home with them.) I am great at shopping and even better at it when I can do it from the couch and not drag my 3 year old and twins to the store. Love that.

One thing that has NOT been going well is Halloween stuff. Butterfly wants to be a white princess this year. I want to buy her something like THIS and she wants something like THIS which I refuse to buy her. I am not making her a bride this early! As for the boys, I totally want to do something pirate themed or matchy and I can't decide on it at all. I'd like to get them something pirate for the renn faire we're going to in two weeks but I can't find anything less than 20 dollars for a onesie with a pirate thing on it. I could make something, but there is just no time. Then there is the thoughts of making all three of them match. Like Little Bow Peep and 2 sheep. Or the cat and the hat and thing one and thing two. Totally thinking too much into this and I should just dress the boys in black and orange and let Butterfly be a bride. At least I got their trick or treat bags ordered...looks just like Butterfly's but with their names on the back so we have no fighting over which one belongs to which kid.

I am also trying to take one area of the house once a week and give it a deep cleaning. This week is the washer and dryer area and the microwave area. I moved everything around, and that's all that's been done. Oh, I think I threw out about 5 fabric softener balls because I hadn't used them in over 2 years. But yeah, nothing like a kitchen that is a total wreck to wreck all of your cooking plans. We've had pancakes every day this week. Yum.

In any case, I have been trying to get out. Or perhaps I've been avoiding my many projects. (Like unpacking...)We went to the park and the resource center this week so I think I have been trying. Maybe I'm trying too much? Who knows.

Safire

PS- Pirate and Professor are now sleeping in their own room for naps! And hopefully, this week I will move Pirate in there full time for sleeping. I can't wait to have my room back to myself.

5 Months Old

Everyone,

The boys turned 5 months old on Thursday. I can't believe they are getting to be so big! The pregnancy and the worry and the boredom has all pretty much faded away. The boys and Butterfly fill my life up so completely there's not much room for anything else. Juice was asking me what I wanted for my birthday the other day and I couldn't think of anything that wasn't kid related. He apparently thought of something else and it should arrive in 5-10 business days. I'll let you know when it does.

Back to the boys. Remember the cute pictures I got when they were 4 months old? No? Probably because I didn't post them until a few days ago. (Distracted Mommy, what can I say.) The link is here. And I'll pause to let you go read that. I'll go feed Pirate and we'll meet back here in say, 15. Okay? Good.

Well, it is more than 2 hours later. Thank you for waiting while I had a nap too. :) Let's get on with it, shall we?

Pirate has discovered toys! He get bored easily and cries if he's left alone. He is working on mastering the grab and pull to mouth thing that all babies do. He gets it about 80% of the time. I also see the beginnings of a pincher grasp starting up. When he rolls on his belly, he is no longer content to just look around. He is pushing himself up with straight arms or scooting himself up onto his knees (no arms involved). I get the feeling it won't be long until he's mobile! He is easy to smile, and even easier to make laugh. He holds his mouth wide open and his whole face lights up when he sees me. It's so cute. He is looking more and more like Butterfly these days. I noticed just today that his eyelashes seem to have darkened and thickened so he may have gotten Jeff's super awesome lashes. He's sorry but I'm not. I love them. :) He weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz and is 25 and a half inches long by my calculations. He is still in 3-6 month old clothes but I put a long sleeve/long pant outfit on him today that was 6-9 months and it fits perfectly. He sleeps through the night (typically from about 7:30-6am) but getting him to go to sleep is a chore. I get him all settled, all asleep in his bassinet (yes, still sleeping in my room) and about 10 minutes later, he wakes up inconsolable. Juice has been in there patting and rocking back to sleep for 30 minutes or more because I won't nurse him back down. But once he's down after he cries, he's down for good.

Professor is so easy going these days. We've been calling him the velociraptor lately because he has this cry and growl together that sounds like a very angry animal. Mostly it's when he has lost his pacifier. Every time he is on the floor he flips himself on to his belly and stays there most of the time. He can roll from his back to his front and front to back any time he wants but he's been on his belly by choice. Last night I even caught him sleeping on his belly with his bottom in the air. So cute! He can get himself up on his knees very easily. He's interested in toys but they are quickly discarded for his binkie. He loves to 'talk' and babbles to whatever he's looking at if he's in a good mood. He has the sweetest smile with a distinguished dimple and a deep slow chuckle. He's hard to get to laugh but it's very cute when it happens. He is eating a little more regularly now that we are home and I think he is gaining a few ounces. He weighs 14 lbs, 7 oz on my scale and is 26 inches long. I put him in a little footed outfit today and his feet barely fit in them. He looks a little lost in the 6-9 month old clothes unless they are long. The 3-6 month old long outfits are starting to look short. He is up at least 3 times in the night to eat. He is sleeping on his belly full time and seems to be helping some. He is easy to get to sleep but still seems to need those nightly feedings. And since he is small, I let him eat.

