Sydney and Aubrey turn 3!

As promised here are pics from the twins birthday! We had my mom and stepdad up for dinner and cake. Since it was sooo hot in my house we went to my in-laws new beautiful cabin down the street. (they have A/C) Heres Sydney showing off her new hat and book from her Aunt Sarch.The girls had only a couple of gifts they had to share and luckily they worked it out really well. They loved opening the gifts and were soooo excited to see their treasures.

Heres my mommy, who asks me what I want her to get for the twins and she does, its great! This year is was a tricycle because we only had one and that doesn't work with twins.

Thanks mom!
We only had to relight the candles once because the girls quickly blew them out as soon as they were lit. They got lots and dora and princess stuff which they loved! Both Kelsey and Noah were really excited to pick them out a gift to give them. It was really sweet seeing how excited the big kids were about giving their gifts!
We were supposed to have a big family party today but I chickened out because of the weather. We'll get around to it later, luckily the girls will never know the difference.

So now I'm off to girls camp for the week. I'm excited but apprehensive, hopefully It will be great week for everybody!

Happy Birthday Babies..a day late

Downloaded the pics yesterday never got back to actually posting them...so here we are the twins 3 years ago. Aubrey in the blankie. Sydney is not because all 4lbs 15oz wasn't able to keep herself warm and had to stay in the warmer. Aubrey being a little under a pound bigger didn't have that problem. They were sooo little!Sydney enjoying her cake at birthday number 1. That first year was a special time having the two of them but a lot of work and really hard. I'd never been so happy to stop nursing as I was when they approached one and my ta-ta's will never be the same.
As a mother its natural to have concerns and worry about your children. But with twins you have a whole other set of issues. Will they realize their still special and unique? They'll always be compared to their sister. They'll always have to share everything including their momma. They'll always have to wait while I getting something for the other one. You get the idea.

Birthday number 2 those are elmo cakes. Isn't it cool how their shirts match the tablecloth? Every year they get easier and I think it was after this birthday I finally realized how lucky I was and I could fully appreciate what a miracle the twins are.

They are still demanding like that first year but in a different way. They've brought so much joy, love, and laughter to our family I feel very blessed. I ecspecially love to see how great its been for their big brother and sister. And while I know that will eventually end and the twins will soon be little pests that drive them crazy I enjoy it now when the want to be with them!

Stay tuned for pictures of yesterday's celebration and a glimpse at our a fabulous vacation to Joseph last week!

Lovin the Lake

We're up at Trillium Lake cooling off in the heat! It's beautiful up there, but this day it wasn't my favorite place. There wasn't really any good beach area to hang out on with the twins and where we were the water pretty yucky.My sister was with us and we walked what felt like half the length of the Lake trying to find a nice area to recreate but it was very busy with people alot if whom were trying to fish, which can make it tricky for playing in the water.
Apparently the twins would be happy playing in a mud puddle and were content to be outside and splash. The big girls however were having none of the cold, yucky water. The twins found sticks that they were pretending to be fishing poles. Very Cute.

There's my mighty fisherman, out with the boys. I got him a 3-man raft for fathers day because he'd been wanting one. He promptly returned it as he does all my gift because he was sure he could find a better deal used. Of course he did...10 dollars cheaper he got a fancier 6 man raft.

After my sister headed back and I expressed my unhappiness with the lake conditions, Nate, in his ongoing yet fruitless effort to please me switched lakes. At Frog lake we had some dinner and all loaded in the raft.

There was nobody at frog lake and the water and picnic area was perfect for the twins to folic. We all loaded in for some fishing and we even caught one! It was kinda crazy when Daddy threw the fish in the raft and the twins freaked out. But no one fell in or drowned and I consider that a sucessful outing!

Tomorrow Nate and I are taking the big kids rafting for the first time lets hope I'll have the same kind of success!

Have a great weekend Everybody!

The Enchanted Forest

Every summer when my sister comes to visit we visit the little park south of Salem called the Enchanted Forest.We've been going since our 10 year olds were little just as we went when we were kids. Here's the kids on the log ride its not exactly splash mountain but its a close second, the kids love it!
Here's my nephew in the indian caves a huge favorite among the boys. He's my sisters baby, even if he is 6. He's full of southern charm, always ready to give you a hug or kiss, he walks around singing songs and dancing, and it doesn't hurt he's got a little extra chub on him that you can't help but wanna squish!
The crew in front of the princess castle. For those of you who haven't been they have various scences from nursery rhymes including snow white, peter peter pumkin eater, and hansel and gretal.
Having a little lunch in one of the midevil type picnic rooms. It's no Disneyland but it has a certain charm that grows on ya!

This is the favorite of the park. The old women in the show slide. The kids go again and again and again. Aubrey was all for it but Sydney took some prodding. After one try, she was hooked. My sister and niece gave me a break from taking the twins down so I could take pictures. Isn't my sister pretty she's newly single so if anyone know a nice mornmon boy for her let me know!

My nephew Matt was so great with the twins, he took them in the indian caves and was their big helper the whole time he was here. The girls rewarded him with being his constant companians.

Western Town. We also went to the silly play they always have. They also have rides for big and little kids.

This is Sydney, the girls thought it was great. We always end the day with ice cream and the water show. My sister I were pretty wiped out but all in all it was a very fun and I'm sure we'll be there again next year.

I apologize if this post sounded like a commercial it was unintentional!

Splish Splash

My sister was here for almost 2 weeks and we basically try to pack a whole summers worth of activities in that time.This day while visiting my mom we ventured over to the nearby Happy Valley Park to enjoy the water fun. Both the big and the little girls are being sprayed by a nearby sprinkler, they found the water to be a little cold for their liking.

The boys however didn't mind the temperature at all! In fact Noah especially liked the way the water pressure... uh... cleaned out his shorts. It was hilarious and embarrassing to watch by the way but luckily no one knew whose son he was.

Here's Noah with one of his cousins having a blast. He really enjoyed having some boys around to play with!

I don't know who that boy is or why he's laying on a fountain strategically placed over his private parts with a HUGE smile on his face? Really I don't!

Cape Lookout

For the second year in a row we camped at Cape Lookout. This year we brought friends and family. My sister happened to be in town with her kids, Nates sister and her family came and his buddy and plumbing co-worker brought his family!Here we are claming. It was my first time and it was soooo fun! Everybodys busy looking for holes in the sand that will indicate a potentially buried clam. We found a ton and had homemade chowder that night for dinner it was very yummy.
Aubrey and Sydney will play in the sand for hours. They love digging and running around. All the kids spent hours at the beach and seemed to never get tired of it. One night we had a bonfire on the beach and they all played and played!

Theres me and my big sister. She lives in South Carolina and only comes once a year. When she mentioned coming this week I told her we have camping reservations and she was super excited because her family had NEVER been camping. So it worked out GREAT. She's a super big help with the twins, cooking, cleaning, anything. I love it!

A couple of my nephews. The red head is Nate's sister's son Daniel, and the other is my sisters son, Matt. We had 11 kids under the age of 10, 5 teenages, and two dogs. We ate tons of marshmellows, the kids rode their bikes and scooters everywhere, became JR Beavers, and you can see how fabulous the weather was.

Kelsey and her cousin Katie. They're 3 months apart and bestest buddies. We couldn't keep the kids out of the water. They are soooo crazy. We also explored tidepools and flew kites. It was a wonderful trip that we topped off with with ice cream at the cheese factory.

We all already can't wait to go back next year!