a little about joel

1. Where did you meet your husband? At his place in PG. I was in town bringing Miles out to see his dad and Emily knew him. We had a big idea to get our boys together but we ran late and by the time we got there Landyn was already on his way back to his mom's.

2. How long did you date before you got married? It was eight months from the time we met, and we probably officially started dating long distance in April??? Which would make it 7 months (i think).

3. How long have you been married? 1 year next week! Happy anniversary baby.

4.What does he do that surprises you? Joel does the nicest things all of the time and most of the time it's something little that I totally LOVE and had no idea he had picked up on it. Plus he washes my car or puts new music on my ipod or rents a movie I've been wanting to see. He also gets my favorite treats and occasionally he'll sing me a song.

5.What is your favorite feature? ditto: "I love all of him - I mean look at the picture - he's hot, right?" But if I have to pick one, I'll go with his gorgeous eyes.

6. What is your favorite quality? He is honest. I remember when we were dating and talking on the phone (all the time). I could literally feel the spirit when he spoke, and not necessarily about things that are deep and spiritual but just in general. He is just honest and the spirit couldn't help but confirm the truth.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Just one but not one that he calls me in public. I'm the one who calls everyone sweetie, and honey, and babe, and pumpkin....

8. What is his favorite food? Sushi

9. What is his favorite sport? UFC for sure to watch and he wishes to play (I won't have it). He loves fishing and hunting and is amazing at basketball and bowling.

10. When and where was your first kiss? My mom's kitchen in Valencia.

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Make sweet, sweet sandwiches. Yeah, we love each other so much as long as we're together it's a good time.

12. Do you have any children? We each brought one to this marriage and we're about to have 2 more!

13. Does he have any hidden talents? Joel can pretty much do anything and because he's so generous not many of this talents are hidden. He's always teaching people how to do something like juggle or spin a basketball on his fingertip or do the rubik's cube (with his eyes closed). He can figure out basically any puzzle or brainteaser. He cuts hair really well. He even builds me things that I can't find. BUT he can make the best pancakes ever! and he does almost every Sunday.

14. How old is he? 27

15. Who said "I love you" first? me :D

16. What is his favorite music? Joel is really versatile just like me and has a number of favorites. Right now he's into Jason Mraz. Last year at this time he was only listening to Wicked.

17. What do you admire most about him? He is an amazing husband and father and he really does love the Lord. He gives service to many but especially to me and our boys and is always willing to help when called upon.

18. What is his favorite color? Red

19. Will he read this? Yes.

getting to know you christmas style

i've gotten this a couple times already so i'm just gonna post my answers here.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper is more fun to open

2. Real tree or Artificial? we've got an artificial tree. i don't like vacuuming up the messy needles. but i miss the smell and going to the lot to pick a tree out. we'll do that when the kids are a little older.

3. When do you put up the tree? we'll do it after we move & before we say bye to the boys for christmas

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever we get around to it. the boys love it so much.

5. Do you like eggnog? Oh yes! but not the non-fat or low fat.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? as a child i got this really great barbie house. i LOVED everything barbie. and when i was 16 i got a CAR!!!
7. Hardest person to buy for? michael
8. Easiest person to buy for? miles and emily
9. Do you have a nativity scene? yes and it looks really fragile. a gift from joel's mom last year.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? i love sending mail & pics of my cute family

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? i got these things you put on your car so you know when you're too close to the curb and don't scrape your hubcaps. (i had a real problem with that as a teen.) i thought it was a lame present until i got a new car!!!!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Better Off Dead, ELF and Love Actually

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? i can't start too soon otherwise i end up giving that person the gift.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? not that i can think of
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Egg Nog, Chocolate and all the other sweets (ps. i passed my 3 hr glucose test!)
16. Lights on the tree? who doesn't put lights on the tree? i usually do white BUT last year at disney they had this gorgeous blue/purple that i would love to do one year.

