Happy Halloweeeeeen!

I grew up with the Halloween Scrooge as my mother (no offense mother, I love you dearly). No, we tease her but she did great for having 7 kids :) So I inherited a little bit of that same attitude. But this year we tried to get into it a little more and we had so much fun! My sister-in-law Julie found Anna's costume at a consignment shop and got it for her and of course Jack had to be a Jack-o-Lantern! We have a list of 20 things that have "Jack" in them so he's pretty much set for life.. unless he has other plans and then we'll discuss it :) They were so cute and did really well playing along their first real halloween. Anna calls ladybugs "bug bugs" and she LOVED being in her costume. She even let me paint her nails and face which was really surprising. Jack wasn't thrilled with the costume at first but he warmed up to it as the events rolled on. We had our ward Trunk or Treat last Wednesday, then Friday we went to the Legacy Center in Lehi for their event, which is halloween games and trick or treating. We went with lots of cousins and several of Kirk's siblings. It was really fun.

Anna with her cousin, Ellie. Ellie loves Anna to pieces and always takes watching her very seriously. She even didn't paint her face and dye her hair because she didn't want Jack and Anna to be afraid of her.. what a sweetheart.

the whole gang

Jack and Anna on Halloween night. We went trick 0r treating down our street, which is quite a workout if you know where we live. They LOVED it. They totally understood that the candy they were getting were THEIR treasures. They took handfuls when allowed and carefully put them in their pumpkin buckets. Their buckets got so heavy their little arms were dragging but they would NOT let them go. I think Anna said "MINE" for the first time... look out.. don't mess with that girl's candy! They worked hard for their treats and really got into it. So darling.

Jack doesn't believe in unwrapping his candy before he eats it.

Yummy chocolate.. I have to agree! They're not old enough to realize that Mom and Dad are skimming off the top!

And I had to throw this in for good measure... I'm pretty sure the "terrible two's" have arrived.. this is a regular occurrence here these days. He's got it down. look out Mama!

Family Torture.. er Pictures!!

We had our family photos taken at the end of May! I know you're totally surprised it took me this long to post them :) It was raining on and off throughout our session, so that made it interesting! It's pretty tricky to get these two to look at a camera at all, let alone at the same time.. But I think we have some fun ones!

Thanks to our good friend Niki Ekberg for taking such beautiful pictures. To see more of her work please visit her blog here

I've always loved the couch in the orchard look.. I think it turned out pretty cool! This orchard is in Provo by the state hospital.

Anna was super cranky and hardly smiled all night.. she was cold and hungry and tired! But still beautiful.

My cute family.. I love them so much.

She's totally chewing on a goldfish cracker here :) haha!

I love this one of the two of them!

And this is my FAVORITE of Jack!! talking to his monkey. It is so HIM! he is such a sweet boy oh we just love him.

This is classic.. She's had it.. teary eyed and her flower is hanging on by a thread!

Am I really lucky enough to be these cuties' mom??

It's Moments Like These....

That make it all worth it.

They are starting to play so cute together and it makes me so happy! I hope they will be such great friends forever. My cuties!

A little of this and that

Like big brother, like little sister! Troublemakers!

(but so darling)

Were you Jimmered? We sure were. We had some friends over for dinner the other day and they confessed that they were NOT. We were stunned. Come on guys! It was a fun year for BYU Basketball. Kirk went with my dad and brothers to Vegas to the MW conference and had a blast. So glad he got to go. It was a well needed and deserved break.

Grandma Perrins stayed with me while Kirk was in Vegas for 4 days. We loved every minute. I love this picture of her and Anna. Anna is so beautiful and so is my mom!

Oh Jack.. must you eat everything? He's thinking at least there's an upside to being locked out of this cabinet. Tasty rubber band!

Anna and Dad in front of her awesome billboard. It's all blownout in this pic but we were lucky to get it, it only came around every 10 minutes. So fun!

