The McMullin Clan

Life

2011-03-01T21:03:00.000-08:00

For my New Year's resolution this year I set a goal to blog less and eat desserts more and so far
. . . I have been wildly successful!!!
I was planning on giving a current photo update of the girls, but our cord to download pictures from the camera to computer is missing. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of the girls found it and has hidden it in some secret location. Sierra's favorite hiding spot is the heater vent in the dining room; daily I have to check it for spoons and other items small enough to fit through the slits.

Family photo at Christmas in Idaho

We took them to McDonald's for their birthday. They loved the chicken nuggets and fries.

Well the girls are 15 months old now. I can't believe it! For their birthday we had a waffle and scrambled eggs party. Here they are eating their birthday cake. I made pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. It was interesting to see their personalities come into play with how to eat cake. Sierra grabbed the whole piece and immediately started to demolish it, after it was beyond recognition she then decided to eat. Ashley on the other hand gingerly swiped frosting off with one finger. I had to break it into chunks and then she ate it.

Opening presents

Ashley in her cute pj's. She is walking/running now and it is so fun to see her toddle everywhere. She is now also a world class dancer.

The girls have the best hearing around, if they hear the click of the dishwasher being opened they rush into the kitchen and start helping. It is great how quickly the dishes get done now!

Sierra and her beautiful smile! She is such a smarty pants, she is always learning something new and has taken to sign language. She took her first steps the other night; we will miss her walking around upright on her knees; it is the cutest thing.

Pink Leopards! Is there anything more cute?

2010-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween I decided to reuse costumes from years past. This might not seem like a tragedy to some of you, but to me that is the fun of Halloween, spending weeks making your costumes. I was going to make us into the fruit of the loom gang, but realized that I was so stressed out trying to figure out the costumes that it was taking away all the fun. So Jeremy was Zorro, I was his Spanish senorita and the girls were pink leopards.

Sierra loved her outfit. She was so good and sat very still while I put on her nose using liquid eyeliner. Jeremy thought their noses were so cute he wanted me to paint them on for church, but it just didn't go with their church dresses.

Before we went to the church Halloween party/trunk or treat, the girls were crying and we had a tough time taking pictures. The only way they would pose was if they were allowed to hold Zorro's sword.

Ashley playing' in the toy bin. She can now stand up on her own, but as soon as she realizes it she drops to the ground.

Sierra's hair is now long enough in the back for pigtails. I just had to snap a shot of her first time wearing pigtails.

I love how her hair on top is still short so she has this lovely mullet going on.

Our little elves getting ready for bed after church. It is so fun to wear your tights on your head.

This is where Sierra hangs out. She can climb onto the couch using the ottoman. She loves the freedom the couch gives her. She looks like she is queen of the world.

Ashley has started to bop her head to the music. We were listening to the radio and she started to dance. It is great when she does this at church dancing to the hymns.

Halloween Party

2010-11-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

We love dressing up for Halloween so this year we decided to throw a party ourselves. We held it in our spacious 2 car garage due to the smallness of our quaint house. We had a blast complete with Halloween games.

This is a great action shot of Sean getting sprayed with silly string for taking a wrong step in the maze.
Four contestants volunteered to dig plastic spiders out of whip cream covered jello.

The winning team for the mummy wrap.

We spent hours trying to get the garage up to snuff. I thought we did a pretty good job.

The girls even decided to join the party as it was winding down at around 10:00. They were pretty good and went to sleep at 7:00 which was when the party started so we didn't mind them wanting to attend later on.

Happy Birthday Grandma Roesberry

2010-10-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

In honor of my mom's birthday I am posting some photos of my beautiful babies. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful lady in our lives. We miss you tons. I tried to put some videos on the blog, but there was an error.

We are all doing well. We have some great news . . . Jeremy got a job!!! This will be the first time that I have been alone during the days with the girls. I feel like a young child learning to ride a bike and my training wheels are about to be taken off and I really liked the training wheels and would have enjoyed riding with them longer. I do know that the training wheels hold you back and now I get to see what I am made of.

I love Ashley's cheeks and her toothy grin.

Have you ever had one of those days?

Who needs a dog when your babies clean up the floor after meals.

Sierra is constantly getting high centered on the table. Someday soon she will be able to crawl over the support beam.

Sierra loves piggy back rides.

My Crazy Life

2010-09-21T09:39:00.001-07:00

Yes we are still alive. We have been so busy and sometimes blogging seems like a huge mountain that I can't tackle or rather going through the hundreds of photos seems too much at the moment. Well not much has changed in our lives, Jeremy is still looking for work and the girls are still a handful and getting into everything. They have now mastered the art of crawling and pulling themselves up to things. It is a hard phase to go through with all of the falls.

In the last 2 months of the summer we seemed to have spent more time in the car traveling then at home. We went to Montana twice and then to Idaho, Eastern Washington and the coast. The girls did really good. The worst trip was coming home from the wedding in Montana. The girls both had bad colds and I got the stomach flu so we had an enjoyable trip home where we all, except Jeremy, slept most of the way home.

Jeremy's brother got married in Montana and this is us at the reception. I am sporting my new hair color which is pretty close to my natural color. Everyone says I look exactly like Marissa now.

