My Crazy Life

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

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

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

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

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

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.