CELINE!

This week Scott spoiled me with a night out at the Celine concert. What a treat!! The show was amazing of course. She is such a good performer and her voice is so incredible. All her songs are just classics, and I loved it. She had a good mix of some old stuff as well as a lot of her new album. The stage and lighting and all the technical stuff was impressive and there were some good dancers. It was much more like a regular concert than her Vegas show but that's what I expected. I loved all the dancing in Vegas, but as far as concerts go this one was up there! The show was wonderful and it was equally as wonderful to be out alone with Scott doing something so fun. A couple in our ward was so nice to come to our house and put the girls to bed and sit here so we could go. Thanks you Jones'! You are the best! Of course I forgot our camera, so no pictures to document the occasion. I kept thinking over and over about grabbing it. I'm blaming it on pregnant brain because it is shocking how forgetful I've been lately. I used to think that was all a hoax when people said pregnancy made them forget things. Then it started happening to me! Thanks honey for an incredible date.

Number three is on the way!!

I've been planning on posting our good news, and just hadn't done it. I'm almost fifteen weeks, so I thought I'd share the news. Everything looks good so far and we are definitely having ONE baby! The baby is due March 24th. We're so excited, especially now that I feel so much better. Unfortunately our first couple months in Cleveland consisted of me feeling really sick, but I'm so grateful that it has mostly passed. The timing was actually a blessing as well because Scott helped with the girls and the house so much since he hadn't started rotations yet. I literally couldn't walk into our kitchen a lot of days without throwing up, so it wasn't too fun for a while. I felt like a horrible mother, neglecting my girls and feeling exhausted. When I would throw up I'd try to shut the bathroom door and keep the girls doing something else, but inevitibly they'd end up standing by me and the toilet looking at each other knowingly and saying, "Mommy's sick." Thank goodness I'm feeling better.
Anyway, the thoughts of three kids at age 25 sometimes makes me feel like I'm crazy, but really I'm so excited. Life will be different that is for sure. I definitely felt like it was time and there was a little someone waiting to come to our family. We can't wait to find out the gender in a few weeks.

Are they only two?

Some days I feel like I definitely have two 2 year olds on my hands. Mostly when they are tired or fussy or showing the typical 2 year old irrationality. Other times though, I'm totally surprised by things they say, what they remember, and how well they talk. Here are some recent Conversations with the girls:

Scott was giving the girls a bedtime snack of ICECREAM last night, (They are so spoiled.) and this is what I heard from the other room.

Bella (in the middle of eating her icecream): "I'm gonna be right back."
Scott: Where are you going?
Bella: Costco.
Scott: Oh, what are you going to do at Costco?
Bella: I'm gonna buy some FRUIT SNACKS... and JUICE!
Scott: But do you see how dark it is outside? Who goes to bed when it is dark outside?
Maddie: Squoyls!! (Squirrels)
Bella: and Flowers!
Maddie: and Cars!
Scott: What about Maddie and Bella?
Bella: No, I don't tink so.

Scott got some new dress clothes from the Outlets malls today and he tried them on for me when we got home tonight. He came in and Maddie said, "Daddy is STYLIN!" I had to agree. Then I went and got a skirt on to go to the RS broadcast and came back in and she said, "Mommy looks so cute!" Thanks Maddie!!

Earlier today in the car we saw some stop signs and the girls recently developed an infatutation with stop signs. They point out every one they see.

Maddie: Look, a STOP SIGN!!
Bella: Just like Blues Clues! Its like a pentagon!
Maddie: Its like an octagon.
Me: yeah, how many sides does an octagon have?
Maddie and Bella in unison: EIGHT!

Fall fun

Here are a few more pictures from Patterson's farm. The girls absolutely loved playing in the hay. This is Bella after the hay slide.



Maddie rolling in the hay. (It made me itch just to watch them!)


On the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch and play area.


You can see some of the orchards behind. They have beautiful and delicious apples. We've definitely got to go back!