I always love their fresh from the bath look. Jeremy thought Ashley would look good with a Mohawk.

I had to show Ashley's curly hair. I just put a little lotion in her hair and fluff it and it curls. This is her new look for church.

The girls are feeding themselves so good. Sierra ate her food for awhile without noticing the cheerio stuck to the end of her nose. I can't see why they like cheerios so much.

I love these jean dresses.

Another picture of them in their Sunday dresses. These dresses are getting scandalously high, but they are so cute I had to put them in them for one last time.

The girls love to help fold laundry. They pull the clothes out of the basket and I quickly try to fold them before they are all on the floor. Jeremy gave Ashley a special hat to help out with. It is the bloomers for one of her dresses.

This is us in Idaho. This was their first time wearing their bathing suits. They are pretty picky about the water they will swim in, it needs to be about bath temperature. Luckily there is a heated pool fed by hot springs in Garden Valley. In the picture is my mom and Aubrey, my nanny. She came to Idaho with me to help out with the girls. She was wonderful. We had such a blast seeing the shows. I now have a new favorite show, it is the musical "The Scarlet Pimpernel". The music is so beautiful. We stayed an extra day just to see it for the second time.

The girls are so fun to watch. They are always sitting on each other, crawling over each other and stealing each others toys. Sierra has started sticking her finger in Ashley's mouth for her to suck on. Ashley will come over while I am changing Sierra's diaper on the couch and watch and suck Sierra's finger. It is hilarious.

When I get the clean clothes from the dryer one of the girls is usually helping me, so I put them in the basket and load up the clothes. Then they get to ride in the laundry express.

Everyday Life

2010-06-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Feeding Time

The girls are almost 7 months and it is amazing how it does get easier. Usually I don't have to feed them at the same time, one will usually be patient, but that day they both needed to eat right then or else. I did have a good technique of feeding them on the couch, but they were too close to each other and spent the whole time trying to grab each others' bottles and/or face.

Sharing

It is so fun to watch them play, whenever they are close to each other they always want the same toy and trade it back and forth. It is nice that it doesn't upset them to lose the toy. They get really excited now when they see each other after waking up from a nap. I hope they will be great friends.

Rollin'

Who needs to crawl when you can roll! Well thanks to Uncle Mike, Ashley learned to roll over from her back to her stomach. I didn't realize this would be life changing until we got back from Idaho and within a few minutes Ashley was trying to shove herself under the couch. She had rolled 6 feet from her play area.

Rockin'
Sierra for some reason will not roll over from her back to her stomach. She loves to spend most of her time rockin' in the crawl position. She does scoot backwards and she loves to jump. Maybe Uncle Mike will come and teach her.

Squash

Ashley really liked her first bite of squash. She has now moved on to carrots and is an avid eater.

Sierra was not quite sure about this new substance being placed in her mouth. She now loves it and she loves to spray you with the food in her mouth.

Bedtime

Ashley and Sierra chillin' in Sierra's crib.

80's Party

We actually do get to go on some dates still thanks to great friends willing to babysit. My friend had an 80's themed b-day bash. It was so fun to dress up. I know you can't tell from the photo, but Jeremy had on this cuff earring and he looked so hot in his costume. I loved curling and ratting his hair. The party was awesome, we danced the night away or at least until 10 when everyone had to go home to relieve their babysitters. My favorite part was serenading the husbands, who were hanging out on the deck while their wives danced, to "Let's hear if for the boys."

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day Ashley and Sierra helped Jeremy make me this beautiful picture frame. On either side of the WE is their footprints in pink paint.

Bath time

This is Ashley fresh from the bath. I love her rolls.

Sierra is just starting to figure out the bath time is playtime and she is starting to kick and splash, with Jeremy's encouragement.

Papa

My dad came for the weekend and had a wonderful time playing with the girls. It was fun to see how excited he is to be a grandpa. He kept wanting to wake the girls up so he could play with them.

5 months old

2010-05-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well we have survived 5 months of being parents of two very busy twin girls. I am finally feeling like I am a mom instead of like I am playing house. The girls are getting so big. Ashley has 2 teeth and is very mobile, she loves to roll over and scoot around on her tummy. Sierra has one tooth and is very vocal, she just started noticing our faces and grabs them and will try to bite and attack your face when she is tired and wants to go to bed. They have both learned to put themselves to sleep and it is a lifesaver. The only way I have survived thus far is because I hired a nanny. Her name is Aubrey and she was one of my young woman home for the semester from BYU-I. She was the best, we had so much fun together. She just went back a few weeks ago and then I flew to Idaho with the girls to see my mom. I was so worried about the flight due to Ashley's inability to fall asleep anywhere but her crib and all of my fears were in vain. They were angels and charmed all of the people on the flight. It must have been because of the thousands of prayers that my mom and sisters gave in my behalf during the flight. Now I am flying solo sort of - Jeremy was laid off on the day that I flew to Idaho. It was a huge shock to us and his co-workers, but we are hoping that there is a better job out there for him. So he is home during the day, but we try to act like he isn't here so he can look for a job. The girls seem to be more patient with me and I am learning to cherish the times when they are both asleep and I can shower or getting something else done. Before it didn't matter because Aubrey could always hold whoever was awake while I focused on the household chores and my physical needs. Well enough rambling here are some cute photos of the girls.

