Another Anniversary

Aren't we so young and thin? 7 Years ago we were. Yesterday Ryan and I passed a mile stone in our relationship. It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since we got married. Marrying Ryan was probably the best decision I have made. He is a wonderful, patient man and I am so lucky to have him as my husband.
The other night Ryan and I were reminiscing about our "dating" relationship. I say "dating" in quotations because we never really dated officially, we kind of just were friends and then one day decided to get married. In fact our families did not even know we were dating or in a serious relationship. Ryan and I knew each other for just over a year when we got married. We hung out with the same friends and did a lot of things together. I had a hard time deciding to actually date Ryan because he is only 1 inch taller than me (and I loved to wear high hills), but he eventually beat me down and I went out with him. He was the only guy that actively pursued me. I loved that about him, he was persistent.
I love you so much Ryan! I am so happy we are together. We have a great life together and I can't wait for more ups and downs throughout our life together. You are a wonderful man!

Potty Training

Can I just start by saying that I hate potty training? It is not my idea of a good time. Some people say it is so easy, but I personally think those people are liars or extremely lucky..... no offense is that's you reading this. When I potty trained Isabel she was one of those kids that just wanted to please me and did everything I asked her to do. She was fairly easy and I was lucky. Lucy has been a different story. She has gone potty a few times on the toilet, but I think it was luck more than skill. She is very funny though, she loves to sit on her little toilet. She also loves the ipod. So, she is only allowed to play the ipod while sitting on the toilet. She will sit there for half an hour sometimes (mostly because I forget that she is in there). I have decided that Lucy is potty training herself along with my ipod. I am not interested in fighting her or cleaning up potty messes at 7 months pregnant. So, we will see what happens. I really would love for her to be potty trained, but I am not going to force it any longer. She and the ipod can have a good time together.

Bring on the Wooden Legs!

So some of you know that with this pregnancy I have experienced horrible leg cramps. When I say leg cramps I don't mean "charlie horses" or cramping in my calves. I mean terrible, horrific, extremely painful cramps. Not only do my calves cramp, but the sides of my leg, all around my ankles, and up and down my shins. Did I mention it all happens at once too. Cramping everywhere all at once. Yeah, it's been pretty bad. I wake up in the night and pretty much start crying while Ryan tries to rub my legs.
So, after dealing with this for months off and on. I decided maybe my doctor might have some miracle answer. I have asked doctors in the past and they always say something dumb like "drink more water" or "eat more bananas". So I asked my doctor and here is what he suggested:
Wear compression socks
take a calcium supplement, a vitamin E supplement, a Magnesium supplement, a vitamin D supplement, and my prenatal vitamin daily
Deep calf massages in the evening
Stretching before bed
I was pretty skeptical of his advice, but I thought I would give it a shot. I am shocked and amazed, but since I started doing all this I haven't had a single leg cramp. It's been 3 weeks and I am cramp free. I am truly amazed that it worked. So, I wear these ugly socks everyday and I am feeling so good.

26 weeks

I am on the down-slope of my pregnancy and so happy about it. I am getting so big. This is the size I am at 8 months pregnant when I only have about 4 weeks left. Well, I have about 10-12 weeks left and a lot more growth to come. Everyone keeps saying that I don't look too huge, but boy am I feeling it. These babies are very active and kick me regularly all day long (which is fine with me because then I don't worry). I went in last week and they are measuring 1 lb. 11oz. and 1 lb. 9oz. The boy is slightly smaller than the girl as of now. Everything looks really good and I am so happy about it. Being pregnant is a stressful thing for me. I worry all the time that something will go wrong. It will be nice to be done with pregnancies after this one (most likely).

Goodbye Good Friend

So this week has been a little emotional around our house. Our dog Ollie is so cute and we love him. As I have posted in the past, Ollie is deaf and has been extremely hard to train. Well, since we have had him not only is he been hard to train and been rough around the kids, he has destroyed many things around the house. He has eaten one of the girls bikes (literally), my beautiful Indian doll from India, my porch swing cushion, many of the girls toys, the cord on our electric heater, and many more things. It has been a real frustration and Ryan and I were feeling like things would never change. This week Ryan decided to talk to the lady we bought him from and see if there were any options available. She was so nice about it and offered to take him back and give us a full refund. It was so generous of her. So, yesterday we took Ollie back to her. She has a sister with a deaf dog and has offered to take Ollie. I was really sad to see him go despite all the costs and damage he has caused us. Isabel cried when we had to say goodbye. We told her that maybe someday we can get another dog. I think it was the best decision for everyone, but I feel a little guilty. We loved Ollie, but he will be happier with another dog and an owner who knows how to train a deaf dog. What a bummer, right?

November

Today we were driving to my parents house when Isabel said, "I think I lost a tooth". I turned around and asked what she was talking about. She said, "there is a hole in my mouth, where did it go?" Evidently at some point her tooth fell out. She said she did not swallow it and can't find it anywhere, but it definitely came out. At first she was a little nervous about the "hole" in her mouth, but now she is pretty happy about this whole thing. I can't believe that she lost her first tooth already. It makes me feel like she is getting so big. She is no longer a baby or a toddler. She is my big kid.

On another note, I have decided to make most (like 90%) of our Christmas presents this year. It has been so much fun making little gifts for the girls and other people. My sister Emily's sister-in-law Callie made these dolls and I saw them on her blog so I decided to give them a try. I love them! I think they turned out so cute. Lucy and Isabel really want them, but I have told them they are for their cousins. I think they are going to love them. I am so thrilled that I decided to make gifts this year. It has already been the best Christmas ever.

Happy Halloween!