17. Favorite Christmas song? all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey AND last christmas by george michael
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? either. i'm a flexible girl.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? yep!
20. Angel on the tree-top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning!!! We always got to open rike's parent's gift on Christmas Eve though and I think we usually open one on Christmas Eve at mom's
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? the fact that everyone is taking Christ out of Christmas and it's now just "the Holidays"
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? last year and the first year i ever decorated a tree as a married couple (eddie and i were ALWAYS out of town) we did red, dark green and light green ornaments. we don't have the money change it up every year but maybe every 5 years. we also only have a mini tree.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? the last couple of years we've had alaskan king crab legs courtesy of uncle tomas!!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? we're taking the boys to disneyland as an early christmas gift since it's not our year (we also went last year.) maybe this can be our tradition?

I'm a WHO?!?

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

this is so weird cause i couldn't relate to her at all when i read the books. i LOVED alice and was on the same page as her 100% of the time. whatever, the internet is never wrong! ;D

can you turn the fireplace on?

couple of things: 1st this is me as big as a house with 10 weeks to go until my dr thinks i'll have these babes, 14 weeks till my actual due date!!! but honestly if they're estimating they'll be 5 1/2 lbs each by 36 weeks i don't think they'll fit till 40 weeks. my next appt is dec 10th. we'll see how big they are then. :D

2nd, we've been running the humidifier for the boys every night and the first night they were pretty congested so they needed it and no one said anything. the second night both of the boys seemed scared to death about it and kept telling us not to turn it on. when i asked why they said "cause the fire will get us!" so we explained it's not a fire, it's WATER and it's not gonna get anyone. they were so afraid to come close enough to feel for themselves that it's just water, but we finally convinced them and then couldn't get them away from it cause it was way too much fun to get misted in the face. fast forward a month or so and miles is coming up with a million excuses to not go to bed yet...he has to pee, he has to poop (obviously can't say no to that), he's too hot, he wants a kiss, he needs a hug, we need to say another prayer...finally he comes up with, "can you turn the fireplace on?" joel and i are exhausted and i turn to him and ask, "fireplace?" obviously we don't have a fireplace and even if we did we definitely don't have one in the boys room. turns out miles was referring to the humidifier once again. what a silly boy!

3rd, my new favorite disney movie is hercules. i don't ever remember seeing it when i was younger and whenever i thought about it it was completely unappealing. but miles always talks about it and when my neighbor signed up for the disney movie club i got a free video so i gave in and got hercules. turns out i LOVE the music and it's a pretty cute story. so if you haven't seen it (in a while) i recommend it.

the boys votes

Both of the boys seem fine with the name Scarlett. (One T or two?) And when it comes to Isaac or Zachary, they both say Zachary. Joel and I aren't decided but it's interesting to get their little opinions. :D

I want this but too lazy to make it

Russian Cream

Heat 3 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup brown sugar till dissolved

Empty 1 package 1 oz. gelatine in 1 cup boiling water.
Cool until warm

When warm mix with cream mixture

Cool until warm

Fold in 1/3 cup Sour Cream
3 tsp. vanilla
Blend well

Refrigerate up to 6 hours or over night.

Serve with raspberries or chocolate sauce or whatever fruit your heart desires.
Great for the Holidays!
Makes about ten 9 oz. cups

*Make sure there isn't any strong smells in your fridge. Tends to absorb them.

Playing Tag too

I am: BIG and pregnant.
I know: that my husband loves me.
I want: someone else to pack and move us. (Not gonna happen.)
I have: great family & friends.
I dislike: driving in the snow.
I miss: weekly trips to disneyland with miles jacob.
I feel: two babies kicking around.
I hear: Hercules going the distant.
I smell: sweettarts on miles breath.
I crave: chocolate almost daily.
I cry: during well prepared church talks.
I search: ksl.com for used baby things and ebay for nursing bras.
I wonder: what these kids will look like.
I regret: very little.
I love: my man, my boys and my girlie so much!
I worry: about stretchmarks.
I remember: staying on the phone all night long with Joel.
I dance: not as good as my hubby.
I don't: bend over very easily.
I argue: because it's in my blood.
I write: thank you cards regularly-but sadly I'm behind. (I owe thanks to Angela, Charity, LeDawn, Rike, Tammy Anderson...I know I'm forgetting someone.)
I win: spider solitaire every time.
I lose: sleep due to kicking babies.
I wish: Joel was done with school.
I listen: to the little einsteins and the pirate song when the boys are in the car.
I can usually be found: in the kitchen, online.
I am scared: of pushing out one baby only to have to have a c-section for the second one.
I need: to pee every hour or as soon as I stand up from sitting for a while.
I forget: things that are not written on the calendar.
I tag: anyone who needs a post for their blog. ;D

Baby Names

So I'm pretty sure Joel and I have decided on some names but we're torn between two boy names. Most of you know that I love Biblical names and coming from a family with names such as Naomi, Joel, Michael, Sara, Mark, Eve, Tomas, Faith, and Jacob I'm sure you can see why. :D Our boy names are down to Isaac & Zachary.

