Beach Haven

Hello from the Blackburns!  It's time to relive another 3 months of our lives as we tell stories and share memories.  So sit back and enjoy our mini trip down memory lane.

April began with a fun day at the museum.  For a while I had been seeing ads for the Discovery Gateway Childrens' Museum and thought that it might be fun to go.  So we decided that it was time to check it out.  From the minute you walk in the door, there are hands on exhibits.  The girls absolutely loved it!  They climbed around the jungle gym, sent balls around the room with air filled pipes, built cars, buildings, and river paths, and “flew” a helicopter.  They were showing us all the things they were discovering and running from one thing to another.  Then on the way home, they fell asleep.  It was definitely a fun day.

The next couple of days were filled with General Conference where we heard many messages from our church leaders.  It was a little harder to hear this time around with two 8 month olds, but we managed.

A couple of weeks later, we celebrated Aijah's 3rd birthday.  Man, they sure are growing fast!  She loved having her cupcakes and went for it by diving in face first.  We just laughed and let her enjoy her fun.

We ended the last of April enjoying our anniversary.  Thanks to Ryan's dad and sister, we were able to leave the kids and go bowling and out to dinner.  We enjoyed a meal at Applebees and then played for a couple of games.  I ended up winning in the end which made it more fun as it had been a while since I had even bowled and I was a bit rusty.  We ended the evening at Home Depot looking at parts for our gutters.  Although in the end we didn't pick any up, we at least got an idea of what we wanted them to look like.

In May, the first major activity was a “meet the teacher”.  As Enna will be turning 5 this year, we registered her for kindergarten.  Although we don't know who her actual teacher will be yet, this was an activity to get them in the room and see what is there, and to get an idea of what they should be able to do in advance of school.  Although she was shy at first, she got into the act of calling out answers that the teachers were asking I think that she'll be OK come August.

A little later that week, we went for a family dentist appointment.  We had a little bit of coordination fun so that we could make sure there was a parent with the kids that were in the chair.  Especially as it was Aijah's first time.  The nurses were all really shocked at how well that both of the girls behaved.  They opened their mouths without much complaint and sat stock still as their teeth were cleaned.  Personally, I think the main reason was because they were terrified of being there, so they wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.  As a mom, I'll take what I can get.  :)

To end the week, we had the fun of going over to my sister's house for dinner and s'mores.  Ryan decided it would be fun to watch our 9-month-old twins enjoy them as well.  So he roasted a couple of marshmallows and gave them to the twins.  They were automatically in love with them and immediately got all sticky.  Although Dallin didn't seem to like the feeling of the melted marshmallow on his fingers, he definitely enjoyed the taste.  They got to make a huge mess as well.

To round out the month, we went to a Cub Scout summer kick off.  While there, the girls discovered the fun of water bottle rockets.  Aijah couldn't get enough of them!  When we finally decided we were done and it was time to head home, Aijah was soaked; but smiling from ear to ear.

Summer and June came in full swing and it was pretty hot, but that didn't stop us from doing fun stuff.  We spent the first part of the month at the Tracy Aviary.  We watched the bird show, played in the water and sand, and hunted for the “mingos” (flamingos).  They were very excited when we finally found the flamingos.  Constant streams of “they're pink!” and “watch them go!” made a good ending to the day.  However, on the way out we had fun of seeing a peacock with its feathers all fanned out.  The girls liked seeing all the colors on its feathers.

As Emily was now expecting a new baby (a boy this time) we had a baby “sprinkle” for her.  Although not a lot of people were able make it, we had a fun time having chat time.  The twins had fun experimentally crawling.  They didn't get very far yet, but they were making some progress on figuring out the process of movement.

The last thing of the month was the fun that Enna had with Ryan as he took her for a 1-on-1 to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.  Although Ryan thought that the other museum we had taken them to had more fun things to do, Enna still found lots of fun things to do.  Apparently, she got extremely wet as one of the displays was a water track where the kids could direct how the water got from point A to point B.  She also got to climb, build, and toss things.  So she definitely got to have some fun with dad.

Well that does it for the start of summer.  See you next time with the Blackburner!
            

