BYU Basketball Game

It's no secret I love BYU Basketball! We took Abbey and Bennett to their first game tonight at the Energey Solutions Center. I think they were a bit shocked and pulled their "stranger danger" faces for most of the game. Towards the end they started getting a little more into it. We had a great time...sitting on the front row with my parents AND we were on the Jumbotron-TWICE. (I admit, the second time may be due to the fact that I told the camera man, "you made my dreams come true by letting me by on the Jumbotron." I don't think he has many girls tell him that...so he scanned the camera over to us again! Or, it might just be because Abbey and Bennett are so stinkin cute...even when they aren't smiling.) I was a little over excited to get our picture with camera, and may be giving the Cougar Growl in the pic.

Birthday-Part 2

Just a few more pics of Abbey and Bennett's birthday.

First Birthday and BYU Basketball

Abbey and Bennett turned 1! We celebrated with my side of the family a couple of days before their birthday. We had dinner and the cousins all enjoyed fishing for presents from our "big fish". Jon was really the big fish and he hid under the stairs so they couldn't see him. It was a big hit and many of the cousins kept calling "fishy" because they wanted more gifts!

Of course, Abbey and Bennett each had their own cake. They were tenative about it at first, but then dug in and made a huge mess. I don't think they really ate much. Might be the fact that I decided to make a citrus poppyseed cake for their birthday. I know, what was I thinking! I withheld the poppyseeds in their cakes, but come on...the first cake a child tastes should be delicious and chocolate. Not citrus and not poppyseed. (In my defense...my good friend Debi makes a delicious citrus poppyseed cake and I used her recipe. For some reason, mine didn't turn out nearly like hers).

8 months...

I think I've figured how to post pictures again! That is what happens when you don't blog very often...I had to call my sister and have her remind me how.

Abbey and Bennett are now 8 months old and have turned into 2 busy bodies! They are constantly on the move-rolling, scooting, and army crawling (they haven't figured out the real crawl yet. They get up on their hands and knees, rock back and forth...but just can't seem to figure out how to make themselves go anywhere in that position).

Bennett loves to "wrestle" Abbey. He will climb right on top of her and it looks like he is "pinning" her. She doesn't seem to pay much attention and continues playing with whatever toy has her attention at the present moment.

I like to have "races" with them and put their favorite toy a few feet in front of them and then see who can get to it first. Our other favorite "game" to play with them is one we discovered at church last week when they did not want to sit in our laps. We gave them each a binki and faced them towards each other. Then it was a game of binki swap and grab. Each of them trying to get the other's binki...and back and forth...for about 10 minutes. We were cracking up! Although, I'm not sure this is teaching them the best concept of sharing :).

They love to see each other first thing in the morning or after a nap. It is so sweet to see them engaging with each other and the recognition.

Bennett has become quite the chatterbox over the past 2 weeks. Abbey has always been very expressive and Bennett has been more quiet. It seems like he has stored up a lot of things to say because lately he "talks" quite a bit. Everything seems to be called something with the sound "da" in it.

My friend, Hannah, watches them occassionally when I'm at work. Today when I went to pick them up she gave me a cd of pictures she took. They are SOOOO cute!!! She is so talented and I'm thankful for the pictures!!

6 months old!

It is hard to believe that it has been 6 months since Abbey and Bennett were born! In some ways, it feels like the time has flown by...and at the same time, I feel like I have aged about 10 years in the past 6 months! They are growing up so fast and they are hardly newborns anymore. It is fun to see them interact with each other, giggling, rolling and moving all over the floor, and developing their own personalities. Bennett is the more laid back of the two...and Abbey has a little more spunk.

A year and a half later...

Ok, so I know it has been almost a year and a half since my last post. We've been pretty busy with a couple of things lately :)

I can't make any promises about how often I will post because most of my internet time is done one-handed or on Jon's phone, both of which make typing and updating posts a little difficult. I DO have to thank my friends for updating their blogs...because I am a blog stalker. At 4 or 5 a.m. when all is quiet and I'm pumping, I like to blog stalk (again, I only have one hand...so sorry I haven't left comments or updated my own blog). I find myself getting almost annoyed when a friend hasn't updated their blog for weeks because I want to know how what they are up to and see pictures of them! I realize it is hypocritical...but hey, I have a good excuse, right??

Here is an update of the year...