Jack LOVES Kiki. She loves to hate him. He loves to snuggle with her and she puts up with it for as long as she can stand, bless her heart. He is so sweet and loving.

OK.. That's it! :)

Walk This Way... Scoot This Way

Every time I want to upload a video to blogger I can never remember how to get it out of iphoto in a compatible version.. ugh! But I finally figured it out.

Jack is walking!!! finally :) He took his first steps about a week and 1/2 ago and he's getting pretty good at it. I have never seen a kid so excited to take their first steps in my life. He was just bouncing off the walls. His cheeks were rosy pink from the workout and he was so hot that we had to strip him down! Oh he is so cute. And of course I couldn't keep my mouth shut so you have to hear me in the background... how embarrassing.

Anna is doing the most hilarious scoot! She is army crawling too and getting ready to crawl on hands and knees.. but when she's on her bum this is how she gets around and it kills me EVERY time. So funny!! She isn't brave enough to get herself down from the sitting position on her own yet, but she's learning fast.

Our Little Cover Girl

Anna has this cute little claim to fame! She is on the cover of this year's Chocolate Extravaganza invitation and will also be featured on their billboard! Fun huh??? I used to be involved in the planning of this special event (charity gala) when I worked at the Foundation at the hospital. But since Kirk's design agency still donates the graphic design work when they needed a little one for the cover of this year's stuff we were all kind of excited to volunteer Anna! She doesn't look too thrilled necessarily in this photo but I think it's the perfect face :) We think it's all pretty exciting!

The billboard she will appear on is just west of the freeway before the University Parkway exit in Orem. It is an electronic billboard that rotates 4 or so different ads so you have to catch it at the right time. It should start showing this week! (this photo is a rendering)

My Babies Aren't Babies Anymore!

Well since I'm tired of starting every post with a comment about how I can't believe how long it's been.. I won't this time.. hehehe.

I was talking to my sister today and she reminded me that I really needed to post pictures of the kids, she couldn't even picture what they looked like! How sad.

Jack & Anna are AWESOME! We spend all day playing together. We have a lot of fun. They are both growing and learning so quickly. They are so smart and beautiful.

Jack is 13 1/2 months. He is crawling at lightning fast speeds and getting into EVERYTHING! He walks with support from his shopping cart toy, or walks along the couch or anything as long as he has something to hold on to. He is so happy and loving. He knows the word "kiss" and loves getting and giving them. He loves his family so much. His favorite things to do are steal Anna's binkeys, toys and bottles and get chased, get into drawers and cupboards, drink milk, give hugs and kisses, read books, give high fives and torture the cat. He loves to do anything that will get him in trouble and have me after him.. getting the remotes controls are the TOP prize. He is so proud when he gets them in his little hands. He loves to play with Anna, but often just ends up beating on her.. She is getting much better at taking it and is getting good at fighting back :) He is our boy and we love LOVE him!

Anna is 9 months old and getting SO chubby. Her head is in the 90% :) Very big brains. She is SO fun and funny. She cried for the first 5 months and she is making up for it now by being a pretty much perfect angel. She has the cutest laugh and smile but she makes you work for it. She is very independent and likes her space. She sits on the floor and entertains herself SO well, it's amazing. She is smart and loves to read books and turn the pages. She is a very good eater and loves to try new foods. She loves her big brother. She gets so excited when he crawls over to her. If she's tired though she'll sound the alarm when he gets too close because she knows he's coming to steal her toys. She hates to be fidgeted with (rolling up her sleeves, wiping her face, etc). She can turn that cry on and off I tell ya. She's our little girl and both she and her brother pretty much rule the roost. But we don't mind.

Jack has really struggled with his asthma this winter. We have been so homebound. He's had cold after cold after cold. They are really hard on him and he has to have steroids and lots of medicine to treat him because he gets very wheezy. He seems to be tolerating all the meds better with each cold and we hope things will let up soon. I have a hard time being in the house so much and not being able to go anywhere. I'm trying to keep my spirits up but it's hard sometimes. I'm doing alright though and we have really good days more than bad. I have lots of help still from family and it saves me!