Happy New Year!  It’s me again.  It's amazing to think we are already ¼ of the way through 2019!  Time sure does fly.  Well, let's jump right in and relive the 1st quarter of this new year.
 
Unfortunately, January started off with some sad news.  My grandma on my mom's side passed away on the 3rd.  Although we felt happy that all of us had been able to spend time with her at Christmas and over New Years, we were still sad to have to say goodbye.

For the next week, preparations were made for the funeral.  It was decided that the funeral would occur on the 11th.  This was a slight bummer for me as that was my birthday, but they needed to set it on a day that was possible for everyone in the family to make it.  It just meant the day would be bittersweet.

We headed up for the viewing on the 10th and were able to spend time with multiple family members we hadn't seen in a while.  My Grandma Beach kindly allowed us to sleep at her place as my grandpa had a lot of visitors at his place already.  We spent the night talking with her a bit and then got a few hours of sleep.  I didn't get that much sleep as the twins didn't do well sleeping away from home, but I got what I could.

The next morning, we got dressed and headed to the funeral.  We enjoyed the reminiscing and storytelling.  The grand kids all sang a special version of I Am a Child of God, and then we drove over to the cemetery.  It was a bit chilly and overcast so we had to bundle up a bit.  Before leaving, all the grand kids and kids got to take a flower as a memento of the day.  We then loaded up and headed to the luncheon.  We again enjoyed reminiscing and remembering while enjoying all of the lovely flowers that had been provided.

Finally, we headed over to Grandpa Thorsted's house and spent some time with just immediate family laughing, playing games, and starting to help Grandpa go through her things.  We knew it would be a long process, but we figured we would get a bit of a start while most of us were there.  My family also made sure to sing Happy Birthday to my cousin and I.  Although we were with family for a sad occasion, it was still a comfort to enjoy time together.

About 2 ½ weeks later, we gathered together as family again (from both Ryan's side and mine), this time to celebrate the twins. It was their blessing day.  Due to the number of missionaries leaving, the shortened Sunday schedule, and the distance most of our family would have to travel, we opted to bless the babies after church rather than during the meeting.  However, in keeping with tradition I sang a song before the blessing.  We had a lot of family come and support us in this event.  And the best part is that they didn't even cry!  So I actually got to hear what was said this time.  That was a nice change.

Afterward, we gathered at our home on the next block and enjoyed lunch together.  We decided to have a potluck to help have enough food, so thankfully that wasn't an issue.  We enjoyed spending a little bit more time with our parents before they left the next morning to return to California and Virginia respectively.

As fate would have it, however, my parents weren't going to be gone long.  This was because a few days after the blessings, my grandma on my dad's side started having bad breathing problems.  They took her into the hospital where she later died.  She passed away on the 24th-3 weeks to the day of my Grandma Thorsted.  Boy, was this month turning into a doozy!!!

Again, funeral plans began to be put in place, and the funeral was set for the 1st of February.  Guess what else is on that day?  Yep, another birthday.  This time, my husband Ryan's.  Oi.

My parents flew back in, and funeral round 2 began.  We spent the night at the viewing, and then slept over at my Uncle Rob's house.  Thankfully, the twins did a little better this time around with the sleeping, but it was still a long night.

The next morning, we went over to the funeral home to have the funeral.  My aunt had informed me that it was my grandma's desire for me to share a few thoughts, so I spent some time trying to condense my memories of my grandma's life in a way I could share them in an organized way.  It was a little hard because of all the wonderful times that came to mind, but I was able to share my thoughts and hoped it brought some good memories to others that came to the funeral.

We then drove to the cemetery and bid our final farewells where we each placed a flower on her grave with our thoughts about her.  Another luncheon of reminiscing and laughing followed.  We all made predictions about what she did first when she made it to the other side.  Most of us figured the first thing was finding Grandpa, who she had lived without for almost 8 yrs.  I'm sure she was really excited to see him again.

As this time we had a deadline to get the home emptied as there was now no one living there, we gathered at her home following the luncheon and started making sure everything would be removed in time for the landlord to take the key.  Over the next few weeks, people came and took away their stuff until the home was empty.  It was a bit difficult to see the home empty when it had been so warm and full of life just a few weeks before.  I will definitely miss both of my grandmas, and hope that there won't be another funeral for a long time.

