It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Yes I know that is a Christmas song but I think the most wonderful time of the year is now! I love Christmas, but this late spring/early summer is such a beautiful time. And I love it in Provo. Here are a few of my favorite things about this time of year.

- Waking up to birds chirping
- How green the mountains are
- The smell of lilacs (best smell in the world!)
- The hot sun shining down but it's still cool enough to be outside
- Seeing the blossoms turn into big green leaves
- Tulips
- The clear blue sky
- Seeing tons of people outside just enjoying the weather
- Being able to wear flip flops
- Leaving the windows open in the house for some fresh air
- Rivers running high
- Seeing baby animals outside
- Going on walks with my husband at night
- Driving in the car with the windows rolled down
- Mt. Timpanogas still snow capped




Seriously, it is so easy to be happy when these are the things that I'm surrounded by. I am so grateful for the beauties of the earth!

Tribute to Timpview

As this was our very last day of class at Timpview, I wanted to write a few highlights and special times that I will always remember of our year here.

1: St. George Tour with all the teams
2: The extreme unity and focus of the teams at Nationals and being able to watch them do amazingly after countless hours of hard work.
3: Getting nice emails from parents or students
4: The baby shower that was thrown for me just a few weeks ago
5: Watching the Student Choreography Night from the audience
6: Signing their yearbooks
7: Teaching private lessons and watching them improve and get better
8: Watching little romances throughout the year (of course they thought we were oblivious :) )
9: Painting the room blue at the beginning of the year
10: Enjoying an organized, clean office
11: Having faculty like Kim, Susan, Michelle, Cliff and others welcome us and always be so friendly
12: Going to sleep on Saturday night after Thunderball, Winter Concert, and Spring Concert.
13: Burger Supreme with team members (a little embarrassing with how loud they were, but we left before anyone got kicked out)
14: Being forced to kiss each other in front of everyone
15: Using a microphone after weeks of my voice hurting at the end of the day
16: Starting a new winter semester with no latin class
17: How everyone would call it "Story Time" when we sat down to talk. It usually was not as interesting as they probably would have hoped.
18: Talking with Tia about everyone at home (all good things of course)
19: Competing in November and having a supportive little cheer section from the students
20: Students that would stay after they needed to or come in to help extra not because they wanted anything, but because they sincerely wanted to help.
21: Varsity California Tour
22: Hearing Tia say things that Lee (our old coach) used to say that we would always laugh at Lee for.
23: Announcing we were having a baby to the teams
24: Watching how well accepted the team was at basketball games and assemblies. The crowd loved them.
25: Teaching the social dance class try dance for the very first time
26: Seeing the mirror with a bunch of different messages, mostly love notes, from the students written on it.

Thanks for the memories! We don't have very many pictures but here are a few...

Things I got at the baby shower they threw for me.

Living it Up!

I was telling Becky (my sister) that I haven't updated the blog because every time I update it I want to talk about our babies and I don't want to become one of those people that can't talk about anything but their children. I will put up a non-baby post in the near future, but she let me know that people wanted to hear about it so I'll risk sounding like someone who isn't aware of anything but her kids...

I had an ultrasound yesterday and it was so cute to see the babies again! We learned a few things
1. They are the same size right now: ~1.5 lbs
2. The lining in between each of their sacs is very thick, meaning they are probably fraternal.
3. One is head down, and one is head up.
4. She kept commenting on how much they were moving! (and I can feel them so much!)
5. Unless there is a huge health concern, they never induce twin births, so I really have no idea when these little girls are coming in August.

As far as the blog title is concerned, Tia and I are truly living it up. We have been trying to take advantage of any time we have to do something fun together, any time we have to sleep, and any time we have to go out somewhere. Besides finishing up at Timpview and Tia looking hard for a job, we have kind of been party animals in a lot of ways. We like watching movies together late at night, sleeping in on weekends, spontaneously going out for dinner, going on hikes or walks together at this beautiful time of year, watching music videos together, etc. We are trying to enjoy these last few months of our own time together. We have minimal responsibilities, a lot of freedom, and free time where we aren't exhausted. While we are so so so excited for our babies, we know this period of our life is special and it will all change in a few months...