Well I didn't want to make this long so I'll quit! But it does feel good to check in with the world, although I'm sure the world has stopped checking in on me by now :) Don't give up on me.. I'm trying! I think I won't even know how to act if I ever go in public again! So sad.

Here are some of my favorite pics of late:

Anna is so pretty in pink with her big blue eyes.

Have you ever seen a more handsome boy? I mean really... have you?

Dumping out the toy bin is a daily ritual.

Anna Banana in December

Jack offering to help get her out of her seat :)

just playing on the floor.. also a daily ritual.

Good night!

In a Nutshell... again with the nutshell!

Well there's just no way I can catch up on all the stuff I've missed in the last several months. I haven't even checked blogs for so long. I am so out of the loop! So much has happened, and I will try to be brief.. hehehehe.

What's been going on at our house, besides obviously being swamped with our two beautiful babies (these pics are from my phone so they're aren't the best quality):

Jack was in the hospital in July with wheezing. He only had a cold but his wheezing got so bad (plus he was throwing up a lot and couldn't keep enough down) that he had to be admitted.. it is too early to tell but he might have Asthma, poor baby. He was such a good boy at the hospital and all the nurses fell in love with him.. who wouldn't?? He was so happy the whole time he was sick, well besides the fact that he slept NEVER, that's why I didn't realize how sick he was. Poor Jack hated the IV and the oxygen, his first night was pretty rough. But we got him better and then he got another cold later and the wheezing started again. No hospital this time thankfully. He is now on a daily inhaled steroid to help keep his breathing under control and so far seems to be working ok. He has good days and bad but it helps to know what to do now as we are getting more familiar with the symptoms.

We had Jack sealed to us on July 31st! It was such an amazing and special day. He was so happy when he was brought into the sealing room and saw the room full of some of his biggest fans. We are so blessed to have him and we love him so so sooooo much!! He is truly the most special little baby boy. It was so neat to be in the sealing room and have Anna there with us and to be supported by so many friends and loved ones. We will never forget it! Anna and Jack were both blessed the following day. Kirk gave them beautiful blessings. Jack's birth mom and grandparents were there to participate with us all weekend as well which was really great. We can't believe we've come this far and that we have TWO BABIES. Whew!

This is a pic of Anna the other day. She has grown and changed so much. She is a really funny girl. She is very particular about things. She's one of those babies that has to be held standing up, rocking, and she does NOT like people in her face! She is really really cute. Her little personality is really starting to blossom and it has been so fun! She is catching up with brother in a lot of ways and they are really noticing each other. She is rolling over and is totally obsessed with her hands. She thinks they are the coolest thing she's ever seen and she can't take her eyes off of them..... they just do so many awesome tricks! She talks a lot and she outbursts every now and then with like a giant loud sigh/yell.. it's so funny. She is smiling a lot and I have to say she loves her mommy :) I have gotten her laughing a few times and it is the cutest thing ever. She cries when she is tired and until last night the bottle is her binkey. She likey. last night for some magical reason she took a binkey at bedtime! I couldn't believe it. She sucked on in for about 30 minutes then when it fell out she cried but hey.. that's a miracle folks! Maybe there's hope for us afterall :)

This is a picture of Jack taken today. Is he the handsomest or what? He is sitting up obviously and getting pretty darn good at it. He was trying so hard to pull that sock off it was hilarious. Everything still goes in his mouth. He is a very happy boy still. He is teething now which doesn't make him very happy though. He already has his bottom two teeth and he's working on his top two. He isn't loving it so much but he's still so sweet about it. He is army crawling and he can really move! He talks a ton and sings (I think it's singing). He can feed himself finger foods. He gets so excited to see his dad when he comes home. He also loves to see people he recognizes like his grandparents and family members. He is still my snuggly boy. He also loves his mommy :) What can I say, I'm the best!