We ended the day with dinner at a tiny little restaurant called Yours Truly. What a fun family day! Love you guys.

Playing

This weekend we took the girls to Patterson's farm. It is a half an hour from our house and it is a big apple orchard where you can pick your own apples. In the fall they have a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, and what is called Family Fun. It is a big kids' play area with haystacks to jump in, sand to play in, slides, apples to eat etc. It was a blast. Our girls loves slides! We can't get them onto a swing for the life of us, but they love slides! Here is Maddie going head first.



Bella going on the really long slide.


Dad of course had to get in on the fun!

The Girls!

Maddie Sue:

Our little Maddie has become quite the character lately. She is a really good and sweet little girl. If she ever does anything naughty she always feels bad and says sorry right away. If I even mention going to time out, she acts like a little angel immediately! She is super sensitive and you can always tell when she is about to cry or get worked up over something. She gets this look on her face that is priceless! She has started doing silly dances all day and she'll just suddenly strike a pose and say, "STATUE!" She LOVES to sing and is singing songs constantly. She loves to go on errands with me and loves to go shopping already! She keeps me laughing and has an even tempered little personality that I am grateful for! She LOVES to wear jackets and wants one on everyday- even inside. She loves bubble baths and every night we have to sing the same four songs before she goes to bed. A round of this Hallelujah song, the Clifford theme song, I am a Child of God, and the Maddie and Bella song- in that order! She is usually pretty good about sharing with Bella-sometimes after a little persuasion- but she has a kind little soul. Her favorite color is definitely PINK! She still calls herself "Mimi" for some reason, but it is kind of cute. She's also getting a little better about trying new foods- especially if I tell her that they will make her body healthy like the word of wisdom says! :) (She has no idea what that means, but for some reason it works!) She is always concerned about where Bella is and what she is doing. If she wakes up from her nap first, she talks about going to wake up Bella and play with Bella constantly. She is such a sweet little girl and we just adore her!

Bella Joan:

We love our Bella! She is a little firecracker! She has become my little "buddy" lately because for some reason she ALWAYS wants me to hold her or sit on my lap. She always says, "Mom, I wanna hold you." (They kind of get the pronouns all mixed up still!) She loves to snuggle. She has developed her mom's sweet tooth- BIG TIME! I hope I haven't ruined her because she talks about having treats all day long. Right when she wakes up she'll say, "Mom- I wanna red Skittle!) She loves any kind of treat so that is usually my bribing method with her. She is a bit strong willed so if I really need her to do something I bribe with an M&M or something. (I know people think that it is bad to bribe your kids, but until they've had 2 year olds, I won't listen!) She has also developed a major OBSESSION with her pink dress. My mom sent these darling little pink dresses a few weeks ago and Bella absolutely loves it. She literally wants to wear it everyday and it causes major tantrums if I don't let her. I decided to just let her wear it over her other clothes when we're at our house, because I figured it wouldn't last that long. Well it has now been threes weeks of her wearing this little dress over her clothes EVERY day and even some nights over her pajamas. I thought it would pass by now!! Luckily she'll obey when I tell her we can't wear it when we are going anywhere! Who knew that we'd be dealing with clothing issues already! I've started letting the girls pick out what they want to wear a lot of the time (unless we are going somewhere that I want them to look the same and look cute!). Somedays they want to wear the same things, but a lot of the time they pick something totally different. They are growing up, and it is so fun, but at the same time makes me sad! Anyway, Bella is a good little eater and will try new things and likes most things. She loves to sing songs and has started liking puzzles a lot. She loves to dress up and be fancy (both the girls do really) and so we are usually wearing some kind of dress ups around. This picture demonstrates a typical day at our house. It seems like they change outfits 5 times each at least!

These girls are so good and fun. They keep life interesting and we love to take them and do fun things. They always amaze me with how smart they are and all they remember! I'm so proud of them and grateful for them in my life!