Shock of A Lifetime!

Two heads, TWINS!

Twin B

Twin A

So I heard about early gender checks and I immediately wanted to do one even if it meant paying $50 just to find it out four weeks early. I mainly wanted to find out because I feel like it would make everything more real to us, especially being able to see our baby on the ultrasound. Anyways, last Wednesday, that unbelievably beautiful sunny day, we had our appointment. I remember I was in such a good mood all day cause I was so excited to find out.

So we went to our ultrasound and the technician took us back. She put some gross jelly stuff on my belly and we were able to watch our baby on the big screen in front of us. I had heard the heartbeat a few weeks earlier, but to see an actual figure there, was so amazing! Our little baby was stretching out its legs and it looked so human and real. The technician paused and said, "Just a minute." I thought, "Here it is, we are going to find out the gender of our first baby!" She went over and looked at another computer. She asked, "When was your last appointment? Did the doctor measure you?" I started to get nervous thinking something was wrong like I had gained too much weight too fast or something. She said, "Watch the screen, you need to see something...There's one baby, and there's another." My mind started racing like crazy. Could this really be happening? There were two babies inside of me?" Tia and I just kept looking at each other, then back at the screen, with huge smiles. Tears were coming down my cheeks and apparently I said, "Oh.My.Gosh." about fifteen times. Tia and I were so incredibly shocked and excited. I don't think I have ever been that surprised in my life. Then she looked at the genders and said there is about 90% they are both girls. One of my first (and recurring) thoughts is how huge I am going to get. Two babies! I wish we could have stayed for hours to watch our little babies, but we were really only in there for about fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes that changed our life!

We both had mutual right after the appointment so we decided to wait and not tell our families until after mutual. I had a really hard time being focused and pretending like I was listening to conversations at YW when my mind was racing at 100mph! Finally it was over, and we hurried to get ready to tell our families.

We first went to my house where we showed my mom the order of the ultrasound pictures the way we saw it. She gripped my wrist like crazy and after she screamed, she said, "I'm speechless. I'm never speechless." She was very excited and just as surprised as we were. Then I proceeded to call my siblings and tell them we had found out the gender..."We are having two girls." Almost everyone said, "Are you serious?" Anyways, it was such a fun thing to tell people.

After we were at my house, we went to Tia's parent's house. We made cookies for them because that's how we told them we were expecting in the first place. We uncovered the cookies all at once. Below is the video of their response. (I let it load all night and it didn't load, I will try again...)

Something that has been so fun is how nice everyone has been and how nice it is that so many people are excited for us. I think it is finally sinking in for us and it seems like it is real now. I am having a hard time thinking about anything but these little babies. I have gotten a bunch of books from the library on twins and can't seem to find out enough on the internet. That night, Tia and I looked up videos of twin babies on youtube and watched random ones for such a long time. We just kept saying, "We are having twins!" It is a little overwhelming at times, but we feel so blessed! If Heavenly Father blessed us with this, it can and will work. (Financially, physically, emotionally and mentally.) We feel so blessed and are grateful we have the next few months to prepare ourselves in all those ways. We know it will be a lot, but we are so excited to meet our little girls! They will be here sooner than we know it!

Have I Mentioned I Have The Cutest Neices And Nephews?

I do. Sorry to brag, but it's true. I love how different each of them are. They have such distinct personalities and are such adorable little kids in their own ways. Here is just a little bit about each of them and then there are pictures. See for yourself.

April: Three years old. She has beautiful dark eyes and such a feminine pretty face. Being the oldest in her family, she is a natural leader. My favorite quote from her when we were all sitting around was, "Okay, people..." I don't remember what came after that, but her tone made everyone laugh. She is very polite and has wonderful manners. She is such a pleasant, happy little girl. I forgive her for asking every time I came into the door while they were here, "Where's Tia?"