The month finished up with a trip to the museum of ancient life.  As the kids had done a reading challenge program and had been granted free tickets, we figured it would be a fun opportunity to take advantage of.  We saw lots of fun dinosaur skeletons, putting puzzles together, and for the kids, playing in the sand and water that they had there to teach about how dinosaurs got buried under sand as rivers eroded the surface of the land.  They loved that part best of all.

March started off with a fun event as we got to attend the wedding of my younger brother Nate and his fiancé Vicky.  We spent the morning in Ogden.  While I got to go inside the temple, Ryan watched the kiddos.  Afterward, we headed to the church building for a pizza lunch and prep for the dinner.  I was able to help my mom chop up veggies and fruits so that we were ready to go.  It was a lot of work, but good that we were able to help be prepared for dinner.  We then went home for the night.

The next weekend, Ryan was able to take Enna to Disney on Ice.  Although it took her a while to warm up to the ice skating, she eventually loved it.  Especially when her favorite Disney princess (Moana) came on.  She came home and told me all about seeing Elsa, Moana, and Maui on the ice.  I think that she enjoyed it a bunch.

A week or so later, we went to the doctor for the twins' latest round of vaccinations.  It was pretty routine, but it was funny because Enna asked the nurse if she was the “pain doctor”.  She laughed and said that she was unfortunately more or less true.   She then stated that she would use that as her mantra for the rest of the day.  Enna is definitely a great big sister.

Well, that about rounds it out.  We'll see you next quarter in the Blackburner

            It’s the most wonderful time of the year again:  The BHP holiday edition!  It's time to recap the end of 2018. Here we go!
            Just as usual, the first major event in October was General Conference.  However, with 2 new babies, I wasn't able to pay too close attention to the sessions.  It was hard for me to get used to having 4 children, and so I was pretty ragged.  But we loved watching our twins figure things out and how much that their sisters doted on them.
            Thankfully, we had a lot of help with the babies via the ladies in our ward.  They volunteered to take our older girls so that I could sleep, and loved to hold them on Sundays.
            The end of the month soon came and it was time for Halloween.  So we found costumes.  Enna decided that she wanted to be a witch for the second year in a row, Aijah wanted to be Rapunzel using the dress-up dress we had. Dallin was a clown fish using a knitted tail and hat, and Celeste was a mountain climber (we just put her in her snowsuit and called it good).  We then took them to the town square and the high school where the town holds trick-or-treat events.  On the way home, we did the homes on our street.  By the time we got home, they had a TON of candy.  I knew that I would have to monitor it carefully or it would be gone pretty quickly.
            A few days later, now the beginning of November, the kids and I took an adventure downtown for the annual reading kickoff that KUED puts on.  As the girls are actually old enough to be interested in the books for their stories and not just their pictures, I thought it would be fun.  And while it was fun, it was also extremely exhausting!!  There were a lot of people there, so making sure that the girls were able to explore while keeping them close and safe took a lot of wrangling.  I think that their favorite activity was creating air balloons.  They used coffee filters, fruit baskets, and pipe cleaners to build balloons and then send them up multiple times in the provided air chamber.  They were definitely entertained by that for probably 15-20 minutes.
            The other favorite activity they did was the Lego room where the blocks were half as big as they were.  Enna built a tower that was as tall as she was and then tear it down and build it up again.  I could tell that she was having a ball.  Meanwhile, Aijah busied herself climbing up and down the balcony in the middle of the room.  Before going home, they begged me to allow them to ride the train.  So we bought tickets and rode the train from the library back to our car.  When we arrived home, I put on a show for them so that I could rest a bit as I was definitely worn out.  I was glad they had fun though.
            A couple of weeks later, we had the fun of watching Enna in her first primary program.  She had a practice the day before the actual performance and did pretty well with her line.  However, the next day in front of all the ward she had a little of a freak out.  While she did say her line, right after she gave her primary teacher a hug as she was a bit scared.  It garnished a giggle from the ward, but I was proud of her for trying.
            Later in the month we had the fun of going up north to be with family for Thanksgiving.  We spent the morning with my mom's parents and siblings that were in town and enjoyed some breakfast with them.  There was actually quite a few family members there which made it extra fun.  I was able to see some cousins that I haven't seen for years.  As we had already committed with my aunt on my dad's side for the actual thanksgiving meal, we headed out to Ogden about lunch time.  There was a lot of family there as well, so that was also a bunch of fun.  There were lots of inside jokes shared and laughs at each other’s' expense (a typical Beach get together in other words).
            November turned into December and officially started off the Christmas season.  The first activity was our annual ward Christmas party.  As Ryan had to work, I was on my own with 4 kids.  However, the members of our ward were more than willing to help me out.  At one point, all four kids were in the hands of different individuals so I had to keep track of multiple people.  It was fun anyway though.
            As we got closer to Christmas, it was time for the fun treat of going to the airport to pick up my brother Matt who I hadn't seen in a little over a year and a half.  He was able to come over from Italy for a Christmas visit.  The plan was for him to stay with us through Christmas morning and then head north with my parents.
            After picking him up we had a nice chat and were able to spend time catching up on life.  He was able to tell me all about some of the fun places that he had been able to visit overseas.
            A day or so later, my parents came in from Virginia after driving for a long time and again a lot of the time was spent chit chatting about life and things that had been happening in our lives for the last little bit and playing a game or two.
            Finally, it was Christmas Eve.  We had the fun of hosting basically all of my family.  The only ones that were missing were my sisters (as they were both on the east coast for the holidays).  It was a bit crazy with that many people in the house, but we had a ton of fun playing games, eating food, and talking about life.  That night, we put people in every corner of the house.  We even had people sleeping in the kitchen!  We made it work though.
            The next morning, we spent about 2-2 ½ hours opening presents together.  There was everything from the goofy to the useful, but fun was had by all.
            With the gifts opened, we enjoyed some breakfast and then pretty much everyone took off.  We decided to wait a day to go up so that we could spend some family time.  It ended up being a good choice as some of us started feeling a bit ill.  So we took time to rest and recoup.
            The next day we headed up to spend some time with grandparents.  As usual there was a lot of activity at both locations, but still lots of food and fun.  As this was the twins' first Christmas, they weren't all too interested in presents, but that was OK.  We had fun watching them attempt to open presents.  I think they may have each opened one.  :)
            Finally, the month ended and it was time to celebrate the New Year.  Ryan had to work, and I didn't want to keep kids up until midnight, so we stayed home and celebrated individually.  It was so fun though.
            Well that does it for this issue.  We'll see you again next year!