As twins they are starting to interact with each other. They love to lay next to each other and will hold hands or try to eat each other's hands. They discovered each other's feet before their own. (Meaning they will stare or try and grab feet when they are close but are just now starting to hold their own feet.) They do smile at each other sometimes. They sleep through each other screaming. They even sleep through Butterfly screaming so I have no idea why they wake up when I say something in a whisper in the room. I am going to move them into their own room as soon as I get all of their bedding washed. Well, Pirate anyway. I think I may keep Professor with me for awhile until he stops waking up so much at night. I am excited to move some furniture around and get every situated in their own rooms.

Safire

Utah Days NO MORE

Everyone,

We are home. And I am beat. Here is a list of the flight details in bullet form.

• 3 checked bags, each weighing 49 lbs
  
• 3 carry on bags
• 2 carry on babies
• 1 cranky/sick preschooler (yes, she threw up again before we left!)
• 1 hungry and tired mommy (my breakfast time was spent cleaning up Butterfly)
• 1 very tired daddy (we love rock band!)
• 5.5 hours on the plane
• 4 naps taken
• 1 drink spilled (by mommy)
• 16 crackers with peanut butter eaten
• 4 cookies eaten
• 1.5 movies watched
• 10 pages of my book read
• 5 people questioned the twin status
• 3 people randomly started conversations because of the boys
• 1 screaming toddler (not mine)
• 2 adults, 2 infants, one preschooler and 6 bags to get to the car
• 1 beautiful looking van
• several dollars to spring said van
• 250 lbs of stuff to get to said van from baggage claim by ourselves
• 30 miles of driving
• 1 stuffy house
• 1 table full of mail
• 1 excited puppy
• 2 tired adults
• 3 awake children

We miss our family already.

Safire

Utah Day 28- Happy Birthday Me!

Everyone,

It was so much fun to have my birthday with my family this year! It seems a little small when people just call (I do love the calls in Maryland...it just seems to be missing something) and this year I had a blast! We had everyone over for cake and ice cream. That was fun. Butterfly helped me pick out the cake and we had way too much ice cream. But it looked so good at the store! I only had a tiny helping of it all because I was still feeling a little ill. Butterfly ate the frosting off of her piece and then ran around playing with Bee and Brother Bee and other cousins who came.

My family left around 4:30-5pm or so and we had a few friends stay longer. We were trying to play rock band on my dad's big theater downstairs but the sync was off so we could never do it. Once all the family left and my dad fiddled with it more, we had a blast! Juice's two best friends came and they stayed till almost midnight playing the game. My BFF Mink came but had to go because of a prior commitment. I am going to miss her!

After I got my fill of rock band, I went upstairs to take care of babies and to hang out on the computer with my mom looking at pictures. I am late for bed so this will be kind of short. We leave early early tomorrow morning. I think I am going to miss being here.

Presents included: a new card game (thanks Aunt Bee!), some money (thanks Nana and Grandpa Great and Grandma and Grandpa!), a new dress (thanks Mom! I can't wait to use it.) and new clothes for my kids (thanks again Nana and Grandpa Great!). A good day.

Safire

Utah Day 27- No More Fruit Punch For You

Everyone,

Around 4am this morning, I woke up a little freaked out because neither boy had woken me up.  Wow.  I made sure they were both still living, and tried to get back to sleep.  Once I was right on the cusp of sleep, Butterfly woke up screaming.  She had a bad dream that Grandpa was going to eat all of her/my strawberry shortcake dolls.  Great.  (Like a good sick person I made Juice go see what was wrong.  Or maybe like a good lazy person.  Who knows.)

About 10 minutes later I hear her coughing and then she started screaming for Juice.  He lept up again (he is such a good daddy) and I hear him say, "Oh Baby Girl!"  Uh oh.  I knew instantly what had happened.  She caught my sickness.  And there was puke everywhere.  The sad thing was that she had had fruit punch for dinner and so this puke was red.  All over herself, her bed sheets, and the carpet.  Eww...