One day it was nice outside so I dressed them in their sun gear. (Ashley left, Sierra right)

Our family in our Sunday best.

Ashley and Sierra eating rice cereal for the first time just a few weeks ago. I have been putting this off because it just was feeling like one more thing I have to do everyday. They are still trying to master swallowing. Sierra will eat spoonful after spoonful and you feel awesome and then she spits it all out in a huge blob. Ashley just spits it out after every bite so it gets more and more runny as you go.

Marissa, my twin, surprised my mom and I and flew to SLC where Mike and Kaila picked her up on the way to Idaho. It was great to see Roman for the first time and be home in beautiful Idaho.

Ashley, Roman and Sierra chillin' on the chair. It is nice that they have a cousin their age. I love how Roman looks like he wants someone to rescue him from the girls. He is exactly one month younger than the girls.

Here are the girls holding hands. Sierra will grab Ashley's hand and Ashley will try to get away. Lately Ashley has been taking toys from Sierra and Jeremy will tell Ashley not to take the toy Sierra was playing with like she knows what she is doing. It is pretty fun to see them interact more and more. (Ashley left, Sierra right)

Beautiful Babies

2010-02-25T08:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent photos of the girls. It is so fun to see their personalities emerge. Ashley is very full of life and busy. Her newest trick is to gargle her milk while she is eating. She will be really hungry and then stop so she can play. Sierra loves to smile and squeal. She tries out all different octaves and seems to enjoy hearing her voice. As of this week they are both sleeping through the night. Sierra started at 6 weeks old and thankfully Ashley has decided to join her. I don't know what to do with myself now that I get to sleep until I am rested. I keep waking up at 6:30 and forcing myself to sleep longer since they aren't up yet.

Ashley looked so cute in this sporty outfit so we had to snap some shots.

Ashley chillin' in her diaper. I love her rolls.

Ashley in her Sunday outfit 2 and a half months old.

Sierra all beautiful in yellow, 2 and a half months old.

As you can see our brown Lazy boy is the perfect backdrop for every photo. I love that Sierra is leaning so bad on Ashley and she doesn't mind. They are not yet aware of each other, but they have had moments where it looks like they are smiling at each other.

Ashley and Sierra in their Sunday best.

Sierra let Ashley suck on her fingers for awhile. We staged this a bit, but it happened unprovoked in the doctor's office while waiting to get their 2 month shots.

Sierra enthusiastically works out with daddy in the Bjorn.

Ashley and Sierra in their cute workout clothes.

Ashley and Sierra home from church. It is amazing how long 3 hours of church is. Every Sunday I feel like we ran a marathon. We have 12:30 church and so naptime is interrupted.

Our beautiful little family.

The Girls

2010-01-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well life is pretty crazy now so I am posting a huge chunk of photos enjoy.

Ashley and Sierra 8 weeks old.

Sierra and Ashley 8 wks old in their Sunday dresses that Grandma bought for them.

Ashley 7 wks sporting a rather fetching outfit of what she looks like without her dress on. She has really filled out and she weighed in this week at 13 lbs.

Sierra 7 wks showing her rather large undies that went with her Sunday dress. She is now 11 lbs.

Ashley and Sierra 6 wks old.

Jess and Elle came to help for a week. We had so much fun. One day Elle was getting dressed and we realized they had to same outfits. They look so beautiful.

Here is our little family on the day we blessed them which was Jan. 3rd. They did so good and didn't cry at all, although Ashley did toot the whole time during her blessing according to Daddy.

Ashley and Sierra modeling their dresses. Ashley wore the dress that I was blessed in and Grandma McMullin made Sierra's dress.

Jeremy, Sierra and Ashley sleeping in our bed. This is a rare treat for them.

Sierra 4 wks old.

Ashley 4 wks old.

Ashley and Sierra sitting on Santa's lap. He made a special appearance at Grandma and Grandpa McMullin's house on Christmas Eve.

This is probably one of the last times that Sierra and Ashley slept in the same crib together at 4 weeks old. Ashley is very busy and started moving soon after so we put them in separate cribs.

Sierra and Ashley probably 3 wks old. Ashley is making her signature O face and Sierra is calm as usual.

Sierra and Ashley in matching sleepers 4 wks old.

The Stars are Born

2009-12-08T19:18:00.001-08:00

Well I had plans to update the blog in the hospital imagining this serene time with the babies, but it was crazy. I felt horrible and with two babies to occupy your mind, you find that you just let the little unimportant things in life slide. We went in Sunday morning at 8:30am to get induced and after laboring all day I finally delivered the babies at 2:00am on Monday the 30th. I didn't have to have a c-section much to my doctors surprise and the girls were only 2 minutes apart because Ashley was right there anxious to come out. This is us, well Ashley and me when we got discharged on Wednesday from the hospital. Sierra had low blood sugar and couldn't maintain her temperature so she had to stay in the hospital until Friday. So we had a taste of what it would be like to only have one baby.

