Oh September - Posted by the Mrs.

 September...

I've been wondering how to write this post.

It was a month filled with lots of great things but it was also a really hard month.

This was the month that we found out we were pregnant with twins!

But because of the form of "twinning" (mono/mono) they had a 50/50 survival rate.

We went through so many emotions: astonishment, excitement, fear, hope, and a myriad of others to say the least.

Two weeks later we had to say good-bye, for now, to those tiny little babies.

Thankfully, we feel comforted by the knowledge and testimonies that we have. 

We know that there is a plan for us and for our family and that that was something we needed to experience.

I am so grateful for the truth of the Gospel.

I'm also grateful for the family that we have been given.

And speaking of family...

These pictures are from the last of our trip to Utah.

We did the Doughnut Falls hike with the Duncan side of the family one beautiful morning.

It was great to be out in nature and breathing the fresh air.

This was Duncan's first day of Preschool.

Charlie and I sure miss him while he's gone but we know he's in good hands with Teacher Summers.

Enjoying a warm fall morning at the park.

Bobby did the ALS challenge in lieu of his Dad.

We sure miss Jim and think of him often.

I'm sure he checks in on us often, as well.

Duncan found a pet caterpillar and loved that little creature. 

He let him hang out on his arm while he did other things and let him crawl all over the family room.

We LOVE having a garden and watching it change and grow.

The boys found their own costumes for Halloween this year.

They couldn't be happier with their Goodwill finds.

An older couple in our ward kindly invited us over to come pick some of their fruit and take it home.

They also happen to be neighbors with these furry folks which Duncan and Charlie enjoyed thoroughly.

It's been interesting to see how exciting carrots, kale, and zucchini can be to these two when it grows in their very own backyard. You'd think we were asking them if they wanted candy when we say, "Should we pick a carrot to eat?!" 

These are pictures from my birthday.

We received a most timely visit from Bobby's mom on this very day.

This is Duncan and I at the Cheesecake Factory. And those amazing and beautiful giant dandelions 

( we don't know the real name ) are from Bobby for my birthday.

I do love that they resemble dandelions because Duncan enjoys picking real dandelions and bringing them to me.

A slipping good time with Honey.

Joanne was right there along with Duncan enjoying the slip and slide.

More random fun we had: 

interior decorating, the wiggle car (that Duncan has a knack for), Qwarkle, canning tomatoes from Joanne's garden, and snuggling with Rosie every possible second.

Not pictured: our picnic at the Temple grounds on Bobby's lunch break.

 

We took Joanne to the Green Belt and cooled our feet off while throwing rocks and floating sticks down the river.

We made a drive to Mountain Home's Airforce Base where we got to see lots of sweet jets, airplanes, and helicopters up close and in action. This was a big hit with the boys.

Good times for sure.

We actually got some things hung on our walls...ok, just wall.

I love how bright and fun our family room is.

I also love that there are pieces from different family members in it as well as places that we've lived.

 Some candid pictures of our goofy munchkins.

My visiting teacher knew that I was eager to get into canning and hooked us up with a sweet deal:

Concord Grapes!

or as we like to call it - Liquid Gold.

It was a full days work to do 26 quarts but it was worth it.

Quotes from Duncan:

10/23/14

Just about every other Monday Duncan wonders why Dad has to go to work. I always explain that Dad makes money for our family so that we can buy food and clothes and live in our house.  

Duncan approached me one afternoon and with complete sincerity and wonder said,

"So mom, how does dad make money?

...is it magic?"

10/28/14

Duncan had woken up late in the night not feeling well. Bobby was holding him on the couch while I attempted to figure out what we could do to help him. I had just been working on the Primary assignments for the month of November and in an effort to cheer Duncan up I told him that he gets to do the scripture on Sunday.

His sleepy sick reply was, "Do you know what the problem is?"

Bobby and I both wondered out loud, "What?"

Trying to keep from crying he confessed, 

"I don't know how to read."

--------------------------------------

In other news, 

Charlie asked to say his first bedtime prayer. 

Yay for the good example of his older brother rubbing off on him.

Nothing like hearing a two year old's sweet little voice offer a prayer.

(with the help of mom and dad of course)

Stay tuned for an October post...hopefully before November is over.

:)

"Augustus...save some for later!" - Posted by the Mrs.

Since we left most of our furniture back in California we needed to get going on finding some furniture for our new home.