Lately

Well, I haven't been a blogger lately. I've just been out of the mode, but it is time for a little update. I still don't have a camera battery so I haven't really been taking pictures lately. I've used my old ones for a couple, but they just don't turn out that great.

So what have we been doing lately? Scott started his rotations and this month he is at South Pointe Hospital a few mintues away from us. He is on his Internal Medicine rotation. He has enjoyed it and is learning a lot! He is figuring out the way everything works at the hospital and learning new things daily. It has been a good experience so far and the hours haven't been bad. He is a hard worker and is doing well.

The girls and I have settled back into our routine of life with Dad gone during the day. We sure enjoyed his time off! We've been going on lots of little outings, enjoying the fall weather and meeting some new friends around here. There really are a lot of great people in our ward and I'm excited to get to know them all more. I am grateful that there is so much going on. Our Relief Society has book club, cooking club, quilting club, a card group- and there are always people meeting at parks or getting together. People have been really nice and welcoming and I'm so grateful.

Our neighbors across the street are wonderful. He is a Urology resident and they've been here a few years. They have four little kids and it is nice to go across the street and chat and have someone so close to borrow an egg or whatever from! They've already watched the girls for us while we went to a dinner for Scott's hospital and we feel so lucky to have them right there! Ryan and Heather Smith are also close by and they moved here from Kirksville. Ryan works with Scott and they have a darling little girl, Emmy, who my girls love to play with. There is also a cute girl in our ward who does hair and so I just got my hair done by her. I'm so glad to have found someone good! Quite a few other girls have invited us for playgroups or going to the park etc., and I feel like I'm making some friends! We're going to like it here! It always takes a while to adjust after moving, and it still will take time, but it is a good place. I'm also so lucky to have Jessica and Melissa (two close friends from Kirksville) only a half hour and hour away. We've met up at Jessica's in the middle a few times and it is always refreshing and nice to be with "comfortable" friends who I love! It is amazing how much you learn to rely on friends when you are far away from family. There is nothing like family and so it is hard when you are gone and can't spend time with them. Friends are what get me through all the time away- and will continue to get me through the many years ahead! We are really just beginning!

Speaking of friends- we had a baby shower for Melissa's new baby at Jessica's on Monday. It was wonderful! Kasey, Tana, and Margi drove all the way from Detroit to spend the day with us and Tisa made the trek all by herself from Dayton! We surprised Melissa and spent the day eating yummy food, chatting, and letting the kids play. There were 7 girls and 10 kids all day long at Jessica's. What a blast! It was so nice of all those girls to make the 3-4 hour drive and come. We loved it. Here is a picture of the little girls in Ellie's dress ups. They wore them around all day! Audrey, Clark, Ammon, Cade, and Grant were all cruising around too! Jessica took a picture of all of us, so hopefully I'll get a copy from her and post it as well. (We missed the Arizona Cohorts!!!)

D.C

We also went downtown and saw a few of the sights. We did lots of walking and the girls were troopers. I tried to give them a little history lesson about Honest Abe, but all they got from it was "Big Statue."



This is one is for my Dad. This is at the Korean War Memorial.


WW2 Memorial. We had to find Ohio of course.

Washington D.C.

This last weekend we had a fun little trip to D.C. It was only about a 6 hour drive from here so we went and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hammond. We loved being with them! Grandpa Hammond is the Temple President and they finish their three years the end of October. They are the greatest, most loving, spiritual people. It was a great to be with them. Scott and I each went and did a session at the temple. It is so big and beautiful.



Here is Grandpa reading the girls their bedtime story.


The girls wanted to wear curlers just like grandma! (Sorry Grandma- we just had to post this picture. It was too cute!) We had such a fun time playing and singing songs with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma of course fixed us the most delicious food too! I wish I could be as great of a cook as she is! We also went to the zoo with them too. We loved it.


It was so fun to see my old roomie and friend Taryn and her husband and meet baby Reese for the first time! Reese is so cute. She'll be a heartbreaker for sure! They are in D.C for law school, and live in a darling apartment in Arlington. It was so fun to visit and catch up! Thanks for letting us just show up at your door! We loved seeing you!