I sat with her by the toliet as she continued to empty her stomach and Juice gathered up all the sheets and got out the spot cleaner for the carpet.  By this time the boys are up and screaming.  I quickly put them in the same bassinet (hello play time) and cleaned Butterfly off.  Juice is still messing with the carpet.  Nothing is happening.  Hmm...  I suggest we pull out the carpet cleaner my parents have.  So we find it and can't figure out how to get it going.  Or where the soap is.  By this time Butterfly is jumping up and down on her bed absolutly loving having both of us paying attention to just her.

By now, the carpet cleaner is in pieces and Juice sends me in to wake up my dad to figure the stupid thing out.  He wakes up, helps us out, and we get the red out with some up and out and a bunch of passes with the carpet cleaner.  At least it came out!  I take Butterfly downstairs for some ginger ale and she throws up several more times into a bowl.  Ugh...I hate to throw up.  But she says it's like coughing.  "Only your tummy comes up instead of your lung!"  Funny girl.

By now the boys had had enough and so I had to go feed them back to sleep.  Butterfly finishes her drink and Juice puts her back to bed.  He climbs into bed and is out instantly.  I am up with the boys for another half hour or so getting them into bed and feeling totally ill myself.  6:30am rolls around and I finally fall back asleep.

She woke up at around 9 pretty happy.  I slept another half hour or so with Professor and then decided I needed to get up.  My mom had taken the day off of work to spend some time with just me.  So we went clothes shopping.  I was feeling better.  Not so woosy and crampy.  Mink and Spider joined us because this is one of the few days I have left here.  I left Butterfly at home watching movies (I think she watched 3 and a half today) and the boys came with me.  I got a great new dress and some Christmas orniments for the kids.  We were home an hour later than we expected, but we had a really nice time.

After feeding both of the boys (who were hungry hungry and cross today...I don't think days of being ill and not keeping anything down helped my milk supply), Mink and I were able to go have a girly lunch at our favorite little resturant.  I had half a veggie sandwich and some french onion soup.  I don't normally eat soup but it was very soothing on my stomach.  Mink and I talked up a storm and just enjoyed being together.  I am sad to leave her.

I came home ready for a nap and the boys were very tired.  But both wanted to be held/nursed and I just couldn't do it.  Pirate kept making faces every time he was jostled and unlatched and Professor screamed and wiggled and kicked and made a ruckuus.  I gave up and brought them down to grandparents who were happy to hold them.

Butterfly took a very long nap and woke up moments before I was going to get her up to go out for my birthday dinner with my family.  That's right, my birthday is tomorrow.  I'll be 28.  So tonight we went to a Thai resturant and really enjoyed ourselves.  But by the end the boys were done and screamed all the way home.  I was able to get them both nursing with about 10 pillows and Juice's help.

We started packing after they were done but I got hungry (yay a good sign!) and went down for food.  I then got sucked into a movie with my mom, and now it's very late.  I hope I can sleep a little better tonight.

Tomorrow is our last day here!

Safire

Utah Day 26- Still Sick

Everyone,

Today I woke up feeling a little bit better. And instead of canceling on my grandparents, went ahead and went to their house for the morning/lunch time. I think it's important for Butterfly to know who her great grandparents are because I think they are wonderful people. They have done so much in their lives. My grandpa is 80 and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean by boat twice and the Pacific Ocean by boat twice. He walked across the Golden Gate Bridge on the day it was opened. He has been to over 25 countries and 47 states. My Nana lived in England during WWII and survived her house being bombed and her school as well. She was willing to leave her home country of England and be married to my grandpa (whom she met while he was on his mission there). She was telling me she had several marriage proposals at the time but liked Grandpa the best. A good reason to pick him! And I'm glad she did. :)

In any case, not being near them is one of the reasons I'm sad about not living in Utah. It was nice to visit today and have some actual time at their house, not just an in out and on our way type of visit. We had an awesome lunch of egg and potato omelet and bread pudding which was awesome!

The only down side to today's visit is the fact that I still don't feel all that great. I seem to do okay if I don't eat anything. Because then there is nothing to upset my stomach. But when I eat, I feel awful. Still, my Nana's bread pudding was worth feeling ill. Yum yum!

I also went to a park and met a friend who used to live in Maryland and moved here just a few days before we came here. It was fun to see her and her 2 boys but I'm sad that when I go home she won't be there! We've made it a point to keep in touch and we'll probably get together when I come back into town.

