The Twin's 1st Birthday PARTY

We celebrated the twin's birthday on New Year's Day, while we were visiting my hometown for the Holidays.  This was our first time spending Christmas with my family in SEVEN years!  You know how it works with the military, so this was a real treat to be able to spend this very special time with our family.

Being surrounded by family and friends was wonderful.  So often we spend special occasions on our own that this moment was extra special.  I loved that the babies were FINALLY able to meet their family and were showered with so much love.  

I grew up with a large extended family with lots of grandparents, uncles & aunts and cousins galore to help celebrate.  Seeing my children playing with their cousins was bittersweet.  I LOVED that they were getting to spend time with them, but it was sad knowing we would be leaving soon and they will miss out on so much time with their family.  My children are growing up very different than I.  Thankfully, at this young age they do not seem to realize what they are missing!

 

Happy Birthday Finnian & Remington!

We love you so much!

Kipp's 3rd Birthday

Sunday was Kipp's Birthday.  It was a very busy day filled with tons of fun.  We started out doing the 5k at Bishop's Pumpkin Farm and finished up with a family birthday party, cooking hot dogs over an open fire.

Happy Birthday Kippy!!

We love you "SOOO MUCH"!!

Bishop's Pumkin Farm 5k Fun Run

WE DID IT!!  We ran our first official family 5k this morning.

We loved doing this together and to make it even better it was on Kipp's Birthday.  It was so fun!

Cael started out running with me and then climbed on about a third of the way through.  For the most part Sean pushed the stroller with the 4 boys and I ran beside them.  There was a small section that was pretty bumpy so Sean and the boys took pictures while I ran.  (This is why all the pics are of me running)

I loved the run!  It was so beautiful.  The morning was overcast and cool. 

You could not have asked for a more perfect morning or run. 

It was the perfect day!

 Enjoy!

 Check out Bishop's 5k here.  With our entry fee we got a train ride, corn maze, and the kids got to go down the coyote mountain slides.  And it benefited the American Red Cross, even better!

I will post more pics of our great day at Bishop's in later post.  Now I am off to celebrate with Kippy on his THIRD birthday.

six beautiful years

Today is our anniversary.  Oh, happy day! 

I know I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I cannot help it.  I am SO HAPPY!  Life could not get ANY better.  God is so AMAZING!  I have a peace and a happiness that I have never had before.  God has given me an amazing husband that gently leads me and blesses me every day.

Who knew life could be this FUN?! 

Thank you Lord for your many blessings!

Happy Anniversary husband, I love you more than ever.

silence is GOLDEN!

Auntie Lauren, a photo by Muddy Clarity on Flickr.

Last night was absolutely wonderful! Sean's, Auntie Lauren is visiting us and staying in a nearby hotel and our big boys got to spend the night with her.
That was the first time (that I remember) we have ever had anyone take our boys for a night (you know how it is in the military... family is always on the OTHER side of the country!).  We have left for a couple of days twice, but have never been able to enjoy the SILENCE in our own home! I was loving the silence.  Now, I know I am contradicting myself from an earlier post where I said "A clean silent house without children would be just plain sad,"  BUT since it was just for the moment, it truly was wonderful!  Yes, we kept the twins with us, but it still felt like we had no children in our home!  Life with only the twins seemed a breeze.  They just can't compare with the big boys' non-stop energy; they can't go anywhere yet!  Give them a month and they will be into everything too, but as of right now they are relatively harmless.
I cannot say enough times what a wonderful evening we had.  Life seemed so still and peaceful!  Seriously, I have not been happier to just be.  There is always so much to be done, but last night everything stopped and we were able to savor every minute.  What a rare, precious opportunity to just sit and visit with my husband and enjoy his company with no (big) interruptions (only little ones). Thank you so much Auntie for giving us a break.
I love and enjoy my children more than I can say; they have made me recognize the beauty of silence!
I am beyond happy!  Thank you Auntie.

What a wonderful Fourth!

We had the most enjoyable weekend!  It was such a contrast to last year's Fourth.  Last year was a bit lonely with daddy deployed, of course I was pregnant with the twins and taking care of the "big" boys.  This year Sean is home, my mom was here visiting, we went to a parade, enjoyed fireworks TOGETHER, attended two VERY fun BBQs and have TWO MORE sweet boys to love and kiss!!  Last year made me enjoy EVERY moment of this year so much more.  I am so thankful for our fun weekend!

BBQ

NOTE: Finn was not deliberately left out of all pics.  He slept through all the excitement and somehow our pictures of him SLEEPING are way blurry! 

Random 4th Photos

 

Can you say it like a tongue twister?

Brother

By Mary Ann Hoberman

I had a little brother

And I brought him to my mother

And I said I want another

Little brother for a change.

But she said don’t be a bother

So I took him to my father

And I said this little bother

Of a brother’s very strange.

But he said one little brother

Is exactly like another

And every little brother

Misbehaves a bit he said.

So I took the little bother

From my mother and my father

And I put the little bother

Of a brother back to bed.

I think this will be our next poem we memorize...

Me & My Bother, Kody, on his wedding day

  I know I sure love my bother brothers! 

FAMILY!

This past week my cousin and her family came for a visit.  It was so wonderful to have family here.  What I love most is you can be your relaxed, idiotic self and know you will still be loved, whether it is because they must love you or because they know you know that they are just as idiotic I am not sure, but whatever the reason... it is great!  Here are some pictures from our wonderful week together.

The Girls (and Finn & Malachi)

Cousin Matthew & Finn

Cousin Rachy, Remy & Malachi

Remy & Malachi

Our Family ~ of course Kipp had just fallen face first

We decided to go to Hidden Falls for a little outdoor adventure.   We packed a picnic lunch and loaded up the kiddos and headed out.  We hiked, threw rocks in the "crick", checked out the dragonflies and spied a rattlesnake.  Over all we had a wonderful time.  As you can see the babies went along too, snuggled in our Moby's they enjoyed the trip immensely.

The Grossmann Family

 

 

The Grossmanns live in Alaska so this was Malachi's first experience crawling through grass & splashing in mud puddles.  Also, while they were here M took his first unassisted steps!!  He is 13 months.  What a joy being able to be apart of his first steps.  What a fun memory.

 

Our Families

It was such a joy to have the Grossmanns here.  We had a great week playing games, hiking, talking and EATING!