This couch was kind of a big deal - I can't recall the last time we bought a piece of furniture from an actual store. There was a bit of buyer's remorse but we got such an incredible deal that we didn't 'remorse' for too long.

The cabinet to the right was a gem of a find.  I had been scouring Craigslist for some sort of secretary desk to put in the family room so that we could keep the computer in our open area.

We found this at a fun consignment store and it fit the bill...and the computer.

Sandy Point State Park

An off-shoot of the nearby reservoir consisting of a man-made pond with water features to play in!

We had a picnic here and played in the cold water.

Sandy Point Fun...

Favorites of the boys.

All of these nature pictures were taken in our backyard...

on a beautiful sunny morning.

Being a Sugar-Nazi parent didn't seem to keep this kiddo out of the hot seat.

Pretty sure it's in the genes which means we have to seriously up the preventative care.

Workin' out in the garage with Dad!

Catching the boys playing in their own little boy world.

Catching Charlie making some important phone calls on an old cell phone.

This boy walks around on his phone and laughs just like he's on the phone. 

Pretty funny stuff.

Beautiful Craigslist finds!

I found some 70's college desks in a seafoam green. Bobby 'reluctantly' :) bought an oscillating saw and an angle grinder to get the desks off. Now we have totally unique retro kitchen chairs.

Duncan was pretty upset the next day when all of the chairs were missing their desk. 

He had big plans to play airplane with them. 

The Orange Lovely's.

I love everything about these chairs:

Comfy, Retro, Tufted, and Cane sides!

Bobby sat me down (or rather scooped me off to the paint store) and got me to pick a paint color.

I don't make decisions very quickly...

(if you've every been out to eat with me than you know what I'm talking about) 

so I was really hesitant to take this step.

But we're happy with the results thankfully!

Family Camp-out...in the backyard.

Complete with a campfire with hotdogs, smores, and sleeping in a tent.

The boys were thrilled.

Thankfully we didn't get bit by the massive spider that crawled out from underneath our mattress the next morning.

Sleepover!

Family Date Night:

All you can eat pizza.

My mom stopped into town for a few days and we enjoyed some uncharted territory:

The Aquarium.

Duncan spent probably 20 minutes petting the sting rays.

We saw a giant green eel, tiny starfish, and had the chance to pet a friendly iguana.

Next up with Grandma:

The Green Belt.

10 miles of friendly pedestrian trails by the river.

We sort of got disorientated (a term Bear Grylls uses) 

when we headed back to what we thought was the direction of the car. Thankfully we found a way back on a nearby surface street.

Don't forget the Nature Center!

We hadn't been to Salt Lake for awhile and decided to head there for Labor Day weekend.

See you in a few days Boise!

I got a much needed hairchop from my childhood friend.

It's always great to catch up on each other's lives whilst getting a new 'do'.

Thanks for relieving my headache problem Amy!

The fun begins:

scooters, sports cars, big wheels, and family.

A good combination.

Game Room Attack!

You can see that Duncan and Charlie made themselves quite at home with the Skee Ball machine.

Picnic at the park, nintendo, and 4 wheeling (in the church parking lot).

Playtime at Honey's!

Barrel tricks, swivel car rolling, cousins, and climbing.

Good times as always.

Stay tuned for more fun in Utah.

 ----------

A quick quote from Duncan:

We were having our bedtime routine chat at his bed and ended up discussing how important it is to play safely in the cul-de-sac that we live in.

With authority and surety Duncan suddenly declared, "You don't want to crack your head open, touch lightning OR!...get recycled.

 ----------

He's got a point.

Fully loaded July - Posted by the Mrs.

July was a busy and full month. Although we made a trip to Bear Lake and moved into a NEW house (yay!) we still managed to get lots of other fun things in too. 

I think it was mostly due to the fact that we were living in an apartment with the bare essentials. For 6 weeks we lived there and it made us very home-sick for...a home.  Since we didn't have much to our name while we lived there, we didn't have a lot of responsibilities to worry about. No yard work, no house work (it was included with our rent!), no church callings, so we lived it up and did a lot of fun things during this time. Getting out saved our sanity too, it's not easy transitioning to a small, dark (compared to our CA rental with lots of windows!), unfamiliar "home".

By the time we moved from that apartment, Charlie had completely stopped napping and learned the art of screaming at the top of his lungs instead. This occurred during nap time and at bedtime as well.