Ashley is on the left and Sierra is on the right.

Ashley: left, Sierra: right

They are getting ready to go to their first doctor appointments and as you can see they love their car seats.

I had to show that I can juggle both at the same time.

Sierra: left, Ashley: right

This is right after their first bath in the hospital.

2 More Days

2009-11-27T12:06:00.000-08:00

Well these are the last of the pregnancy photos that I am going to post. It will be nice to post things other than the progress of my belly. At my appointment on Monday nothing more had happened so Sunday is the day that I will be induced. At first I was really dissappointed, but then it was a relief to not worry everyday if this is the day.

These are the sausages I have been walking on for the last few weeks. I think they are pretty funny looking and even though they feel like they will pop sometimes I enjoy looking at them.

Here is me on Turkey Day just 1 day shy of the 38th week mark. We had Jeremy's parents and sister and her husband and baby over. We forgot to take pictures of them. This was my first year hosting Turkey Day. My mother-in-law still prepared the turkey, but I made the pies using my mom's expert recipe. They turned out really well if I do say so myself.

37 weeks along

Here I am 36 weeks along in the babies room.

Progress

2009-11-17T12:03:00.001-08:00

Well at my appointment last week my doctor gave me good and bad news. The good news was that as of Friday the 13th I no longer have to be on bedrest or take any pills and the bad is that he won't induce labor until the 29th of November. I was pretty bummed. Today though I saw the doctor again and I am dialated 1 and 1/2 cm and 60% effaced. I am very happy that I am making some progress towards having these babies. I did get to go to church for the first time in 12 weeks on Sunday, it meant a lot to me. Also I got my hair cut and colored yesterday so I feel like a young person again instead of a gray haired old lady. I will have to post pictures later as the camera is in the car along with everything else we need to go to the hospital. So if anyone is still praying for me to keep these babies in longer, please stop and pray that I go into labor soon.
Thanks!

There is no place like home

2009-11-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

I have been out of the hospital for 2 weeks now and I am loving the freedom to control my schedule again and eat real food. I was a little afraid to go home, but I have some pills to stop contractions and everything is looking well for me to deliver at 36 weeks, which for twins is full term.

This is me at 34 weeks. I just got back from my doctors appointment where he said I can increase my activities a little and I can have a couple of short outings a week until 36 weeks and then I am free to walk around like a normal person. So I walked out into our backyard because I could.

Just to show the progression of my beautiful belly, this is me at 32 weeks a few days before I got discharged. You can see at the top of the picuture the bat lights that Jeremy decorated my hospital room with. When anyone walked in and saw the bats they would say wow you have been here a long time if you are decorating.

Hospital Fun

2009-09-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

About 4 weeks ago my life changed drastically. I started to have contractions so went to see my doctor and found out that I was funnelling and showing signs of going into premature labor. Since then I have been on complete bedrest and have spent most of the time in the hospital. This is how I spend my days lounging around.

Just so you don't worry too much, I am doing well. This is me last week at 27 weeks. The girls are fat and happy and we're praying that I go full term (8 more weeks).

Jeremy has been such a lifesaver, he sleeps in an unconfortable cot at the hospital every night just so he can be with me. While I have been in the hospital he has been busy at home. This is what the girls' room looks like. He did a great job. He has also completed the other bedroom and is now working on the bathroom (since we aren't using it) so when that is done we will have changed every room in the house.

Babymoon in Seaside, OR

2009-08-11T12:07:00.001-07:00

We went to Seaside, OR for our babymoon. It was very relaxing and well worth it. I got to take a nap everyday which was the highlight of the trip. I also got a lot of walking in as our hotel was 2 blocks from the downtown area where everything happens.

These were some awesome mug goggles that I had to show off from a local gift shop.

We thought a side shot might show the goggles and my belly better.

This was the view across the street from our hotel. We stayed at the Inn at Seaside. It was nice and they have the smallest in concrete pool I have ever seen. I think the maximum capacity was 5 people. We did go swimming once and it was fun.

Jeremy pretending to surf at the beach. He was brave enough to go into the ocean as it was freezing and probably only 70 degrees that day, which was the hottest it got the whole time we were there.

Us at the beach.

Jeremy flying his cute little ladybug kite. He did borrow a trick kite from a coworker and we tried for about 30 minutes to get it up, but the wind wasn't strong enough. At least we were entertainment for the other people on the beach.

Me miniature golfing. I noticed several people watching me golf. I don't know if I looked ridiculous golfing or maybe they find pregnant women fun to watch.

There was a huge beach Volleyball tournament going on. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Jeremy riding the bumper cars while I watched.

We went to the Aquarium where you could feed the seals for a buck, but you had to watch out because some of the seals liked to splash you with the stinky water that they were swimming in. It was fun running from them and trying to duck behind other people for safety. This is me cautiously feeding the seals as all of the other people suddenly disappeared leaving me with no protection from the splashing seals.

A close up of one of the seals.

This was an ugly old man face eel that they had at the aquarium.

July Recap

2009-08-11T11:18:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I went to a Sounders game, which is Seattle's Professional Soccer Team. We got free tickets from a friend and they were awesome seats about 5 rows from the field. The only downfall was that is was like 95 that day and my feet swelled up like sausages.