Going to bed now. (Still no progress on my book club book...sigh...)

Safire

Utah Day 25- Sick!

Everyone,

Ugh, hate being sick. And being sick to my stomach is the worst kind of sick for me. I did not sleep hardly at all last night because my tummy was rolling and Professor was needy. I couldn't stand up without feeling woosy so Juice did most of the getting and soothing babies for me. He is beat this morning and wonders where I get all my energy. Me too sometimes.

Sadly, I had to cancel my girly lunch with Mink because I just don't think I can eat anything stronger than toast. I'm spending the day in bed with hopes that I will be able to go visit my grandparents tomorrow. And hopefully have that lunch on Friday.

We leave on Sunday. I can't believe how fast this trip has gone. I am looking forward to being home with my own house and my own things and my puppy. Soot has been staying at a friend's house (an earning opportunity for their 12 year old son...cheaper dog care for us) and we miss her a lot. I also miss my own car and my stroller. And my friends, my ward, my book club gals, my mom's group gals, my bed, everything.

I am not looking forward to being without help during the day. Oh I'll keep myself busy with other people and hopefully they can help out some. But I'm going to miss my mom and Juice being around so much. Or Flower being there. Or Bee. Anyone want to come and stay with me for a bit?

Well, since I'm stuck in bed I might be able to read some of my book club book. Hey, I might actually finish this one. It will be the first one I finished since the boys were born. Here's to hoping.

Safire

Day 24- Date Night

Everyone,

Today Juice and I ran all over the valley looking for this open beta of the game he played at his sister's house on Sunday. We finally found it, along with all of our dinner stuff for the night. We were able to leave all the kids with my mom on one run and had a nice little store date. Not going to have ANY of those when we get back to Maryland.

And my mom had Cappy at the time and told me that triplets would be challenging. No joke!

Anyway, after a nice dinner with my mom (Dad is out of town), we were able to put the kids to bed early and attempt at another date in my dad's theater room. Well, there was lots of crying from the boys, burnt popcorn from me, and a really sad movie that we had never seen before (Bridge to Terabitha). I had read the book so I knew what was coming but my goodness...the sadness! Professor ended up joining us for the last 45 minutes or so. What a snuggler this baby is.

I'm not feeling great so this is a short post.

Safire

Utah Day 23- Mink's House

Everyone,

After a very long Sunday and a pretty late night, Juice let me sleep in. Of course, he didn't know that I had plans! Of course I have plans! So I got off to a very late start. I was over an hour late to BFF Mink's house. I didn't even pull the kids out of the car before we ran off to my 1st year at Ricks roommate's house. She and I and Mink were inseparable our last year of high school. We decided it would be fun to be tourists in a place we'd lived forever and saw a lot of the really neat stuff that Utah has to offer that year. One memorable trip was to the silver mine in Park City. I don't think it's open anymore but I have some great pictures from it and a memory of driving through Parley's Canyon in a spring snow storm. Scary!

Anyway, T and I went off to Ricks together, and Mink stayed behind in Utah. She did come up and see us a few times, though. T and I had so much fun together at Ricks. I loved having her be my best friend and my roommate. She was entertaining, even in her sleep. She talked. A lot. The most memorable being about a boy she was dating at the time...hehe...that was so funny!

She met her now husband our second semester there at the beginning of the semester dance. (Ricks was big into dances...they had a lot.) He came to eat lunch with her one day, and by the next week they were engaged. Gotta love those super fast engagements! I was a bride's maid at her wedding, and we kind of kept in touch. She came to my baby shower with Butterfly. They lived in PA for awhile in Hershey and we went to see them one evening.

I hadn't seen her in over 2 years so I figured now was the time to see her and meet her youngest boy. We didn't stay long (hungry kids) but we had a really nice visit. I was reminded why we were all good friends in high school and how much fun we had at college together. I wish we could have stayed longer or visited more, but I suppose that's a time for another visit.

After her house, I got a little lost getting back to Mink's house. But we had a nice visit there and I don't think I left until 4:30. Mink and I can talk! We had a great time and I've loved being with her pretty much every day this trip. If we lived in Utah, I'd make sure that I lived near her because we just get along. We understand and love each other and everyone needs someone like that. I would love our girls to be friends too.