Taylor: Two and a half years old. This handsome boy is so much fun and has such a kind heart. I love watching him hold Kyla's hand in the car. He is an expert at puzzles, and loves anything that has to do with a ball. He is also very good at dancing and ever since he could barely stand, he would hold onto something stable, like a couch, and shake his bum to the music. Funniest thing ever. He actually refused to sit on Tia's lap at church a few weeks ago and wanted to sit on mine instead. Brownie points for that since I am usually the forgotten aunt that just comes with Tia. :)

Christopher: Almost two years old. This kid has the best facial expressions of all time. A few of my favorites are his sweet smile, an amazing glare (with furrowed eyebrows), and his look where he puts his mouth into an "O" and raises his eyebrows. He is the only grandchild that actually cuddles, something all his aunts want. He is very good at staying still to listen to a book. He is so sweet to his new baby sister and loves giving her kisses. I absolutely love his laugh.

Landon: A year and a half old. Although, he doesn't look like he is related to any of these other nieces and nephews, he sure loves playing with them. He loves running into people and wrestling them to the ground. He is such a boy and loves trucks and crashing things. His smile is so huge and can melt anyone's heart. You can't be around him very long without smiling yourself. He calls Tia, "Tita!"

Kyla: Almost one years old. She is such an amazingly happy baby. I love her waves and her big open-mouth kisses. She has beautiful long eyelashes and huge eyes. She is always fun to hold. She always looks adorable and is the perfect size for squeezing. :)

Brooklyn: A few months old. She wins for having the most awesome hair. I have never seen anything like her head of hair. She is such a sweet, calm baby and is so content to be in anyone's arms or on a couch somewhere. I could hold her for hours.

From left to right: Landon, April, Kyla, Taylor, Christopher (Brooklyn wasn't born yet)

Baby Brooklyn

Landon and "Tita"

Kyla, April, Taylor and me

Christopher and Tia

The boys: (L to R) Landon, Christopher, Taylor

The girls: (minus Brooklyn) Kyla, and April

My Blogging Struggles

Well, I have just put up two (now three) posts in a row tonight. I know, probably nobody does that, but I had time and I wanted to look more impressive than just doing one big fat post that doesn't all match. Since I am really going to do better and try to be regular in blogging, I have a few questions so my next blog post isn't so frustrating.

Question #1: I have been trying to put a picture behind the title of the blog and/or under my profile but when I upload it, the picture is ginormous. Becky said that there was a place I could pick the size. I probably spent about half an hour then gave up. See, this is why I have procrastinated getting on for so long!

Question #2: You see how the pictures of our home are centered and the words, "Our Bedroom" and "Our Kitchen" are annoyingly off-centered? I tried using the space bar to center the words two different times but when I published the post, they went back to the left.

And a few other excuses why it has taken me so long to update:

Excuse #1: I promised to have a happy post the next time I wrote. (I deleted my two other onery posts, because I got nervous it would get seen, but also because I realized how terrible it made me sound :) The whole time our apartment was being worked on, all I could think about was putting up a bunch of pictures/videos of our poor looking apartment. But I decided to keep my promise. See, I was just trying to be honest!

Excuse #2: I use a mac laptop (It is Timpview's) and I get really frustrated not being able to right click. It is also really difficult for me to upload photos/videos on the mac. I know, I'm lame. Anyways, I am here at BYU using a computer I relate with and that has right click.

So here's to another try in being diligent...

Back In Our Home

Tia and I love the apartment we have been living in since we have been married. I never dreamed of living in a place so nice when I was newly married. I think it has been a real tender mercy and we have been so blessed to stay there. We were reminded how much we need to appreciate it when about six weeks ago our apartment flooded. It didn't look that bad when I saw it for the first time even though there were certain parts of the ceiling that were caving in. However, the next day, people came and started working on it and tearing things apart. For a while, each time we went, it looked worse and worse. I kind of got bugged they seemed to be taking everything apart, until I realized they were being very careful to make sure everything was dry. Here are some pictures of one stage:

Our Kitchen

Our Bedroom

We were very lucky and got to stay with my mom. She was very nice to let us come and crash not knowing how long we would be there (I thought it would be just a few days). Anyways, we started moving our stuff back in this last Monday and worked on putting everything back together. We had to wash all our dishes and all our clothes and dusted/scrubbed every square inch of the apartment because it had gotten so dusty. I guess that's one way to make sure I do spring cleaning. We are so happy to have our cute apartment back!