We had a friend reunion in Moses Lake with the Condie's and the Lindsay's. We all stayed with Jeanne's parents and we had a ton of fun. We went to the lake and to a nice water park, played lots of games, and ate some really good food. This is us playing scum, which is one of my favorite games since you get to dress up. Above is the queen and some peasants. From left to right: Celeste's husband, Jeanne, Griffin, and Talon.

Talon was really excited about his cowboy hat.

More peasants, this is Brianne and Celeste, one of Jeanne's friends who she grew up with.

I was also a peasant.

This is the peon and the scum, Bryant and Benson. I am really proud of the scum hat, which if you can't tell is a plunger with flowers coming out of the hole, I designed it myself.

The king and queen, Brian and Celeste's husband.

The Results Are In and . . .

2009-07-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

we are having 2 girls. I was pretty surprised. At my work I did a poll and everyone thought I would be having at least one boy and most voted for 2 boys. We are very excited and I can't wait to see how they will wrap their daddy around their little fingers.

The Waddler

2009-07-02T13:23:00.001-07:00

Well this is me at 17 weeks. I don't know if I look bigger or not, but I am. I get so excited when anyone says I am bigger. I am sure there will come a point that the excitement will fade, but for now I love my belly. Sadly I have noticed that I have started to waddle slighly. This is due to the fact that it is uncomfortable to put your legs that close together to walk in a straight line. I am feeling good and we should know what we are having in a few weeks. If I could order what I want, it would be a boy and a girl, but I will be happy with whatever we get.

News

2009-06-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well the shots paid off. I am pregnant with twins. We don't know the sexes yet. I am due Dec. 11th so I am 14 weeks along. It has been a rough road with a few trips to the hospital for IVs and several hours of one on one time with me and the porcelain throne. I am now feeling better and I love my husband even more than I already did. He is my hero for doing everything around the house during the last 2 months. I am getting big and to prove it to my family I am documenting my beautiful belly and will try to take a picture every month.

This is me 13 weeks along.

On May 30th we went to a company party. It was the funnest one ever because there was something obvious that you could talk with me about.

In April our Stake did a road show. We met one Saturday and learned all the dances and songs in a day and performed them at night. It was crazy, but a lot of fun. I was Mary Poppins and we performed Let's Go Fly a Kite and Step in Time. This is Burt and I.

Jeremy did participate in the road show. He helped make the sets. These are a few of the stainglass windows he helped make from construction paper for the Beauty and the Beast numbers.

This is me and the girl who played Jane.

Ever had those days when you feel like a pin cushion?

2009-03-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

No? Well that clearly means you have never done in-vitro fertilization. We are currently doing in-vitro which is a 2 month process of endless shots, ultrasounds, and blood draws. Jeremy is now an expert on giving shots. He delights in threatening me with revenge during my shot times, but is actually very gentle and doesn't like causing me pain. We are on the home stretch right now. My 20 eggs will be harvested this Thursday and sometime next week 1 or 2 fertilized eggs will be put back in. We are really excited and will take any prayers that you wish to offer.

It is amazing how Heavenly Father works. I was laid off from my job on Feb. 18th and it was very shocking and I couldn't understand why this was in the plan for me. During in-vitro they want you relaxed and not stressed out. So it seemed like horrible timing. I have really enjoyed being at home and doing things with my friends who are stay-at-home moms. In-vitro takes up your whole life for 2 months and I have been so thankful that I have not had work to stress me out as well.

December at a Glance

2009-02-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

My sister Jessica and her family came to Seattle after

Christmas and we went to Red Robin and had an enjoyable time with them.

I tried so hard to get a picture of Elle's excited face. This one is just as cute.

Zach, Jess, and Elle ... what a happy family.

For New Year's we partied at my friend Jeanne's house.

It was kid party so the count down was at 8:00pm,

but the kids were so happy we didn't have to leave until 10,

when they let it be known that they had reached the breaking point.

We danced and did karaoke. It was pretty wild.

Christmas Eve was also spent at Jeanne's house.

This is Jeremy as the donkey giving Mary a ride.

Joseph, who is Hudson in the middle,

would not cooperate and wear his costume. The nativity was

very entertaining that night.

We surprisingly had a White Christmas

this year and Jeremy all by himself

constructed this beautiful snowman.

This is Matt, Jeremy's younger bro, and Sam his new wife.

We got to see all of Jeremy's siblings this year and

we celebrated Christmas early on the 19th since

everyone was here for Matt's wedding.

The Hunt

2008-12-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Here is Jeremy all dressed up to go hunting. Isn't he so cute!

He flew down to Missouri in November to go hunting with Jim, my twin's husband. They were hunting for turkey, pheasant, or duck. Sadly Jeremy did not get anything that weekend, it might have been the dogs fault. He looks kind a' sickly to me.

Happy Birthday Elle!

2008-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it! Elle, my beautiful little niece, turned 1 yesterday. This picture is a couple months old, but it is my favorite picture of her. She is having a huge birthday bash tonight in Utah that I wish I could attend. It is amazing just how much I love her. I don't get to see her much, but I do think about her and wish I could steal her kisses more often. Jess you better get some good footage of her and her 1st birthday cake.