            Hello all!  The time has come again for the Blackburner!  We are reviewing the end of summer and start of fall so let it begin!
            July was hot, hot, hot!  Normally this wouldn't bother me, but I was very pregnant and thus very uncomfortable already.  This was also something odd for me as even though my first pregnancy was about the same time line as this one, this one was worse.  My guess was because this time I had actually gained some weight and with twins coming, it was double the heaters.  I began counting down the days until September 6th (the scheduled C-section date).
            Luckily, there were activities to keep me busy.  The first was Independence Day.  We spent the morning at the parade catching candy, went home for lunch, and then just played together as a family at home until the fireworks would start that night.  Enna had a lot of fun riding her new bike to the parade and home again (her Blackburn grandparents had told us to open her birthday present early as it was a summer toy and they wanted her to have a chance to use it).
            About a week later, since we learned that my grandma's health was steadily declining, we decided to surprise her with a visit.  We made a zucchini cake and drove up north.  My aunts Dona and Steph were also in town so it was fun to see them.
            My grandma was excited to have some fun with Enna and Aijah and seemed to like the cake.  What was even more fun is that my mom decided last second to also fly in.  I didn't know she was coming until my aunt Dona mentioned she had landed.  I asked, “Landed?  Where?” and we all had a laugh about how I wasn't told about it.  Oh well, as mentioned she did decide last minute.
             The next week in honor of Pioneer Day, the two Grantsville stakes hosted a parade for the kids with a breakfast and games that followed.  I can't remember why, but for some reason I left later than everyone else.  Then when walking to the starting place, I went the wrong way.  So I went to the church to watch them arrive at the end of the parade.  One of Enna's older friends convinced her to ride in the tractor they had rather than on her bike, but she had fun all the same.
            After a meal of breakfast burritos, we played some games.  We pulled a handcart in a race, tossed buffalo chips (Styrofoam - don't worry), and fished for prizes.  It ended with a candy cannon (a lot of the candy got melted and tasted like ash, so not so fun in my opinion) that the kids seemed to enjoy, and then we went home to cool down.
            A few hours later we joined some of our friends at the Grantsville reservoir for some fun in the water.  The girls floated on canoes and tubes.  Fun was definitely had by all.
            About a week later, the hottest month of the summer came on:  August.  Our first adventure happened when a neighbor's rabbit wandered into our yard.  We learned it was in our yard by the neighbor kids coming to our door and asking if we had a pet rabbit.  I remembered that my friend had mentioned hers was missing, so I figured it was probably hers.  So I went outside to look.  The neighbor kids proceeded to chase it so that it was frightened under my car.  I had to stop them and tell them that bunnies needed calm, quiet, slow movements if we had any hope of catching it.  I then returned to the house for a carrot in hopes of luring it out from under the car.
            When I came back, I tried unsuccessfully to remove the rabbit.  She would come and nibble a bit and then back off when I tried to pull her toward me.  I soon gave up and decided to call the owner for backup (while asking the kids to stand around the car to encourage it to stay put).
            The owner soon arrived and after a brief back and forth chase, we were able to catch it under a container with the help of my neighbor.  My friend gratefully returned home with her pet.
            Throughout the whole endeavor my girls just sat back and watched.  Enna asked a few questions, but I learned she was a bit scared of the bunny when she stated, “the bunny will eat me!”  I turned my head to get out some giggles, then turned back and told her that rabbits were vegetarians and would not be interest in her.  She was still wary (as she is with all animals), but seemed satisfied that it wouldn't hurt her.