TWINS Festival!

The first weekend of this month was the annual Twins Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. We heard about it from some twins we met in Missouri so we decided to look it up. It turned out that Twinsburg is only 2o minutes from our house so we decided to go. The festival goes from friday night through sunday, so we just went friday and for some of saturday. It is so funny becasue there are like 2000+ sets of multiples all at the festival. All the twin sets dress alike so it was hilarious to see these two 80 year old grandmas or these 50 year old twin guys looking exactly alike. It really was fun. They had a dinner on friday night and there were outdoor games for the kids and this little animal show. On Saturday all the twins marched in a parade, and I have to say it outdid the Kirksville 4th of July parade by A LOT! It was really big and lots of people come out to watch it. After they have a little carnival set up with rides and games. They do talent shows and contests like the youngest twins or the twins who look the most alike etc. We took a few pictures but I can't get them off my camera because the battery is dead and I can't find the charger! Hopefully I will soon and I'll post them. It was a funny little experience, but I'm sure we'll go again. Yay for twins! Below are a few great examples of the twins at the festival...

Catching up

It has been a busy month since I last posted. It is time to finally catch up. This is going to be long...

After celebrating the holiday we spent our time packing up our duplex. We swam lots with the girls and our friends at the aquatic center. They absolutely LOVE swimming and get so excited about going. We tried to spend some quality time with friends before we all left. Scott officially had his last day of class and I am SO proud of him. He honestly amazes me and it is a huge accomplishment to have completed the first two years of medical school and done so well. He is so great.

Speaking of Scott, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It is crazy that it has been five years! We got a babysitter and drove down to Bevier for a nice dinner alone at the Pear Tree. It was delicious and relaxing. We don't have dinners like that very often! :) The great thing about being married for five years now is that I love Scott even more now than I did the day we got married (and I certainly loved him a lot that day!) The way we have grown together and taught each other has been such a blessing. We are good for each other and make each other so happy. There isn't anyone I'd rather spend my time with. Mahal Kita my Scottie.

The girls were born just two days after our aniversary so that means that we also got to celebrate their second birthday. We moved on their actual birthday, so we had a little party the weekend before because it was a crazy week with the moving. We had a teddy bear picnic at the park and it turned out great. The girls loved it. All the kids brought along their favorite bear and we made bear bead necklaces, ate pb&j's and a picnic lunch, opened presents, had cake, did bear dancing and a bear hunt. It was so fun. Of course it was more for me really since they are only two, but I love planning that kind of thing. They've been singing the Happy Birthday song everyday since and still ask to open more presents! For their birthday we ordered them a wooden play kitchen from an Amish man near Kirksville. He is really talented and we got it for a steal of deal (thanks to Kasey!) and it turned out great. We still have to paint it, but after I'll post some pictures. It will be a fun thing to have forever and a good memory of living in Amish country.

It is hard to believe that my babies are two. They are little girls really. They talk in full sentences and are so smart. They are still so petite so everyone thinks they are younger, but when they open their mouths people can't believe how they talk. They have incredible memories as well. They play with each other all day long. They fight with each other a lot of the day as well (they're two so what can we expect?). It is mostly just sharing issues! Not an easy thing to do at any age. Anyway, they love to snuggle with me in bed and those are the moments that I just adore because I love these two angels so incredibly much. It can't be explained. Happy Birthday to my sweeties.

After we had the birthday party it was really time to finish up those last boxes and packing. We had things done pretty well though. Unfortunately nearly all the kids in our entire ward got hand foot mouth disease. It was going around like crazy! We kept hoping our girls wouldn't get it, but they finally did. Luckily they didn't have a very bad case. It was just a couple fevers and blisters in their mouth. They didn't want to eat anything for days, but they didn't get the blisters on their hands or feet so that was good. But, of course it hit the day before we moved. Luckily my parents flew in to help us on the drive. Scott picked them up in St. Louis and they got the rental truck and came to Kirksville. We seriously needed them! It was so nice to have all the guys around come help us load up. It made such a huge difference and it went really quick because of them. We finished cleaning our apartment and then left our little town of Kirksville for good.