New Countertops

2008-11-05T12:50:00.000-08:00

We have officially started the Kitchen remodel. Here are some shots of the counter tops. At first I was unsure on whether or not I liked them, but I just needed a day to get used to them being a lot darker than our old sunshine yellow counter tops.

I tried to get out of the pictures, but Jeremy was determined that I be in every shot. Next we will tackle refacing our cupboards and then laying tile.

Jeremy was so proud that he fit all of the old countertops including the old sink in one garbage can. You can see what a beautiful yellow the countertops were and how it complimented our honey toned paint on the walls.

Happy Halloween

2008-11-05T12:15:00.000-08:00

I must say that this year for Halloween we really outdid ourselves. Our costumes were quite extensive and even required me sewing some leather vests and designing a pair of chaps for Jeremy. I felt a huge sense of accomplishment because this was my first sewing project using a pattern all by myself with the help of my assistant Jeremy of course. So in case you can't tell we are supposed to be Bikers. At work there is a bonafide biker who coached me on several points of my costume. Those are real leather pants that I am wearing that I borrowed from my friend Brittnay, she only has 5 pairs so she decided that she could spare one for the evening.

We took about 50 pictures because everyone at work wanted to see what I came up with. Jeremy actually found this Sturgis shirt at DI which was perfect for the costume. You can't tell but Jeremy has a little hoop earring on. He loved wearing it.

My mom and step-dad came up for the weekend. They had a lot of fun at our ward party. We had a lasagna dinner, carnival for the kids, and then followed that up with a trunk or treat. We had a fun weekend with them. We went to a local aquarium at Redondo Beach and then Mom and I worked on our 72 hour kits. So we are now ready for a natural disaster. Raggady Ann and Andy are our friends Mark and Brittnay.

This is one of my favorite pictures. We really tried to get in character.

Fall Stake Dance

2008-10-15T13:37:00.001-07:00

This is our gang at our Stake's Fall Dance. I told everyone to dress western so Jeanne went to DI and bought western shirts, huge belt buckles, and she wore her boots. Needless to say I was in trouble because my pigtails and shirt weren't western enough.Left to Right: Brian & Brianne, Me & Jeremy, Jeanne & Bryant

We caught Brianne singing her heart out to Brian. She turned beet red when she realized we were all watching her. I can't remember if that was this exact moment. Brian always makes the best faces. I am taking voice lessons from Brianne so I know Brian didn't mind her belting.

The Dreaded Candy corn Vampire

This is John & Pat. Pat is the Young Women's Pres. who I talk so much about. I love her, she is great to work with. Her husband is hilarious.

Bryant is showing his bull riding number. Bryant had some pretty sweet moves. We had such an awesome time at the dance. They played the lamest music and when I asked to request a song because I wanted something faster I got an earful from the lady in charge who informed me there were old people here too. So we danced to all of the songs anyways and as Jeanne said in church the next day "we were the floor show."

Phantom

2008-10-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

We went to see Phantom of the Opera on Friday in Seattle at the Paramount Theatre. It was so much fun. First we got all dressed up and went to a seafood restaurant in downtown Seattle. Then we had an adventure and rode the bus to the theatre. We did have to do quite a bit of walking as the bus didn't take us right to the place we needed to be. It was raining really hard, but luckily I got a cute new blue raincoat from Nordstroms Rack last week so I was fine to walk in the rain. The only annoying part was that I was wearing a knee length skirt with nylons and the dirty water kept splashing up on the back of my nylons. It did wipe off, I just had to do it a few times during the night. The theatre was so amazing it was built in the 1800s and it felt like you were back in the regency era. There was beautiful gold paneling and the stage and sets were amazing. The theatre seating was so steep you felt like you could fall. The special affects were awesome and the singing was wonderful. We did fall asleep a little in the show because of the lateness of the hour and not because of a bad performance. Man we are getting old.

Called to Serve

2008-09-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and his 2 younger brothers looking sharp in their Sunday best. Matt in the middle just returned from his mission in Illinois. We are so glad to have him back and to see the growth that occurred on his mission. We are doubly blessed because Michael, on the right, is leaving for his mission on Oct. 1 to Denver, Colorado. I wish we could go to the MTC with him. I loved going to the MTC with both of my brothers. It is such an exciting time. I know that he will be such an awesome missionary. We will miss him.

Pictures from Utah

2008-09-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

Alright I can't get the slideshow to show on my blog like Kaylene's does. To view the slideshow click on this link.
http://s481.photobucket.com/albums/rr173/jerlara/?albumview=slideshow

Peek-A-Boo

2008-09-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Utah for Mike and Kaila's sealing. All of my siblings were there and we had such an enjoyable weekend. We had so much fun with Elle. This is one of her new tricks. She is very talented and we love her so much. Her cheeks must have been raw by the end of the weekend from all of the stolen kisses. I made a slideshow on photobucket of all of the pictures from Utah and I can't figure out how to put it on my blog. It was a hard blow to my self-esteem. Anyone know how?

The Party

2008-08-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

We had all the right ingredients for a wonderful birthday party!