Funny quotes from these girls:

Spider "Girl!" (What she called Butterfly the first day.)
Butterfly *big sigh* "I love Spider's house. It's so clean!"
Spider "I comin' Fly! I comin'!" (when pulling up to my parent's house)
Butterfly "Spider? Spider is coming? Yay Hoorray I love Spider when she coming!"

Safire

Utah Day 22- Oh What A Sunday

Everyone,

Wow it's been one busy Sunday. We got up early early (6am I started feeding babies!) and were able to make it on time to 9am church several miles away. My cousin was blessing his new baby boy and we were able to be there. My grandpa mentioned that we took up 4 big pews with our family alone. It's great! (I think me and my kids and my stuff took up about 3/4th of a pew ourselves. Who knew how much stuff twins generated!)

After, we were able to go to a brunch at my cousin's house. Butterfly had a great time running around with Bee and Brother Bee and I spent probably an hour locked in the back room nursing babies. I was a little sad I couldn't be out chatting with the rest of the family, but I was happy my cousin's wife had a really great book on her bedside table. Has anyone read Emma by Anita Stanfield? I'm interested in finishing it. It's also reinforced the fact that I really should just carry books around with me and read whenever I am nursing. That way I don't end up staring at the walls.

From my cousin's house, we drove over to my SIL's house and surprised them. (She forgot we were coming.) It was really cute because Butterfly knocked on their door and my bil opened it. She just walked in and he stood there a little stunned and said, "Okay." We then showed up at the door and he was all smiles and instantly knew who Butterfly was. I thought it was pretty funny that he just let her in.

We had a great time playing with cousins and more twins for the afternoon. Juice played a computer game the whole time (mostly) with Beautiful Rabbit who is 8, and Splats (my sil) and I wrangled the rest of the kids. Good times! We also went to the park and had about half an hour of play before we had to head on off to our next stop.

Yes, we had one more place to go. We went over to my brother's house for dinner. He had some yummy chicken and soup and asparagus for us. Tasty! We figured out a way to get Butterfly to eat asparagus (dip it in butter, her favorite thing right now) and our little boys played on the play mat. We then played a few songs on rock band (so funny to see my dad try and play the drums!) but we had to cut that short because someone coughButterflycough threw a major tantrum and ripped the drumsticks out of my hands. So then I got a little mad and told her we were leaving until she could say she was sorry. And then dragged her limp and sobbing little body down the stairs and out the door. As we were leaving, she started yelling she was sorry but sadly, the time had passed and we had to go. I really was looking forward to playing more rock band. Maybe another time.

A very busy but fun day. Our last Sunday here!

Safire

Utah Day 20- Sprinklers!

Everyone,

The first week we were here, friends came over and ran through the sprinklers with us. That was the first time Butterfly had run through them and she was thrilled with it. Everywhere we went she pointed out the sprinklers and wanted to go through them. (And I must admit, Utah has a lot of sprinklers. The only place I've ever seen them in Maryland has been the DC Temple.)

Today we were able to let her do that with the same friends she ran through them with in the first place. We went over to their house for dinner and had a great time! We talked, ate, the kids played, the babies were cute and a good time was had by all I think.

We were supposed to go to a wedding thing today too for Juice's cousin but that kind of fell through due to the fact that we didn't have information on where to go in time for us to actually get there with everyone on time. Oh well. I'm sure the bride didn't even notice we weren't there. Hope it was beautiful!

Safire

Utah Day 21- Fishing with Grandpa

Everyone,

This is probably the main event of our trip. Since last year, my dad and I have been planning this fishing trip to our regular lake in the Uinta Mountains. When I was in high school, we would go every year (or close to it) to Beth Lake. We fished some, hiked some, and mostly came back empty handed. I think I've only ever seen a fish caught from there 3 or 4 times. But we still go because we love the lake and love the tradition.

Last year we tried to go to Beth Lake with Butterfly and start going with her. But it was so early in the season that we got near it and couldn't drive the car any further without chains. The snow was very deep. And I bet the water was still frozen in some places. We settled for walking around Trial Lake that year. My dad sunk to his hips in snow that time and we figured we should probably go before we lost Butterfly in a snow drift. On the way down, we saw a sign for a little fish farm and thought it would be good to stop and let Butterfly actually catch a fish. We did. Butterfly talked about it for months after.

So this time we planned to go up to Beth Lake, fish for a bit, and then stop back down at the fish farm and catch a few more fish. Best friends Mink and Spider decided to come along. We got a late start. Okay, a really late start. I think we left over an hour after I had planned. By the time we got up to the Uintas, there was time enough for a short picnic at the lake instead of actual time spent at the lake.