I was surprised at how sad I was to leave Kirksville. I think I probaly went to that Walmart over a hundred times while we were there. We loved going up to Scott's school and letting the girls run around and play in the ping pong room. We had so many good times at the library and the aquatic center with friends. I spent hours and hours walking the loop around the church and having quality chats with Tobey. We had a wonderful ward and made lifelong friends through it. Project nights at Jessica's and girls nights at Tana's were the weekly routines and something I looked forward to and needed so much. Kirksville became "home" and we will miss it- most especially our friends there. We were in a unique situation and time of life. Having so many close LDS friends going through exactly the same things we were was incredible. We were all away from family. We all were figuring out how to raise little kids. We were adjusting to being medical school wives. We all dealt with the freezing winters and the small town stir craziness. We'll never live in that kind of situation again. We loved it and will miss it.

Before we left a few of us girls decided to make a friendship quilt. Melissa came up with the idea and I'm so glad we did it. We each made 10 of the same quilt square and then we gave our squares to each other. The square all turnd out amazing and everyone's looks like them. It is so fun to have a piece of all these girls to remember them by. We all put our names on our squares, and when I sew the quilt together and finish it, I'll post a picture. We all got together and swapped our squares and told about what they represented. We all laughed and cried (me of course... I'm far too emotional) with Jessica the whole time on the cell phone and webcam from Ohio. It was a great night, and overall an incredible 2 years with these great girlfriends that I miss already. What an amazing cohort! ;) I feel like I've been so blessed at all the different stages in my life with good girlfriends. It is hard because we all had incredible experiences together and then the time comes when we have to say goodbye. My high school friends were wonderful and I still keep in touch with a lot of them. There is nothing like the high school years! The DJ Divas were SO fun and were another group that shared a unique time of life together. Those BYU days were the best! The same goes for MAHAK who will seriously be like my sisters forever. Now I feel the same with this Kirksville cohort and my "sister" Tobey. I know that all of these great friends will have a special place in my heart always. I hope we'll all have many adventures to come. Now I've had to say goodbye once again to another close group of friends. I know that there will be great friends to be made here in Cleveland, but that takes time and right now I'm missing all my girlfriends, from all my stages of life. I'm grateful for you all.

Okay, wow, back to the story. So we finally headed out of Kirksville and made the journey to South Bend, Indiana were Mike and Chantele are. He is there for the MBA program at Notre Dame. We spent the night there so we didn't have to do the drive in one shot. Their apartment is decorating so fun and stylish. It was fun to see where they are and to visit with them. We are SO excited that they'll be so close to us! It was only about a four hour drive to Cleveland from them, so that is nothing! They were so nice also because they hopped in their car and drove with us to Ohio to help us settle in. The drive was quite the experience with the 26 foot truck towing the honda and us in the Sable and the Lunt's in their car. My great parents drove the truck a lot of the way because the girls needed to be entertained in the car, so I sat in the back with them and Scott drove. Everyone was so helpful and such good sports.

We made it to our new house and we LOVE it. It will be so great for us. It is old, but beautiful and has a lot of character. It is so big compared to what we came from. The girls and I are getting used to going up and down stairs all day. We feel so blessed to have found it. It is in the most beautiful neighborhood. Shaker is gorgeous with all the big green tree lined streets. We love it. We've also had at least 6 or 7 neighbors all come by and introduce themselves within the first few days of us being here. EVERYONE has been so nice and welcoming. We live on a great street. A family in our ward lives right across the street from us!! The day we moved in was sweltering hot and humid. Everyone was dripping sweat unloading and unpacking the truck. (Especially because our house didn't have central air.) We had lots of neighbors come help and our family here. We seriously couldn't have done it without them all. My mom and dad and Mike and Chantele spent the next couple of days working nonstop in the heat helping us get settled. We were so grateful. We owe you all!