            The next week we had the opportunity to travel up to my aunt's ward so that we could sing with her in church.  As it was a song we had performed together once before in another ward, we weren't too worried about the fact that we hadn't had much time to practice together.  The morning of, we ran through it a couple of times, and called it as good as it would get.  The actual performance went pretty well, so I can't complain.  We then returned home to spend the rest of the day as a family (as everyone else already had plans for the day).
            Later that week we were joined by Hazel as her parents went on a date night.  Aijah taught her the fun of climbing on the couch (oh oh! Watch out Em!).  Needless to say she took to it right away.
            The last big event of the month was the baby shower that my visiting sisters threw for me.  I had already had one with family, but this one was mainly the ward.  There was a really good turn out and we were gifted a lot of diapers and wipes (which was greatly appreciated), and lots of cute boy's clothes.  It was a really fun day and I was glad that my mother and sister-in-law were in attendance and were warmly welcomed.  I felt we were finally ready for these new little additions to come.
            Finally the wait was almost over.  September came rushing in and we got the last things ready that we felt we needed to so that we could welcome the new ones home.  We had already scheduled the C-section to occur on the 6th (as our history proved that C-section was most likely the way the birth would happen).  We went in for our last ultrasound about a week before and according to the technician, Dallin (we finally settled on the name) was sitting right on my cervix.  The technician asked, “How are you not in labor right now?”  I just shrugged and figured it was just part of my body's quirks not to know how to do labor (hence always needing C-sections).
            The big day soon arrived.  We left for the hospital at 3:30am so that we could make it to the surgery on time.  We were excited and nervous (as we normally are) and before we knew it, we were being wheeled into the operating room.
            After letting the numbing medicine kick in, my doctor asked me if I could feel her poking me.  I don't think she knew I could see the reflection of her in the overhead lamp as she stabbed at my belly in a way that reminded me of Psycho.  It was hilarious and terrifying at the same time.  I just told her I couldn't, and the surgery proceeded.
            An hour later or so later, I was closed up and holding two new babies:  Dallin and Celeste.  We were happy that our twins had arrived safe and healthy.  As had been the case the entire pregnancy, Celeste was a hair bigger, but both were healthy and strong.  During the day, the twins stayed in the room with us and then at night we sent them to the nursery (as we knew we would need all of our strength to raise all 4 kids).
            A few days later we arrived home to screams of excitement.  Both of the girls gave lots of hugs and then immediately asked to hold the babies.  So we prepped two bottles of formula, sat them on the couch, and let them hold and feed their siblings.  I think they will be good helpers.
            We enjoyed the company of Ryan's mom for the first week and a half, but then sadly had to drive her to the airport and bid farewell as she had to go home to start work.  So Ryan took the older girls and drove her to the airport.  He then continued north to my grandparents' home to get my mom (we felt the twins were too young to go up quite yet).  She had planned to stay around and help for a couple of weeks as well.  The girls were very excited that they got to see both grandmas in one day.
            The rest of the month was spent getting into our new routine and getting used to low sleep again.  Sometimes all it felt like I was doing was nursing, but we eventually fell into somewhat of a rhythm.  One thing is for sure, life just got a whole lot crazier.
            Well, that does it for this quarter.  Until next time!