And by the time we got to Trial Lake (about 20 minutes down from Beth Lake) we decided to just stop. So we had another visit to Trial Lake this year. Minus the 5 feet drifts! But it was just as cold, if not colder. Wow it was cold. We had planned on eating at the lake and ended up eating in the cars because we were so cold. My mom took the old sleeping bag that we had brought up to sit down on and wrapped it around herself to keep warm. This was the sleeping bag that had been sitting in my parents garage for ages. This was the same sleeping bag that my mom said it was a good thing none of us had to sleep in it and we were just using it for ground cover. She wrapped her self in the thing. It was that cold.

Dad and Butterfly did a few casts out into the lake, we froze and ate lunch in the car. We then proceeded to drive the wrong way home and realized that they have finally paved the road to Beth Lake and we probably could have made good time going up there. Oh well.

We stopped off at the fish farm and got all set up to fish. All it is is an old guy who lives there and has 2 ponds. One with big fish, and one with little fish. He and his wife were sitting on the porch in their rockers as we drove up. He smiled when he asked us if we wanted worms. He left us alone next to his ponds as we fished. He smiled when we cleaned the 2 fish we caught. He smiled when Juice caught a fish with his bare hands! He waved us on our way from his porch. I don't know why but I've been thinking about him and thinking he probably has a very good life.

The two fish we caught were big; a 14 inch and a 16 inch trout. It took us maybe 20 minutes to catch them. We gave them to my in laws who love fish. Juice wanted to know if the guy had actually cleaned them because they were still thrashing around as he gave them to his parents. That was over an hour since they had been caught. Let's all say it together: eww!!

After fishing, we cleaned up and went to a party at my Uncle's house. They have a new baby horse and I got to pet her and run my hands over her sweet baby horse spiky mane and pet the other horses. I miss being around them. (The horses and my family.)

We tried to take some family pictures but they didn't turn out all that great. Still, we tried. We also tried to get all of the great-grand kids together for a picture and that was funny. In every picture someone was blurry except for the two oldest kids who could actually hold still. It was still very difficult to do with 4 infants (all boys!), 3 pre-schoolers (2 boys and Butterfly), a toddler (girl), and 2 school aged kids (girl and boy). I think we got one okay one. We stayed longer than I wanted to but had a good time anyway. We stayed up way too late trying to get everyone to bed. (Which is why this is 3 days late. It also put me late for all the other posts and now I have to play catch up which I hate! This is why I'm kind of terrible at writing in my paper journal all the time. I hate missing days and then I feel bad I miss them and want to go back and write about them but I'm irritated that I feel like I have to do that so I just don't and then I never write.)

We had a great time fishing and a great party after!

Safire

Utah Day 19- Juice's Family

Everyone,

We got a late start this morning. I woke up 3 times with Professor last night (I think). Combine that with the hiking we did yesterday and I was beat. So Juice was sweet and let me sleep in. Well, everyone got up at 8 am and Juice took Butterfly and Professor downstairs with him. I fell asleep with Pirate and we both didn't get up until 11:30am. I only got up because Pirate was putting his hands all over my face. He lit up like a lighthouse when I opened my eyes. Man I love these kids!

We had a nice quiet morning, a nice quiet lunch and I wish I could say a nice quiet afternoon. We were able to go out to Juice's oldest brother's house today for dinner. (Remember Flower my niece helper? This is her dad.) Both boys were sleeping and Butterfly was in need of a nap herself. But we got everyone into the car (with all the kids screaming...that was fun) and headed out. Juice had gotten directions and we were on our way.

The reason why we got everyone into the car right at nap time was that we were hoping to miss the traffic and be there for the afternoon a little too. The drive there was a breeze. We drove right to it, as Juice's directions said we should. And then...Juice realized that he didn't have a house number. Wait, the directions are only half here. Yes, we are in a residential area and Oldest Brother's house should be here some where. We tried to call him. No luck. We tried to call Juice's parents. No luck. We ended up getting a hold of Juice's sister, Splats, and she gave us the address. (In the meantime, we drove up and down this street picking out houses that could be Oldest Brother's. The ones without trucks, with very little work for the lawn and without major frilly stuff. I think we had it narrowed down to 5 houses that we were going to knock on if no one got back to us.)

