One Year Birthday Bash

We celebrated the boys' one year birthday this past Sunday.  Wow, what a year!  We became parents of twins, were sleep deprived for months, Dan graduated and took his licensing exams, we both started new jobs, moved from Omaha to Utah, and purchased a house.  Let's hope our lives are never that exciting again.

Seth was not a fan of his cake.  I finally offered him some gold fish and he was happy as could be

Brad was apprehensive about his cake at first,

but then he realized that it was sweet and we were going to let him eat the whole thing.

I'm not sure how much he ended up eating, but he wore a lot of it.

Uncle Mark helping Brad open his new book.

That morning we let the boys have their new trikes.

Our neighbors came over to sing them "Happy Birthday" before church

Party time!!  If you're wondering, I did cut my hair, mainly in an effort to make it look like my bangs have fully grown out.

Seth excited to have a new book.  Their favorite toys were the soccer balls, fridge magnets, and toy cars.

Vacation to the Boundary Waters

Dan and I went on a vacation with his parents and brother last week to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota.  The trip was Dan's graduation present from pharmacy school last year, but since I had twins my due date got moved up a month and thus Dan's trip got postponed a year.  The Boundary Waters is a National Forest area along the Canadian border.  It is canoe only and you canoe from campsite to campsite.  It was beautiful and a wonderful break from parenthood.  A shout-out to my mom for watching the boys for an entire week for us!

This is our amazing picture of Scott walking (or just being goofy) on water

This is what happened to the canoe when Scott got out.

This is what happens when you try to maneuver a 3-man canoe by yourself: a very wet and cold Dan.  You may need to blow this picture up to fully appreciate Dan's capsize.  Was the picture of Scott worth it?  For the laugh we got out of it, definitely!

Filleting fish is a dirty business, but they did catch some big Northern Pike.

This is at the end of a portage.  Periodically we'd have to get out of the water and carry everything across land to avoid rapids.  I very much felt like Lewis and Clark, only I had a sturdy light weight canoe and waterproof backpacks.

I think Dan secretly wishes that he was a twin. :)

Scott, Dan and Tim out fishing.

The view from our first campsite.

Tim and Janice rowing

This is the fish that I caught- yea for me!!

Afternoon at the Gardens

Dan and I both had the day off together so we went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens with the boys.  The tulip festival was over, but apparently none of the tulips were in bloom then, so we had perfect timing.


The boys look like they're fighting in this picture, but really they were giggling with each other.  They're both walking around furniture, so walking is just around the corner as well as their one year birthday which is on the 18th next week.

Adventures with Bella the dog

We finally had a successful shopping trip this morning.  The success is mainly due to the Teddy Grahams that I kept feeding the boys and that is coming out of Seth's mouth in this picture.  The boys love to stop by the pharmacy and see their daddy.

You've still got it babe, even after six years of marriage and some questionable fashion. :)

Talk about a power lunch, Seth was able to squeeze in a power nap at the end of mealtime.  The boys are down to one nap a day but apparently they can't decide if that's what they really want.

We watched my in-law's dog, Bella, this past weekend and the boys learned that dog food is not a tasty treat.

We finally had to put Bella outside during meals because Brad thought it was hilarious to feed her.

Busy, busy babies

Partners in crime.  The boys crawl through the house going from room to room and emptying drawers and baskets as they go.  You can already tell that they're best friends.

Need a quick and guaranteed way to annoy Dan?  Just feed his children sloppy joes, it worked for me as demonstrated by Seth :)

We thought that it's never too early to teach your children the value of work, so they have the job assignment of unloading the dishwasher.  Really, they're just fascinated by anything they're not supposed to get into.

What a good helper, Brad!

The boys' current favorite toy is the stacking rings.  They're excellent at self-congratulating and after each successful ring placement they clap for themselves.  At least we know that they don't struggle with self-esteem.

The basement is framed

The basement is coming along nicely.  All the framing is done and doors are hung.  The duct work will be finished next week, so now we're working on electrical and plumbing.

The view from the exercise room into the boys future bedroom

Under the stairs will be a play area, the bathroom is on the left and guest room is the middle doorway.