Autumn's TWINS Baby Shower!

I thought that some of you crazy ladies might be interested in seeing some of these crazy pictures!

Thanks for the laughs!

The Babies are here now and here are their pictures (in case you haven't seen them)! Thanks for sharing Loren!

They were Born Sunday, October 5th!

Troy Lawrence was born at 2:05 p.m. October 5th weighing in at 5 lbs. 10 oz and 19 inches
Harrison Todd was born at 2:12 p.m. October 5th weighing in at 6 lbs. 4 oz. and 20 inches

"Two" amazing for words!

Harrison Todd

Troy Lawrence

My Wonderful Grandmother Passed Away

On Monday, September 9th I got a phone call from my Mom saying that Grandma had taken a turn for the worse and if I wanted to see her alive again I would have to come soon. Tuesday morning the kids and I left for Boise, we met up with my brother and his family and headed for Nampa. We arrived at Grandma's bedside at about 7 p.m! While to most she would have appeared unbearably sick, I could not get over how beautiful she was. In a way I believe that was a loving Heavenley Father comforting me while I held my dying granmother's hand. While she never was able to recognize my presence (because she was so far gone) I visited with her and expressed my love. The children also shared tender moments with her. It was an beautiful experience to be able to explain to my curious and somewhat dismayed Emily that Great Grandma Ruth was going to be with Heavenly Father and her mommy, sister and husband soon. By 12:05 a.m. on Wednesday morning my dear grandmother left this mortal life. We had wonderful moments as a family when we looked through her many photo albums and remembered our time with her and learned about her life before we knew her. A wonderful heritage to have! We were able to bury her with Grandpa (his ashes in her casket) at a beautiful Veteran's Memorial Cemetary overlooking the beautiful Boise valley that they loved so much. She is also at a cemetary overlooking another cemetary where her mother and aunt were buried.

Losing Grandma has truly helped me to feel one of life's lessons much deeper. I love my family more than words can say. Being with my family while losing our beloved grandmother was the greatest comfort and gift.

The Harvest

Our Garden, while not perfect, has produced some great food for our dinner table!

The kids love corn on the cob and after a season of training they are professionals at eating it!

Emily's Goes to SchooL!....Joy School!

Emily's 1st day of Preschool! She LOVES, LOVES it!

If anyone asks her how "school" is she will correct them and them that she doesn't go to "school" yet because she's 3 and she goest to preschool...and when she's 5 she'll go to "school."

Andrew is devastated each time she leave him.

He wants to be 3 too!

We had "preschool" at our house 3 weeks ago! I was a little worried at 1st how I would do it with 6 3-yr olds. It was suprisingly very fun for me! They LOVE learning and doing these projects. Listening skills are to be desired for some, but they will learn...won't they?

Snack Time - We had "1" popsicle for the number "1"Brinley

Emily

Ali

Noall

Matthew

Josie

Craft Time!

"Rectangle Collages!"

My 28th Birthday!

My 28th Birthday was this last week!

It was a quite but nice day! I received a few thoughtful phone calls and a beautiful boquet of flowers from a dear friend! Later that evening Brian and the kids and I went to a nice dinner and Bajio (the yummiest quesadilla ever!) and picked up my favorite Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake on the way home!

We celebrated with gifts and games and were joined by two of my favorite exchange students who were staying with us for a few nights! Xavier (from Taiwan) and Hitoshi (from Japan)! They were so thoughtful to make me cards and bring me gifts! I will treasure them!

It's during these times when I feel a great need to recognize my many blessings! It has been another great year! Nothing too extraordinary, just life with 2 beautiful children and a loving husband! And that....is in fact extraordinary! Andrew has been with us a full year now and has filled our home even more love! Emily is my little friend and is quickly turning into a teenager!!! Brian and I continue to grow and learn in love...marriage that improves year to year is a great blessing indeed! I am grateful to a loving Father in Heaven who understands me and blesses me so much! I am so grateful to be living now and experiencing each day!

Our Vacation! Phase II - Spokane, WA

So, it's been 4 weeks since our return from our family vacation and I haven't touched my blog! Sad. I have to finish our vacation and then try to update everyone on what's happened since them. It's be SO crazy and most of it has to do with EXCHANGE STUDENTS, EXCHANGE STUDENTS and more EXCHANGE STUDENTS! It's been a fun, but insane August.

So here are our pictures from the rest of our vacation! Enjoy!

The first thing we did after ending our little getaway to Ceour 'd Alene was to go to my 10 year class reunion. The 1st phase was and evening party for adults only and the 2nd was for family and kids at a park.

The kids had fun too!

It was so great to see long lost friends and to hear where life had taken them. There were some pretty crazy stories!

After Brian had to return home to Idaho Falls for work the kids and I spent several days with my Dad and his wife, Caralee. Emily and Andrew had some fantastic time with Grandpa Belt! The pictures of Emily with Grandpa at Riverfront Park are priceless to me! She was absolutely in heaven!

Grandpa was all about taking her on the rides! I still don't know who had more fun!

Emily was SO excited to ride the "ROLLER COASTER"!

I wish you could see her face here! She wasn't quite as excited when she was zooming up and down and around! Toward the end we heard a little squeal of delight from her, but that was it...Grandpa was grinning the whole time! Of course, he was her protector and that made him happy!

Need I say more?

We were super hungry after our fun day at the park so we head to Chuck-E-Cheese afterword to continue our play day! This was Andrew's time to shine, he and Emily shared 50 tokens equalling about 50 rides! He was nothing but grins! While there we cuaght up with two of my most wonderful Young Women Leaders! I love these ladies so much!

One our evenings in Spokane was a fun parted put together by some old friends from church! It was great to be with them too! We love to get pictures with all of the kiddos together...it's always such a fiasco! These are friends I rarely see or talk to, but friends who will be friends forever! Very Awesome!

This is only a small few of the great group of kids I got to grow up with! We missed the others, it was so great to be together again! We laughed a lot about the past and the present! Good times!The kids were crying while we were taking the above picture, they felt like they had to be included too! Quite funny!

This time is Spokane was filled with so many more wonderful moments. Too bad my camera didn't capture more of it! Thank you to my wonderful Mom for driving back to Idaho Falls with us! We had so much fun with you and we love you!

I look forward to the time when we have "beam-me-up-Scotty" transportation and I can visit my family & old friends any time I feel the need! I miss & love you all!