Hello all!  It is time yet again to relive another chunk of time in the Beach Haven Press.   So here we go with April, May, and June.

April started with quite a bang.  Just in the first week of the month we had all kinds of things happen.  I couldn't believe just how much we did in that short span of time.

It started on the first with 3 events rolled into one.  There was general conference, April fool's day, and Easter all in one day.   We spent the morning with my mom's parents, a couple of her siblings, and their families.  Enna and Aijah enjoyed getting spoiled by cousins playing with them while I got to relax and chit chat.

When the first session was over, we took the kiddos out and let them hunt for some Easter eggs.  I had to keep reminding Enna that there were other kids there too so that she wouldn't claim all the eggs.  I even ended up taking a couple out of her basket so that others would have a chance.

After a few more minutes of fun, we headed out to go to my aunt's house in Ogden.  There we enjoyed the second session of conference, had lunch, and hunted for more eggs.  Once again, Enna was very excited and had to be reminded to slow down, but it seemed like everyone had fun.  They also got a few prizes and enjoyed a few minutes playing with those.

The rest of the evening we played games, ate, and just enjoyed each others' company.

When we got home, Ryan was there from work so while the girls got ready for bed, they told him all about their favorite parts of the day.  We also sent out (at Ryan's insistence) a coded text to all of our family about the other part of our surprise.  What surprise you ask?  Well, remember how I mentioned we were pregnant again?  Well, we had actually found out at our first appointment in February that we were pregnant with TWINS!!!  I would've mentioned it then, but my dad reads these articles when we send them, and we weren't ready to reveal that fact yet (hi dad!).

Anywho, the text we sent was a picture of an Easter basket with two eggs inside included with the message “Happy Easter”.  The message was so vague and fit in with the day being Easter that I was positive no one would get it.  Ryan assured me that he was positive that his younger sister Kamee would, even if she was the only one.  And amazingly he was right.  While most people simply responded back with “Happy Easter” or not at all (due to how late at night it was), Kamee figured it out within 1 minute!  I was amazed that she picked up on it that quickly.  We had a fun chit chat with her for a while and then called it a night.

A couple of days later when it looked like most of our family hadn't picked up on the news, we made phone calls and sent more texts to see if more could figure it out.  Eventually, most everyone figured it out and told us how excited they were for us.  We couldn't wait until May when we would figure out the gender of the twins.

Later that week, we had the fun of attending the Jordan River Temple open house.  They had been renovating that temple for the past two years and we were excited to see the changes that were made.  Especially since Ryan and I had been married there.  We had been discussing the event with the girls for a while as they would be given the opportunity to go as well.  Enna was excited to see the temple and talked about it a lot during the days leading up to it.

They were a little weirded out by the shoe coverings they had to put on, but overall, it seemed like a positive experience.  Enna's favorite part was the double mirrors and Aijah's favorite part was smelling the flowers and playing in the fountain.  They both crashed on the way home as they had had a lot of excitement.

About 2 weeks later, our next big event happened.  Aijah turned 2!  She enjoyed being at her cousin's house that day opening presents and having cake.  She loved all of the bath toys that she received and couldn't wait to open them and play with them.

The last big event of the month was the celebration of our anniversary.  We have now been married for 5 years.  We enjoyed a fun movie night at home with our new blue ray player.  Here's to many more!