Great Friends . . .

A Handsome Birthday Boy . . .

and A Huge Feast.

Mark sadly came without his spouse. We tried

really hard to not make him feel like a fifth wheel.

The BIG 3 - 0

2008-08-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the best husband around. Last night I had to convince Jeremy to leave early so that his coworkers could decorate his office. They did an awesome job. He is holding a cookie bouqet in the shape of balloons. I had it delivered to him at work so he would feel extra special. You only turn 30 once so I have had to pull out all the stops. I woke up early this morning and made waffles with strawberries and whip cream. I also decorated the walls at home with 30 hearts that each had a reason why I love him. We are having a pary tonight with some friends so there is more for him to look forward to.

Fun Weekend

2008-08-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

On Friday Jeremy and I went to Golden Gardens Park, which is on the beach, and had a BBQ with Jeremy's project team . It was a ton of fun. We got to leave work early at 12:30pm and we ate some really good food. The highlight was playing Volleyball for 2 hours straight with no little kids.

Saturday I awoke early because I could not stop thinking about Breaking Dawn and wondering if pre-ordering meant I would receive my book on Saturday. I was tempted to just buy two so I could start reading on Saturday, but to my surprise my book was on the front porch Saturday morning. I tried to have some restraint and I spent time with my friend Jeanne and her kids while Jeremy took a load to the dump with her husband. I finished the book on Sunday and it was so not what I expected. I did love it, but it is definitely for adults only.

Sunday we had a great day at church and then went over to Jeanne's house for dinner. I love her house because it is always crazy there and Jeremy and I both get to play with the kids and practice parenting skills. I do get teased mercilessly by her husband for my addiction to the Twilight series, but I can deal with it.

Weeds

2008-07-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

I am sure that Lara has told many, if not all of you, about all these lame flowers that were planted in our yard and how she wants to rip them up. Well we have had some of them bloom recently and I wanted to show you what they looked like.

The white ones are Cala Lily's and yellow are Tiger Lily's

These are called Peonies. We're glad we didn't rip them out.

July 4th Weekend

2008-07-06T10:53:00.001-07:00

This was a busy and fun Independence Day weekend. The 4th of July is huge for the pyro's in the McMullin household. Attached are some photos and videos of the days events and a typical 4th of July BLAST (pun intented). Now remember, don't try any of the following activities at home. These were done by trained professionals and should not be attempted except in a safe and controlled environment.

That is the joy of dry ice. No wonder it is not recommended to put in mailboxes.

This is a very simple yet effective way to have fun. Please do not try this in mailboxes or at school. Yes we know someone that did and this individual is no longer allowed on school grounds.

The picture below is an example of what it does to the container it is put in.One of our favorite fireworks are called mortar shells. They are like the ones you see in real shows but at a smaller level. Here is a video of one of them going off.

Here are a few great photos that Lara took during the show.

Notice the smiley face on this one

We had a good time on Saturday. We had planned to have a party with some friends in the evening so we came home early and finished getting the house prepared for the festivities. It was a cloudy day, as others have been recently, but it had not really rained and we maintained hope that it would not. Well the party was supposed to start at 5:00 and it started to rain at exactly 4:30. It wasn't a heavy rain but we had planned to have everything out side because our house is too small to have so many people (kids) inside. We kept praying and our faith never waivered and sure enough, right at 5:00 the rain stopped and it was nice the rest of the evening and had even cleared up by the time it was over. It was a great blessing. We had decided to have Shish-ka-bobs for the main course since we figured everyone had hamburgers the night before. They turned out great but take a long time to cook. We also played volleyball and kickball with a beach ball.

Raccoons

2008-07-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

Well I made it back safe from Girl's Camp. One night I thought I might be eaten by raccoons, but apparently they only like chocolate marshmellows. Wow, camp was really hard and a ton of fun this year. This is my 4th year going as a leader in two seperate states and I must say that I love the way they do camp in Federal Way. The leaders actually get free time each morning while YCL's take the girls to their different certification classes. One of the highlights was teaching the girls the proper way to play Big Booty. They didn't know about the cool dance moves that can be added for everyone's viewing pleasure. Camp was a lot harder this year mainly because there was only one other leader for our ward and because the girls were all 12 and 13 years old and a few of them were used to someone else doing everything for them. The weather was perfect for camp. It was even warm enough on Friday to swim in the lake and go canoing. I prayed very hard that there would be no rain, since June can be a very rainy month in the Seattle area.

Twilight Book Club

2008-06-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

So all of you Twi-hards will appreciate this. For my book club we read Twilight. It was my month to host, so I was in charge of the discussion, treats, and having the meeting at my house. There is a lot of pressure on the treats because everyone tries to make food that was mentioned in the book or have the food mean something in relation to the book. All in all the evening went well. I was worried about cramming 12 ladies into my small living room, but it was fine. I was surprised because a few ladies didn't like the book for various reasons. It was my first time hearing anyone badmouth the book. I admit it was a little hard to hear, but I still love the book just as much as ever.

I tried to have everything be red and black. I served pizza with 1 bite taken out, mini cheesecakes with cherry topping, red apples and caramel dip, and just 'cause I love it spinach and artichoke dip with chips.