So yeah, that address Juice had? WAY OFF. As in at least 15 miles and half an hour of driving off. I called my mom and had her look up directions from where we were to Oldest Brother's house. We got there 30 minutes later.

As we pulled up, there was a strange car and a strange guy walking out the back door. Who was that? Oh, it was Next Brother and that was his car. We didn't know that he would be here. We thought it was just going to be Oldest Brother and maybe Juice's parents would be there. Turns out, everyone was there except for Splats and her family (picking up Seraph from the hospital, yay!) and Oldest Sister and her family who live in Idaho. So basically it was his brothers today.

Among the group was Flower. Oh how we miss and love Flower. I want her to come and live with me all the time. She can help me hold babies, be spit up on, play with Butterfly and talk books with me. It was great to have her and everyone there. We had a little bbq and Butterfly and her two young cousins (Flower's little brother and Next Brother's boy) played outside and on the tramp. I barely saw Butterfly all night she was entertaining her cousins so much.

Oh, I almost forgot. As we got to the house, Next Brother was on the tramp and Butterfly was introduced to him. She then took her turn introducing me and her brothers to him. "This is my mom. She's a little crazy." Um, what?! Where did she get that!? And she said it so seriously. It was funny but strange for her. Looks like I'm not the only crazy one in the family.

The boys were not happy all night long. I think they were tired. I did take them to the wilderness yesterday after all. There were lots of people, lots of noises and lots of unfamiliar faces. Pirate basically had a melt down and I had to hang out in their basement with all the lights off to get him to calm down and go to sleep. He didn't sleep long. Just long enough for me to get Professor to sleep with lots of bouncing on Flower's bed. And I tried and tried to get Pirate to go back to sleep but he would not let me put him down. Finally, I did to go tell Juice it was time to go.

We gathered up Butterfly from the trampoline and her cousins and got her in her pjs. She started to cry. They boys started to really cry because they were in their car seats and not sleeping. Everyone is trying to say good bye to everyone else. Oldest Brother said, "I don't think we've had this much noise in the house ever." Yeah, we were that loud.

But, we got on the road and the boys fell asleep about 10 minutes later and we sang to each temple we passed; Bountiful, Salt Lake, Jordan River and the new one in Draper. Once we were home, I had to spend another hour or so calming the boys down and putting them to bed because they were once again woken up. Poor kids. Hopefully they will sleep well tonight! I know I will!

Safire

PS- Again pictures in the camera downstairs. More later.

PPS- A tropical storm is headed for our house in Maryland. I suddenly want to be home!

Utah Day 18- Photowalk #2

Everyone,

Today Dad and I decided to take another photo walk. But this time we headed to the mountains. We were going to go to Golden Spike (where the east and the west railroad came together) but we got kind of a late start. The boys were cranky this morning, and I wanted to run back to the big taxidermy store and get pants I saw for 9 dollars. Seriously, a good deal since they were even more marked down at 7 dollars! Sweet!

Anyway, we decided to go to Mt. Timpanogos instead. But then the trail head to the cave was closed. We went anyway. I stopped off at the ranger station and got a list of trails in the area. We decided we'd like to see some water so off we went to a place called Crystal Lake. Now, I don't know if it's crystal clear because we never made it to the lake but we had a great time taking pictures.

We took the boys with us today and wore them on the hike. It wasn't too bad, although I was pretty tired by the end. I got some great pictures and my dad and I had a good long talk. The boys did marvelously, sleeping the whole way up and back down. The paper the rangers gave me said the trail was 2.5 miles long. I think we went all but that half mile. We were close, but it was getting more steep and rocky as we went and the sun had already passed the ridge. So it was getting dark. And the last think I want to do is hike downhill on a rocky path in the dark. So we went home.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures. Enjoy!

Safire

Utah Day 17- Roommates

Everyone,

This morning I was able to meet up with 2 of my roommates from college, Michelle and Julia and their kids. It was great to see Michelle especially because I don't think I've seen her since our year at Ricks ended.

I have vivid memories of that year. It was probably my most demanding year socially. We had a roommate that we did not get along with. (We being Julia and I.) It was the year I had my horse and I think fondly back on that often. I remember Michelle sitting on the counter to do her makeup. I remember when her and her husband started dating that year. I remember our food fight at the beginning of the year. I remember another roommate buying herself a fake diamond ring (don't remember the reasons) and having it get caught between a chair and the wall and having the stone crack. I remember walking to class with another roommate and hearing her magnetic atom kit rocking in her back pack.