It was another fun Halloween! We all dressed up this year and it was fun to go out with the kids trick-or-treating. I was a Rice Cooker, Ryan was Mario, Isabel was a fairy, and Lucy was a love bug.
Lucy had such a good time trick-or-treating. It was so funny after every house she would say, "they gave me candy", like it was amazing it worked. She acted somewhat baffled that people were just handing over candy when she said trick-or-treat. It made us laugh and she was beyond excited. The girls got tons of candy, more than any other year. Over-all it was just a ton of fun.

p.s. thanks for voting on our poll. It looks like Isaac won for boys name and it was a close race between Alice and Amelia (I can't decide which I like better either).

What's in a Name?

Please vote on what you think? There is a poll to the side, let us know. I have the hardest time choosing names for my kids and I want them to be good. With twins I want them to sound good together, but not dorky like Jane and John (both good names, just dorky together). It is kind of tricky. These are the names I like the most, but I am still working on Ryan. Maybe if I have some good hard statistics he will like them too. Thanks and remember to vote.
Oh, did I mention that our twins are a boy and a girl. That is probably good information to have.

Birthdays and a belly

Introducing.......

I thought it might be time to announce that we are expecting. We found out yesterday that not only is there one baby, but there are two. WE ARE HAVING TWINS! Needless to say, I was freaking out a little at the doctors office, but we are very excited! It's hard to believe. My original 1 baby due date was Feb. 25th, but we are hoping to make it to Valentines Day. It is still a long ways away, but it will be here before I know it. Now it's time to think of names..... always the hard part.

The girls

Swimming

One thing I love about summer is swimming. We recently went to the aquatic center for an afternoon activity. We had a lot of fun, until Lucy decided she was mad about nothing and stood there and cried for 20 minutes. She was so mad she wouldn't even turn toward me. She is a stinker, but for some reason I still love her.

Why I haven't been Blogging

I have been such a huge slacker lately. However, I do have a pretty excuse, or actually excuses. Life has been crazy and a lot has been going on. Here is the run down of the excuses:

1. We got a puppy. I love my puppy, he is so cute! He is half french bulldog half English bulldog. We named him Oliver and he is so cute. With that being said, he is a lot of work. I knew before we got him that he would be work, but I think I underestimated just how much work he would actually be. We have had him for about 2 months now. We love our Ollie, even if he does keep me busy. 2. I had a major knee injury in February. I actually don't know what I did to it, but it swelled up huge with water on it and I couldn't walk for a few days. I had an MRI and discovered that I don't have cartilage left on the back of my knee cap. So, I pretty much am bone on bone in my knee. This is my knee that has already had 2 surgery's too. So, I have been getting these injections into my knee of this synthetic lubricant to help with the friction. There isn't anything else they can do to help me. It has been really stressful and emotional. I have really loved running the past year, and now I am not able to do it. My doctor told me that I should not run, but I can swim and bike. So, I have not been able to exercise since February, which has been so frustrating. But, my knee is feeling much better due to the rest and the injections. Which leads up to stress #3.

3. The Ogden Marathon. Last November I signed myself and my siblings up to do a relay team for the marathon. I was so excited and then I had my injury and found out I could not run. I was trying to find a replacement, but could not. So, I did it on Saturday with my siblings. It was so much fun, but I have been majorly stressed about the entire thing. I had to walk my portion (which was only 3 miles), and I was so afraid of hurting myself. I am happy to say that I am fine. My hips and shins were a little sore, but my knee was okay (I actually ran the last little part because I wanted to run over the finish line). It was so much fun and I am happy we did it. We finished in 5 hours 3 minutes. I was pleased with our time. We are planning on doing it again next year. It was a great experience.
Our team: Sam, Michelle, Emily, Me, and Jennifer
Running to the finish line with Jen, Emily, and Sam
Running to the finish line (Michelle didn't cross with us, her leg was right before mine)

Now that those things are either over or under control, I think I should be able to post more often. Although, who reads this. For the 2 of you out there, I will keep posting.

Family Picture

On Saturday we were at the Draper temple. This isn't the greatest family picture, but at least we're all clean and well dressed.

Three Months

I have been so bad with blogging the past few months. So, here is a quick summary of what you have missed.
Of course, Isabel and Lucy are still playing dress up and singing. My girls always keep me laughing. I wish you all could be around to see how funny they are. I love these funny, musical girls!
In January we went to see my Grandma Dearie. It was somewhat difficult to see her. She has gotten so old in the past few years. I know she has been old for a long time, but she has aged a lot lately. She is in a nursing home now, and having worked in a nursing home, it was hard being there. However, I really enjoyed spending time with her. She is an amazing woman. My girls were good sports about being there and I know Grandma enjoyed seeing my little girls. We need to go back and see her again.
Isabel was playing Mary and baby Jesus one day and Lucy decided she wanted to be in the bed instead of the baby. So, she threw the baby out otf the bed and climbed in. It was so funny.
Lucy is climbing on everything. Her favorite place to climb is on top of the table. It drives me crazy. I just know one of these days she is going to fall off and break her head open. She is such a pill.
In other news, Ryan got a "real" job in February. He is working as a fund accountant for a company called J.D. Clark. It has been so great! He has great perks, good pay, and we now have health insurance. It has been wonderful! As far as news about me, well, not much has gone on with me. I injured my knee in February (I don't know what I did). It swelled up huge because I had water on my knee and I was limping for about a month. The swelling has gone away, but I am still sore when going up and down stairs. Before I injured it, I was running 3 times a week and had worked up to a little over 3 miles. Now, I can't run and I am nervous to do any kind of physical exercise with my knee. I am going to see a doctor in about 2 weeks. So, we will see. I am really hoping that nothing is seriously injured.
That about sums up the past 3 months. See, nothing too exciting.

One of My favorites - Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live - TV Funhouse: Maraka - Video - NBC.com