I am happy to report though, that sleeping at nap time and bedtime has returned since we've moved to what we happily call home, however, the screaming has most certainly stuck around. 

You win some, you lose some.

Catching Charlie with a pile of our books.

This was our "backyard" at the apartment.

Behind that fence was a super busy road so we couldn't send the kids out to play without being right there with them.

Yay for Bear Lake during the 4th of July!

Lots of cousin time, water play, and memories made.

Sandy fun too!

Duncan bravely tried out a new water toy that helps kids learn to ski.

It holds the rope so they don't get pulled off and it was behind a water-ski not a boat.

He did great!

Left: Cruisin' with Daddy on the lake.

Right: Uncle Ben stopping by to say hi.

Hanging out at the Downtown library.

Like a home away from home...seriously.

(OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit. The apartment wasn't THAT bad, but the library really felt more familiar and normal to me than anywhere we'd been in Boise at this point)

Visiting the Children's Museum

The Grocery store was by far where the boys got the biggest thrills.

In fact, all the children there loved running around and having the grocery store experience like they see their moms and dads have, though Bobby said it well when he stated,

"It's looks like Armageddon chaos"

People (kids) throwing food into grocery carts as fast as they could get their hands on it. 

No time for produce bags!!

A Leonardo da Vinci ancient pulley system. A massive traffic light to play with, science fun, and giant bubbles to make-

all at the Children's Museum.

The library comes to the park for story time!

While we were closing on our house, the fire department was at the title company testing the alarms.

This fireman went out of his way to bring these boys a hat and a sticker.

Our new home.

We've waited a long time to say that.

7 years to be exact but we've enjoyed the wait.

8 moves, 4 different states, and lots of life experiences later here we are.

I was hoping for an older home with lots of character and charm to it . 

This house was 'newer' than I would have liked but just walking through this house...

it was different from all the other houses we'd looked at. 

We felt like we had found the home that we'd been praying to find.

We are happy with this home. 

It has a lot of the things we were looking/hoping for:

3 bedroom, 2 bath (with a 'bonus' room above the garage).

A great square foot garden.

A 3rd car garage/workshop (Bob's wish come true)

Stairs (Duncan's wish come true)

The area/neighborhood is quiet and nice with more of a rural surrounding area 

(lots of people in the ward to teach us self-reliance skills like gardening, canning, etc. my dream come true!)

The previous owner took good care of the home and the yard.

The ward is very down to earth and made us feel welcome from the first day we arrived. 

The house is situated on a cul-de-sac which is nice for the boys to be able to ride around and play.

East facing backyard with a great patio awning. The backyard is the best!

Our 'stuff' that we hadn't seen in 2 months just waiting for us on the other side of that blue door.

Taking a huge bubble bath in mom and dad's jetted tub.

Playing in the sprinklers with clothes on.

"New"/old toys that haven't been played with for months.

Yay for entertainment while mom unpacks!

The life of this 18 month old summed up.

Mom and boys

Charlie's ready for driver's ed.

They celebrate Pioneer Day here!

No work off but hey, we'll take any excuse to celebrate.

This is Duncan with his kite he made at the Stake Pioneer Activity.

Starting the garage off right:

Costco shelves for lots of storage.

Thanks to those Costco shelves, we had perfect cardboard slide fun.

Obviously a hit with these boys.

I unpacked these boys' snowsuits and they insisted on wearing them to play fireman.

Not exactly July weather wear but they sure had a good time.

This was a library class we went to. 

Charlie walked right up to this library lady who was doing the songs and reading and sat in her lap for the duration of the class.

Love when these boys enjoy each other's company.

Our garden is growing:

kale, carrots, pumpkins, green onions, zucchini, and squash.

Next year we'd like to add bell peppers, tomatoes, concord grapes!?, mint, basil, sunflowers, and green beans.

I had to throw this in:

What I personally killed (with a fly swatter) one morning as I went to water our garden.

We haven't been here very long but we have seen some nasty big spiders already.

 Duncan and I have started what we affectionately call "Nap time Activities".

It'a pretty simple: while Charlie naps, Duncan and I do something together.

This is one where we painted with fingernail polish on cardboard pieces (old moving boxes) and listened to music.

Who says boys can't use fingernail polish. :)

Moral of the apartment life story:

The less you have, the more you tend to enjoy life and the people in it.