This picture of Anna was about 6 weeks ago.. SOOOOO CUTE!!!!

Just a hilarious picture of my boy. He cracks me up. He weighs 24.7 pounds.. yah, he's a bruiser!

This picture is sideways but this was them the other day.. all piled up on each other. I'm the referee. I have a feeling that will be my role for many more years to come :) The routine at our house is pretty non-stop. Up at 7-7:30; bottles, breakfast, diapers, clothes, play with mom; naps at 9-9:30; those don't last too long unfortunately.. then it's playtime again, bottles, diapers, lunch with solids, go for a walk maybe; 1 p.m naps; one of them will inevitably not sleep long so I'll play with that one and get them down again just in time for the other to wake up.. then we just hang on til dad gets home and it's bedtime at 7! oh wait we're not done.. it's up to feed Anna whenever she wakes up, and since she's up she might as well be wide awake for 2 hours... and comforting Jack several times a night because his teeth hurt and he cries a lot in his sleep and happens to be in our bedroom. Do I sound like I'm complaining? I'm totally not :)

I stink at nutshells. This was a lot longer than I had planned. I sure miss everyone. I am consumed--I love my babies--but I am consumed by them! It takes all the mental, physical and emotional energy I have to make it through my day, day after day. I still have lots of help though from my awesome family. I couldn't do it without them. It is getting easier but it is still a ton of work. We are happy even though we are exhausted. Jack and Anna are both so sweet and special. We love them so much!!!

I will try to write again soon.. Our downstairs is almost finished!!! we have carpet on the way people! I need to post about that, and also the whole month I spent at my parent's house in WA.. :)

Funny Jack

It's SO CONTAGIOUS!!

Our Crazy LIfe!

The babies.. yes plural.. crazy... are asleep for a minute and I thought I'd post a quick update even though I should be doing laundry or something :) Anna is almost three weeks old! It's scary how fast time is going.. and literally all it feels like I do is feed babies. Feed one, then the other, play with them, put them down for a quick nap, change diapers and do it all over again. Every three hours. I feel like my head is buried in the sand as far as the outside world is concerned. I hardly even know what's going on with my own family! I know, I asked for this and I'm not really complaining.. I'm just saying how it is :) it wonderful to have these precious ones in our lives. I'm trying not to wish the time away because it is already going fast.. I think I could just really use some sleep or a minute out of the house. I do feel like it's getting better every day and I'm getting a handle on things. Well I feel like that most of the time, and then we have our moments where they gang up on me for hours on end, both demanding equal attention and then I fall apart :) But I have tons of help. Friends and family and neighbors come over every day to help me. Usually someone comes in the morning and someone else in the afternoon. I could NOT do it without the help. Well I guess I could, but I would go insane and I really don't want to be insane.. so instead I have had to learn to suck it up and ask for help and it has made all the difference for me. I can't believe how generous people are to come and help me. Bless them. They make me happy and bring calm and peace and order with them. They are a gift from my Father in Heaven who I know is watching over us and helping us every step of the way.

OK enough of my super serious side. I'm still quite emotional as you can probably tell :) But like I said, getting better every day.

Here is Anna on her two week birthday! She is so beautiful. She would NOT wake up :)

She woke up the next day

These kids are 4 1/2 months apart??? Ha ha Jack is So huge. But oh so handsome and lovable.

Kirk is SUCH a sweet Dad. He takes good care of us all and has a lot of fun playing with the babes.

Oh my Jack. This boy just melts me. MELTS me I tell ya.
He held his own bottle the other day! It was so cute. It was a one time thing :) He's big but he's still just a baby.

So that's pretty much what's going on in our lives right now. Feeding babies :) I will be pretty bad at keeping in touch for a long time I think. It makes me sad but it's all I can do to get even a shower! But hurray for having two beautiful babies! How lucky are we?