I remember getting a lot of A's that year. I remember feeling like I had hit my stride with school and I felt like I was acing everything except French. (I did too.) I went to a lot of dances with Julia on Wednesdays. I didn't dance much beyond the line dances, but I felt it was important to go and have a good time. I met the girl who became my roommate at BYU the next year. I think I feel like I changed the most that year. I think about it often.

So it was great to see Michelle and Julia and see how much we have changed in 7 years! Michelle assures me she still sits on the counter to do her makeup. Julia still has a great laugh. It's amazing to see them being mothers. And good ones too! Sometimes I wish we could go back to that year and all it's crazy hard fun times. But I know that we wouldn't give up these kids now for anything.

Who knows, maybe we'll see our kids being roommates one day. That would be weird and cool at the same time!

Safire

Utah Day 16- Rain and Water

Everyone,

It was raining so hard this morning when we got up we decided to postpone fishing. Butterfly had woken up early and was excited to go so she was a little upset we weren't going. I think a movie and some play time with my strawberry shortcake house and dolls fixed that.

We decided to go for a photowalk /hike instead. A photowalk is where you take a walk with the intent on taking pictures. At first, it was just supposed to be me and my dad but then Juice thought it would be fun to go on a hike and Butterfly was raring to go out. We didn't want to leave my mom out so she had to come and the boys too. We all piled in our 2 cars, decided to go to Jordan River and left.

Okay, we left a lot later than I thought we would. The boys are just cluster feeding like mad and I think I nursed one after the other from 10 till noon today. They were still hungry when we left but the milk factory had to shut down in order to aid in production.

We got lunch before we left at the local burger place. Dad and I ordered mini-shakes and some burgers and we were horrified to see the mini-shake was several inches higher than a big 56 oz cup. Holy cow! It was good but filling and I think I only ate half of it.

We found the trail no sweat and unloaded everyone to go walking. I had forgotten just how cold a rainstorm would be this time of year in the mountains. I think we went about 10 steps down the trail and I asked my mom if she would take my boys home. It was freezing! They had no coats yet and even though I had wrapped them in blankets, they were visibly shivering. So back home with Nana and the rest of us stayed to walk.

Juice was not expecting this to be a photowalk and thought it was a hike so he was a little frustrated that we kept stopping at first. But then he realized what we were doing and helped wrangle Butterfly. We threw rocks in the river, caught grasshoppers, looked at horses, found a semi-feral cat, took about 100 pictures, and walked half a mile. I had a nice time.

We rushed home and I fed the boys. Juice took a nap and Butterfly ran and played. Still. Where does she get the energy?

My Nana had a get together for us tonight. We had pizza and various and assorted salads. I think Butterfly ate 3 pieces of bread and butter. It was fun to be with my extended family and relax. We sang Happy Birthday to my uncle. I miss being a part of every day life with them. I didn't take any pictures but I was able to eat dinner without holding a baby. This is probably my thing I'm going to miss the most. I know when we go home it will be down to me and Juice and we won't have all these extra hands. Sigh...

Anyway, we drove home slowly to admire the lights in the valley and the stars that look so bright here. Butterfly called them strange the first night, but now she really likes them. (Both the stars and the lights.)

Everyone is asleep and I should be too. More fun planed for tomorrow!

Safire

Utah Day 15- Music and the Spoken Word

Everyone,

I went to see my brother sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir this morning. Every Sunday they have their Music and the Spoken Word broadcast. I think today was #4158. Yes, they have been doing it every week for close to 80 years. It was really cool to see him sing and to see all of the production stuff that goes behind the scenes for their broadcast. I was going to type up a bunch of stuff on them today but I am exhausted and so you get links. To learn more, see here.

We were running very late so I forgot my camera. I was so sad! I wanted to get a picture of him, or at least a picture of the whole choir singing. Once upon a time I thought I posted a video of them singing but I can't find it so no links there. And then once I thought he had a picture of him singing in the choir on his blog but I can't find it there either. So no pictures at all. Go to the website above to see what it looks like.

I think I must really be tired.

We went to Juice's ward where he grew up and showed off the kids. Everyone loves the twins. It's so fun to have them. We love them too.

Both boys have been cluster feeding in the evening and I think they may be coming up on a growth spurt. It makes me hungry and tired. It's been raining all evening and we were planning on going fishing tomorrow but we may have to postpone that. I don't know if I'm ready to take everyone up to the mountains in the mud. We'll see.

Safire