Just like April, May also started with a bang.  This time the big event was finding out the gender of the twins.  We ended up having to take our girls as none of our normal babysitters were available, but that was OK because Enna wanted to help “check on” the babies.

The doctor did the general health examination first as neither one was anxious to clue us in.  Thankfully everything was looking great and they were growing normally.  That was definitely good to hear.

When we were at last able to get a glimpse, we found out the first of the babies was a boy!  We would finally get to hand down the Blackburn name.  I could tell Ryan was excited even though I know he would've been fine with two girls.  Enna, however, was a little disappointed as she had been wanting two more sisters.  I think part of it was that she hasn't ever had a brother, so she didn't know what to expect.  Hopefully, by the time he gets here, she will have warmed up to the idea.  :)

The doctor moved on to the next twin and found a girl.  Enna was happy to hear she would at least get one of the sisters that she wanted.

After the appointment, we went out to lunch where we started getting texts from my mom.  We sent a picture of Aijah who was wearing pink and blue, but nothing else.  Then we just enjoyed our lunch.  When we were all done eating, we headed to the park so that the girls could “get some energy” (according to Enna, you don't burn energy running, you create it.  I guess she's right in a sense).  While we were at the park, my mom texted again.  We had fun teasing her with the generic facts like size, weight, and heartbeat rate and not telling her what we knew she really wanted to know.  You could tell she was a little annoyed with us.  She ended up calling a little while later to give us a “talking to” and to wheedle out of us the info she really wanted.  We just laughed and eventually told her and then had a fun chat.

We then started texting/calling the rest of the family to pass on the fun news.  Everyone was excited to find out and kept telling us they couldn't wait to meet the twins in September.  Only 4 more months!

That night I was able to go to my ward's relief society activity where I was able to let my friends in the ward know our exciting news too.  It felt good not having to be secretive anymore.  Many of the ladies told me that they didn't even know we were pregnant!  Not that I was all that surprised.  I never get very big when I'm pregnant so it doesn't show all that much.  This time might be different with there being two babies, but only time will tell.

The quarter rounded out with a “go with the flow” month of June.  The biggest event came in the middle of the month when we were able to go up and attend the wedding reception of Ryan's cousin Cheyenne.  We went over to their home for game night quite frequently and so we knew her pretty well.

The reception was fun and the girls enjoyed the ice cream bar where they were able to pile up the sugar on their sundaes.  The wedding cake was made of wheels of cheese (both of the couple were super athletic, so they don't eat much sugar), and there was a canoe to ride out on the pond with.  Ryan and I were even able to take a turn thanks to siblings watching our girls.  It was a nice little ride out on the pond and we enjoyed the time to ourselves-even if it was only 5 minutes.

We ended the month celebrating Hazel's birthday with my sister and her husband.  It was a bit cramped as their house is small and they had a lot of friends, but it was still fun.  Hazel enjoyed digging a hole in her birthday cake once she realized the cake tasted really good.

Well that does it for this quarter.  Next time you get to read about the arrival of our new little ones, so don't forget to check back in!

Hello again!  It is the start of a new year!  Boy has this first quarter gone by quick.  There were lots of exciting things that happened so let’s jump right in!

January's first big event was my birthday.  The reason this year it was so big was because we also took a test that day that let us know we were pregnant again.  Due to the recent miscarriage we had had, we decided not to share the good news until we had our first doctor's appointment where we would learn if the baby was healthy or not.  We set the appointment for the 21st of February and hoped we wouldn't say things to give it away too easily.

The next big event was when we got to watch a special message from our new prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, and his two counselors.  Although they wouldn't be formally sustained until April conference, I felt confident that they were the right men for the job.  Such humble, yet fun loving men.

About a week and a half later, thanks to Ryan being home on one of his weeks off, I was able to go to the annual Relief Society bi-stake activity.  We were excited to hear a message/music by singer/songwriter Kenneth Cope.  I really enjoyed the chance to be uplifted and be among other women without having to chase kids around.  I have such a wonderful husband!!!