Since they left it completely cooled down and we haven't been hot at all. It actually has been gorgeous. It was in the seventies yesterday and we walked around the corner to the park and thought it was the best weather we'd felt in forever!! We still had central air put in though, hallelujah, because we now know what it can be like on those hot hot days around here. We went to our ward for the first time and it will be great. It almost feels like a student ward. It is mostly young families who are in residencies or medical, law or dental school. We'll fit right in, and there were a lot of really nice people. We're also excited to have the Smith's here, who moved with us from Kirksville. The really amazing part was that Maddie stayed in Nursery the whole time! If you don't know it, my girls don't go to other people very well. They are quite attached to mom. I just told them that Mom and Dad were going on a date and she stayed and was happy as could be. They had a lot of fun big toys like slides and stuff so I think that helped. Bella stayed about half the time and then they came and got me. I brought her to class with me and she fell asleep on my lap! She was exhausted because church is during nap time, and their schedules have been so crazy lately anway. I'm sure she'll do well in nursery also. We're excited to get to know our ward better.

So for the past few days we've been settling in and trying to make our house feel like home. The girls are adjusting. It was hard the first few days because we had so much to do so I was a bit stressed and wasn't as patient with them. Things have calmed down though, and I've been playing with them more like we normally do, and they are doing well. They keep talking about our new house in Ohio. They are still talking about our Kirksville friends and it makes me sad though. We've taken them to lots of parks, the library, and I took them to the pool today. It was huge and fun. They loved it! It is fun to have so many stores close by.

Scott's dad came to town on wednesday and they have spent every second since working on projects around here. There is a lot that could be done on this old house and they've gone to work. They are currently working on the garage which was pretty scary. It will be great when they are done with it. We are so grateful that Randy is here though. He knows how to do all this kind of stuff and it is so nice to get these things done. Scott and Randy are at a Cleveland Indians game tonight, so they are in heaven! I decided to have a girl's night out with Maddie and Bella. I got it all in my head that we'd have a great time going to dinner and shopping! (okay, they are 2 year olds- what was I thinking?) We did have fun, but it consisted more of me shoveling down food at the mall food court while trying to force the girls to eat their chicken nuggets and not fight over the icecream. They both started crying as I was trying to push the stroller with icecream in my hand and Bella flung her self out of the stroller and started having one of her tantrums on the middle of the floor. let's just say I was a little embarrased. Especially when this lady came up to me and asked if I needed help. Yes, she was just trying to be nice, but really- what could she do? Anyway, we ended up going to a few stores and having a little bit of fun in the midst of the tiredness on all our parts. I think it will be a bit more fun one day when the girls are older and we all get excited about going out to dinner and shopping together. Till then, I'm sure I'll keep trying!

Well, there you have it. A LONG novel about our month. It was just such a big month for us, that I wanted to record it all. We've made it to Cleveland. We are settling in and happy. We have had so much help from so many people. We are blessed and things are so good for us. We are loving having this time while Scott is off for the next month.

Also, as a side note- our good Kirksville friends the Moss' have been in in our hearts and prayers. They moved to Ohio also- to Massilon about an hour south of us. While they were staying at a hotel until their house here closed their moving truck and car were stolen. The truck was recovered but EVERYTHING was gone. So here they are, in a completely new place all alone and everything they owned is gone. It is all the sentimental things that makes me feel so bad. All of their pictures and those types of things are gone. Darling pregnant Melissa had spent an entire year hand embroidering and quilting this incredible primary quilt for her daughter and finished it literally right before they packed up their truck. Now it is gone. Anyway, I've just been thinking about them every day and feel so bad that it happened to them. We love you guys.