I had to take a closeup of the bite taken out. I joked about me taking a bite, but I used a measuring spoon to make the perfect bite.

Here are some of the ladies from my book club. In yellow is my friend Jeanne (you say it the french way Janae). She is the president and is a ton of fun to be around.

Turner's Annual Dinner

2008-06-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our photo shoot right before our company party at the Marriot in Seattle. When we really get dressed up we have to take a ton of photos. It was a fun evening. Who doesn't like a party where the drinks are free and long boring speeches are made! There was dancing there as well. So between dancing and dinner we did find something to enjoy as well.

The best part of the day was that I had my makeup done at the Clinique counter and then I bought this awesome necklace. I have to say that Kaila inspired me to buy the necklace because I knew it was something she would wear and she always looks fashionable.

Skye's Wedding

2008-06-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

OK, so as you all know I am way overdue on updating my blog. Here are some photos that have to be posted from my fun trip to Utah at the first of May for my cousin Skye's wedding.

This is my sister-in-law Kaila. I stayed with her and my brother Mike for the weekend. We had so much fun. This picture is taken as we are leaving Target after a successful shopping trip for all between the sealing and reception. Kaila was a great chauffeur!

What great smiles! This is my younger sis Jessica (in pink) with baby Elle and my cousins Gracie and Lindy and her baby at Skye's reception.

Here is Elle again with her adoring dad Zach. I can't get enough pictures of Elle so I am posting them for all who enter my blog.

Busy Week

2008-04-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

This has been a really busy week. As you know we have been working on the house so I (Jeremy) had a goal to paint the laundry room on Saturday so that meant that there was a lot to do to be ready for that. Well we were sitting down for dinner looking at the living room discussing how to stop the paint line between the 2 rooms, as they are open to each other with no break as you can see in the picture.

Well we finally decided that we wanted to add an archway in between to break up the monotony of it. Then of course I had to add one between the kitchen and dining room to match. This is what it looks like now between dining and living rooms.

With all this fun work we were able to paint the laundry room yesterday. Now I need to get the cabinet doors back on and we will be good in there until we do the flooring. This week our goal is to get the dining room and the new part of the living room painted, as Lara set up a game night on Saturday.

Friday night was exciting as well. We got tickets to go see a Mariners game. The young mens president in the ward is a season ticket holder and he was going to be out of town this weekend so he gave us his tickets. These were GREAT tickets. We were in the 36th row right behind home plate. I have never been to a major event like that where the people still actually looked like people. It was an exciting game and the Mariners won 8-5 against the Angels. Here is us at the game.

Lara's favorite part about the game was during the 3rd inning stretch the grounds crew came out to rake the dirt and make it pretty again. They got in a nice line and raked until they got to 2nd base and then they dropped their rakes and started to dance to "I'm Bad" by Michael Jackson. It was very entertaining. After seeing that Lara is considering a career change.

I also wanted to show all those who have not experienced the pride and joy of the northwest what a rhodadendron bush looks like. They bloom only around this time of year and are spectacular.

Kitchen Remodel

2008-03-02T11:48:00.001-08:00

We have told many of you about our kitchen remodel so here are a few pictures to show you where we are at.

This is what the kitchen looked like before. It is impossible to describe the true ugliness of the wallpaper but the next picture shows a close-up. They say a picture tells 1,000 words but this still leaves me speechless.

This is where we are at now. Yesterday, Lara helped me finish stripping the ugliness off the walls. I have been surprised that underneath all that, the walls actually used to have a decent white paint on it. Plain, yes, but not ugly. Soon we will be texturing then painting the walls.

Yesterday we also went and saw the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble group. It was a lot of fun. They are all talented "kids" (dang we are old), and Lara likes to dream about what she wishes I could do.

Stars on Ice

2008-02-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

This is us at Stars on Ice in Seattle on Feb 1, 2008. Jeremy won tickets on the radio and tried to surprise me with them. He kept saying save the 1st. It was really funny that when I guessed that he was taking me to Stars on Ice I didn't believe him at first because I knew he would never pay money to see ice skaters. Then when I found out he won them I believed him. We went to a really good Indian restaurant beforehand and had such a fun time. I was really surprised because Jeremy liked it as well. We were so proud of ourselves because we found parking and a good restaurant near Key Arena. Some day soon we will be Big City people and know our way around Seattle. We do know our way around Federal Way so that is a good start for now.

Christmas Photos

2008-01-27T10:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Fam,

We took a lot of pictures at Chrismas time and have been trying to figure out how to get them out to everyone. Jessica and Zach introduced us to Blogspot and we thought that this would be the perfect way. Hope you enjoy.

Every family gathering needs at least one good picture (Signed - Mom)

Gametime

Christmas Morning

Other Random photos that make no one look good.

I don't remember anyone taking pictures of Elle so here are a few just in case :)

We all have to show off all the hard work we did on the gingerbread houses. After all, Mom and Greg are still eating them.

Last, but certainly not least, the Redneck Christmas will be a fond memory for many of us (OK the guys) for years to come.

Thanks to everyone, especially Mom and Greg, for a great time!