The month ended with some home improvements as the new windows that we had ordered were installed.  It was thankfully a quick process and the windows looked great!  It was so nice to get rid of our single pane windows and put in double pane windows to help hold in more heat.  Hopefully, as time goes by we will be able to replace more of them to boost the effect (we were only able to replace the three in the front).

February also ironically started with more home improvements.  This time, it was us moving Enna into Aijah's room and prepping it to remodel.  For the first few days, the girls loved being in the same room, and we could hear them giggling for a long time after we put them in bed.  Once they finally got used to the new arrangement, they were able to get back on their normal sleep schedules and they only fight from time to time.

Then the work began.  We tore off the door and its frame, removed the popcorn ceiling (I will never understand that design craze), tore out the old trim, took out the light fixture, and rewired the light.  Once all the demo was done, it was time to put it all back together.  Ryan re-textured the ceiling, hung a new door, cut the new trim, hung blinds and a curtain, covered the broken windowsill with a new one, and put in a light/fan combo.  I painted the ceiling, walls, and closet (we went to the lighter colors of sky blue and lilac instead of the dark blue/brown that was in there), and painted the trim.  It took us all the way into March to finish as Ryan could only do work every other week while he was off, but it was great to finally get done.  We will be moving the girls in there soon so that the next remodel can start soon.

Jumping back to February, we had a fun time on the 9th as we spent some time at the park with my sister in Tooele, and then kidnapped her for a fun dinner night out as her husband was unfortunately stuck at work.  A fun time was had by all, and Enna loved having another adult to show off to.

Toward the end of the month, we picked up my mom from the airport.  Thankfully, she flew in before our doctor's appointment, so she was able to babysit for us while we went.  While the kids enjoyed time with Grandma, we went to our appointment.

We were happy to find out that our fears of a second miscarriage were unconfirmed.  Everyone was healthy and doing great.  Phew!  So now we had our official due date of September 20th (although we were told we could be earlier), and the adventure began.  Every time we ask Enna which sibling she wants, she always says, “sister”.  We'll see!

After our appointment, we went to my grandparents' house to drop off my mom and then stay the night.  Because my grandma wasn't doing well health-wise, we volunteered to take my grandpa and aunt to the airport to catch their plane to Israel.  It meant a really early morning, but that was alright.  After seeing them off, we drove home and enjoyed the rest of the day.

The following week, I finished off the month helping with my first canning assignment.  We took apples that came from the conveyor belt, cut the worst parts that were rotted out and then sent it on to become applesauce.  Although it was a long four hours of standing, it felt good to be able to help out.

Compared with February, March was pretty empty.  Other than continual work on the remodeling, not much happened until the end of the month.  Of course, then lots of things decided to hit all at once, so that was crazy.

After having gone north again to drop off my grandpa and aunt on their return to the states and picking up my mom to take her to airport the next day, we spent some time with my Grandma Beach as we hadn't had a chance on the way in.  She enjoyed watching Enna and Aijah run around and play.  We had a nice chat and played some Rummicube before she headed to a birthday lunch with her friends.

The next morning, we dropped my mom off at the airport and then spent the rest of the day on remodeling stuff.

A couple of weeks later, we went to our next doctor appointment.  Once again all good news.  At least on the health front.  Unfortunately, Ryan wasn't able to join me for this appointment as we had planned because our van decided to go kaput.  So instead of going to the doctor with me, he waited for the tow truck to come and take our van to the mechanic.  Oy!  We hoped it would be a quick and easy fix, but we had a feeling that we wouldn't get that lucky.

This also changed other plans that we had in place.  We had planned to go up to Idaho for the baby blessing of our new nephew, but without a car we had to stay home.  So we chatted with them over the phone instead.  We took that time to also let our family know about the pregnancy (finally!).  Most of them told us that they were already suspicious of the fact, but were excited to have it confirmed.

A couple of days later, we were excited to be able to spend a day with Ryan's parents as they would be heading home to California.  Since we live so far west, they like to stay at our place the night before they drive home as it cuts an hour off of their travel time.

We enjoyed a fun dinner, talked, and laughed as we watched Grandpa help the girls make sugar cookies.  Although we ended up with some slightly flat cookies, as the girls had A LOT of fun rolling the dough, they still turned out pretty good.

That does it for us this time around.  See ya next time!