God bless the USA

We ended the holiday with a barbeque with our friends. We had TONS of delicious food and a firework show that was quite spectacular! All we needed was the "Stadium of Fire" song and it would have felt like the real thing. There aren't illegal fireworks in Missouri, so people had bought huge huge fireworks and Lots of them! It really was awesome and was so fun to eat, play games, and relax with our friends. Just looking at these pictures get me choked up thinking about how much I'll miss these girls! We've all had an incredible medical school experience together. I love them all!



Some of the kiddos...


Yesterday Scott put together a softball team to play in the city tournament. They played 6 games in a row so lets just say they are all a little sore. They had fun reliving the glory days though! Scott was cute out there! The girls and I joined lots of other wives and kids to watch the game.

Happy Fourth!

This was the first fourth of July in a long time that we didn't go to Oakley with the fam for the parade and rodeo. Holidays always make me feel homesick, but we had such a fun time here with friends that have become our family! We started off the day with a ward pancake breakfast. The girls were looking very festive for the occasion. (Yes, these are the same shirts they wore for the fourth of July last year!! I swear they are growing!)


Later in the afternoon we went to the parade downtown. No offense to our little Kirksville, but the parade was pretty weak! We asked Maddie what she thought of the parade and she said, "Parade had trucks!" That about sums it up... No marching bands, no real floats. It is a good thing it was an election year because if it weren't then there couldn't have been a parade! It was mostly people who were running for things passing out flyers. :) We all still enjoyed it though.

Take time to smell the flowers

I had to post Tobey's beautiful pictures of the girls in front of the temple. They love flowers. Aren't they gorgeous little girls? We think so!


Maddie


Bella


Bella

Nauvoo

We got to go to our temple one last time before we move. It has been an incredible to go to the historic Nauvoo temple every month. We have such an appreciation for those early saints and all the sacrifices they made to build the original temple. We have loved having such wonderful experiences in Nauvoo the past two years. The temple inside is so unique and beautiful. We'll miss it.


Luckily I know this photographer who got some great pictures of our family in front of the temple! (Thanks Tobey!)


We went with our friends the Roos' and Wilkins' so we could trade off babysitting the kids while we went to the temple. Here are the twins, Liberty, and Addie enjoying some PB&J.


"Painting" (with water) It is one of our favorite activities. If you get colored paper and just use water the kids think they are actually painting. Thanks to Tobey again for that great idea!

Middle Names

We have decided to give our girls middle names. That may seem strange since they are almost two years old, but here is the story. When they were born we went back and forth a lot with the idea of giving them middle names. We eventually just couldn't really come up with two that fit for them, so we opted for no middle names. A few months ago I got thinking about it again and for some reason felt strongly that I wanted my girls to have a family name to carry on. Family is one of the most important things to me and I think there is something so special about having the name of one of your forbears. It gives you a special connection with that person and it gives you someone to look to as an example and a reminder of where you came from. I love both of our girls names and think that they have definitely grown into them just perfectly. I wanted to name Madelyn "Maddie Sue" after her grandma. Then it hit me that Bella should be named after my aunt- my mom's only sister, Joan. As I thought about these two names I really felt a type of spiritual confirmation that they should have them. I wrote the girls a letter that they'll someday read that explains why these two sisters are the perfect namesakes for them. My mom (Sue) and her sister (Joan) are two of the greatest women I know. They are both generous, loving, service oriented, enduring, and most of all they have a great relationship with each other. I want all of these same things for my girls. I could go on and on about these two wonderful women. I hope that my girls will have opportunities to learn from them and get to know them well. I love you both!
We officially changed the girls' names on their birth certificates, so we now have a Maddie Sue and a Bella Joan. They know those are their names and they love to say them! They point to each other and say their full name and giggle and repeat them over and over. We feel so good about our decision to add these middle names. It just fits for our girls and we are so grateful for Grandma Sue and Aunt Joan.

Joan and Sue (age 9 and 4)

The girls with Aunt Joan and Grandma Sue in Utah.

The girls didn't want their pictures taken so we had to bribe them with Jelly beans- that is why they are making the funny faces!