Making memories

I often find myself wondering where our camera is and wanting to snap some shots at our baby geniuses. I have those moments where it hits me that they're learning something new everyday and they're always so proud of themselves, as they should be! We're proud of them, too, and hope that even though we don't have pictures of everything
that we'll still remember these times and how precious
they are.

Happy Daddy's Day

Our Father's Day went pretty well. I was kinda nervous because we were in charge of dinner- the turkey shrunk a lot when it thawed, SOMEONE put too much milk in the mashed potatoes :) and the frog eye salad was lacking in flavor.....but the raspberry yogurt pie was delish! All in all everything was great.



Owen tried crawling through the chair but found himself stuck! They often try fitting through tight spaces only to find their little bellies are actually big bellies and can't fit!



We got my dad a digital picture frame, he thought it was pretty cool and will be taking it to work to show off his grandkids!



Nick got a book I made him with pictures of him and the boys over the past year. I hope he liked it :)

Owen's Hangout

Owen is constantly crawling into thing lately, his favorite is the basket under his high chair. Others include the laundry basket, the cupboards, inside the bars of an overturned chair, and one of the shelves on our computer desk.

If only they were girls :)

This is after their bath the other night, pretty cute. They also like to wear mom's beaded neclaces around the house and at church :)

Beach in Idaho?

Last night we headed out to the sand dunes outside of Rexburg. The first time we took the boys they loved it, but we didn't have the camera. This time we had the camera but they didn't have as much fun because it was pretty windy! Oh well, such is life. They have scooped handfuls of sand into their mouths a few times to test it out only to find it very displeasing. The close-ups are pictures right after eating the sand. There's no ocean but it's as close as we're gonna get anytime soon!

For Grandma Ned

...and more

The first ones are of our bedroom, then the hallway. First door on left is the spare room. Second door on left is my sister's room and her bathroom across the hall. Last door on left is the babies room with a storage room at the end of the hall.

Our new place!

Please don't mind the mess...we're still getting settled :)

Just a little off the top

Jack and Owen's hair was really starting to bother us so we finally borrowed some clippers and got the job done! They look so handsome now!

Birthday Cake

Going along with our Jungle themed party, Nick made each of the boys an animal cake. I have to admit, I was very impressed with the end results, and I know Jack and Owen, both, loved them! Owen's cake was a monkey, and Jack's was a giraffe!

We turned One!

Well, we lived through our very first birthday party! It was fun, a little stressful, expensive :( but, again, very fun! It's fun to see the boys with their new toys and all the things they're learning to do. It's definitely been a wild year but it's getting to be so much fun being mom and dad to these two great little boys!

Trip to Idaho

We had lots of fun in Idaho a couple weekends ago. Kara's parents live in Rigby, ID and we were visiting them for a few days. One night we went bowling and the boys rode on some rides while we were there, they loved them! We also met up with a friend of ours we went to Russia with, Shem, and his girlfriend Heidi.

Our new favorite breakfast

I have to admit, giving the boys a waffel for breakfast is a whole lot easier (and cleaner) than having to give them bottles every couple hours or even feeding them baby food. Pros of the boys getting older are starting to outweigh the cons!

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So, I'm pretty excited. I was initially rejected. The qualification process is surprisingly difficult. They really get you on things like lighting, shadows, focus, and other stuff like that. I've been taking pictures for about two months now trying to get stuff good enough to submit, got rejected, and then just a few minutes ago got the acceptance email. More on this later.

Snack Time

I think the boys are starting to figure out that whenever mom gets frustrated with them they get put in their high chairs-they're just about the only place they can't escape from these days! They love their high chairs, though. They're very happy being able to sit and look at one another and talk- so cute!

Vacation

Not really. There's something I've learned: there's no such thing as a vacation when you're carting along infants. It just doesn't happen. From screaming in the car to not sleeping at night, leaving town seems to be a whole lot less relaxing than just sticking around. As you can see from this first picture, the boys are extremely mobile now and keeping them away from the fireplace, out of the kitchen, and away from anything they could fit in their mouths is a full time job.

On the way home, we had to stop. Several times. But the most relaxing was dinner at Denny's in Tremonton. The boys were pretty good for that trip. It was also a good way to kill time while we waited for our food; we fed them! It was nice to get away, but it's great to be back.

Standing Tall

The boys are getting more use out of their legs and feet, and it's proving to be a challenge for us. They are really well behaved boys; usually when they cry it's only to get our attention, and as soon as they get it, they're smiling little guys. And the weird thing is, is that a lot of the time they seem to understand the concept of crying for attention. They will take turns a lot of the time, like if they're both awake from their naps, only one of them will cry, and he'll stop the moment the door opens and one of us goes in to meet their needs.

Anyhow, reality kicked me at about six this morning when I went in and saw the pictured scene. Mama's working today, so it looks like Daddy has a project to do: lower the crib mattresses.

Tonight we're planning on a trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Ward came to play with us today! We don't see them very much so when we do it's tons of fun to play. They brought some of our Christmas presents to us early and even let us open one of them! It was an ornament with our picture in it for our very first Christmas. We think we're going to like this Christmas thing a lot! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa, we love you! Jack and Owen

Christmastime has come...

Last Sunday we spent a little while trying to get family pictures. First we went to the canyon, where we froze our cans off trying to get pictures. The boys didn't cry; I'm pretty sure they were frozen. The location we picked was pretty good I guess. Most of you will see that picture soon enough. After the canyon, we went to Springville and took some pictures at Grandma and Grandpa's house. What you see here is one of them. Jack and Owen's first Christmas.

Warm and Cozy

We're all ready for snow in Utah!

Help!

The boys need some of their cousin Eliza's belly to help them sit up better :)

Movers and Shakers

The boys think they are getting so smart by being able to move around more...and they definitely are! It's fun seeing them be able to go where they want and get to the toys around the room, I'm just not sure I would call it crawling!

This semester has been hard for all of us. I don't think I've gotten a single uninterrupted six hour night for four months. The other day I had this big project due by 9:00PM (turned in online), and Kara was working, so I had the boys to take care of while she was gone. They started crying the very minute she left. I tried everything. They didn't want to play with me, they didn't want to take a nap, their diapers were clean, so I tried feeding them. What you see in this picture is what I saw in real life. For three hours.

But I got my homework turned in anyway.