Abbey and Bennett joined our family on November 9, 2009. They are growing SO fast and we LOVE them!!! I just know Gerber is going to knock on our door any day because they have heard the two cutest babies in the world are living at our house! I could talk about them all day (much to the dismay of my coworkers). If I can get time to post more regularly, I will start sharing all the stories on the blog as well!

Jon is now working as a realtor with Windermere Real Estate. He and I have an ongoing discussion about how to pronounce "realtor". Is it "real-tor" or is it "re-al-tor". If you are from Utah, I think it is the latter of the two. (Of course we also have a similar discussion about how to pronounce pajamas...) He loves this work much more than sitting in an office at a computer all day.

I am now working part time as a social worker at American Fork Hospital. I dread the time I'm away from Abbey and Bennett...and love the way they smile and kick their feet when I get home from work. I feel blessed to have family who have helped us on the days I work-Jon's mom, Deanna, Emily, my mom, Jen, Deb, Tiff, Chris...and even neighbors and friends-Suz, Hannah and Jennifer. We love you all for your help and support!! Abbey and Bennett are so lucky to be surrounded by love!

Our lives now circulate around baby schedules of feeding, playing, and sleeping. They are on a 3 hr feeding schedule during the day, so we usually stay pretty close to home. It is more challenging to take them somewhere by myself, but it is getting easier the older they get. We have been on a few outings without Jon...like to Costco (twice), Target (once), Dr. Glade's (4x for Bennet, 6x for Abbey), Grandma's (countless), Myken's, and Abbey's. We are ALL loving the warmer weather and chance to get out for walks in the stroller.

With twins, everyone always asks about sleep....which we are all getting more of. The first few months Jon and I were very sleep deprived-to say the least. We worked out a rotating schedule where we each took "shifts" taking care of Abbey and Bennett. I would go to bed early, Jon would feed them and then I got up for the next feeding. It could be pretty hectic in the middle of the night trying to feed them both at the same time, but it was worth being able to sleep a few hrs when Jon did a solo feeding. Their night time sleep progressively got longer and longer. Now, they usually go to bed at 7:30 p.m. and sleep (with a few interuptions) until about 7:00 a.m. Abbey is our fickle sleeper. She will usually wake up 2-3 times a night either wanting her binkie or mad because she rolled on to her stomach and is "stuck". On the other hand, Bennett, is an awesome sleepr and will often sleep until sometime between 5 and 7:00 a.m. They both still want one feed in the early morning hours (for Abbey this usually means around 4 .m. and for Bennett between 5-6 a.m.). I keep asking Bennett to tell his sister how amazing it feels to sleep all night without interruptions...but so far he hasn't shared the secret.

I know the most important part of this post is going to be pictures...which I will have to add later because I don't have my camera with me. Hopefully it doesn't take me another year to get them on here!!

Vote for Emily!!

So, I love contests and I love my sister-in-law Emily! As many of you know, my brother Mike and his wife Em have been through some really tough times Their first daughter, Lilly was born of a brain abnormality and then died 6 weeks later. One year later, their second child, Ryker was born. He had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome...completely unrelated to Lilly's condition. He had surgery when he was just a few days ago and passed away after being in Primary Children's for 7 weeks. In 2 years they have experienced tremendous grief and sadness. Recently, she entered a contest for a makeover and is a finalist! Please go to the website and vote for her. There is no obligation when you vote. You don't even have to put in your email address (just so you know they won't be tracking you down). She is very deserving and would love this opportunity. Pass this email on to your family, friends, Facebook pals, coworkers, post it on your blog, etc. and encourage everyone to vote for Emily! It is the easiest, quickest service you can do!! You can only vote once per computer, so EVERY vote matters!! The message below is from my brother, Mike. The website address for the contest is seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

It only takes a few seconds...and will make Emily's dreams come true!

With love,
Kat


Emily Gourley is up for a makeover:O.K so this is Mike, Emilys husband. I have appeared out of the darkness once again to post! so you all probably know about the makeover contest Emily has posted about, well voting started TODAY!! First of all let me just say that this is the first time in awhile I have seen Emily this happy! I know what this makeover would do for her, so please go vote! The website can be found on the side or the link is also posted right below! Now I also have to warn you that some of these other finalists are just as deserving as Emily with sad situations so just take a chance and vote who you feel is most deserving! Finally I want to thank you all for being there these past couple months, you have truly been there during our most difficult trials! You all hold a very special place in our hearts!Mikevisit seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com and vote!