Isaac means laughter. He is the son of Sarah in the Old Testament. This name was definitely on my list last time but got nixed (but I didn't care cause I really wanted Luke anyway-turns out I didn't get that either BUT Miles is a Miles so all's well.)

Zachary means the Lord remembers. Zacharias in the New Testament is the father of John the Baptist. Plus I love Saved by the Bell so that reference does not bother me.

Joel and I both loved these names the first time we brought them up. Then when we picked our girl name we weren't sure if one went with it better than the other. Her name will be Scarlett. It means red. No biblical reference BUT she will get either Grace or Eve as a middle name. Also we've got Landyn Joel and Miles Jacob.

So my poll is listed. Give me your feed back. Which do you like better? Keeping in mind these are the names we've picked so don't tell me that you don't like the names or give me a completely new name. Save those for when YOU have more children. :D

Sunday afternoon

So Landyn just learned how to whistle. He won't stop now. While he was watching this video he said "YEAH BABY!"

What we do for fun

So Landyn, Miles and I have been practicing certain UFC submissions (ones that will make you cry from pain, no choking) and it has been really fun! I plan on living vicariously through my children. I had a 5 month window (the time between my divorce and meeting Sara) to fulfill my dreams of doing a ufc type fight, but I never got around to doing it. I guess its because the amount of work it would have taken to get in shape for a fight wasn't worth the beating I would have taken in a fight, though I probably would have won!

Twins update

23 weeks

Once again the perinatologist & Dr Judd couldn't be happier with the progress of our little ones. Joel and I feel so blessed to have such a healthy and low risk pregnancy. Of course over the last couple of weeks I've talked to a million people who have had twins, know someone who had twins or are a twin them self and more often than not they've got some horror story to tell. Fortunately for us this pregnancy has been nothing but good news. Our little girl is 1 lb 8 oz and our little boy is right up there at 1 lb 6 oz. Everyone is pleased with this. My doctor is guestimating 5 lb + a few oz babies. That is so small but I guess pretty good for twins. So each month they check and measure all kinds of things like their arms and legs and brain and the space behind their brains and bladder and kidneys and spine and lips. I think that's the most interesting. They check everytime very carefully to make sure they don't have a cleft lip. They never did that for Miles. I wonder if it's more common among twins. The little girl is still "presenting" which means she's closest to the cervix and still baby A. The most common comment we hear about our twins is how wiggley they are. Apparently it's difficult to get any kind of read on the twins cause they're constantly kicking each other or just kicking in general. (Don't I know it!) :D A side note is during the ultrasound both of them had their fists in front of their faces hiding their eyes. I wonder if they'll sleep like that after they're born.
Not much else to report except we will now be delivering at Orem Community instead of Timpanogoes and EVERYONE is happy about that. (Joel's company is dropping CIGNA and picking up SelectMed and Timp takes CIGNA and Orem takes SelectMed.) I am still gaining tons of weight (this past month I gained 1 1/2-2 lbs a week!!!) but still no stretch marks so I'm fine with that. Weight I can lose, stretch marks are a bit of a permanent reminder. I'm pretty much in all maternity pants except for the size 4's I squeezed into for this picture ;D. I'm sure that night was the last night I'll get those on. OH! And Dr Judd said I'm "practically the poster child for carrying twins." Apparently being 5'8 and the twins being in separate sacs makes for ideal conditions for twin making. And as uncomfortable as I'm getting I can see how the extra height is quite the advantage.
Ps the pictures are a little blurry because they wouldn't stop moving AND her chin is right up against her chest so not the best pics but no biggie. Get to do it again in a month. :D

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