Jun 07
Everyone,
Today was full. To the brim.
There was a kiddie pool.
There was a leaky hose which doubled as a sprinkler.
There were naps (all around).
There was a trip to the mall and about 50 dresses tried on by me. Nothing bought.
There was a dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.
There was a trampoline.
There were bees.
Safire
Juice's family, P and P pictures, picture taking, trips to Utah bees, pictures, Pirate, Professor, trips, Utah
May 31
Everyone,
What a day! This morning we spent getting everyone ready for the big day ahead.
And we were late, even after getting up at 7am with the kids. Why is that I can’t make it somewhere until after 11am when I’ve been up for hours? It’s probably because everyone has to get ready AND I have to exercise. It’s nice to have exercise a habit. I like it.
Anyway, we went over to Juice’s family today and spent the afternoon with them. Juice’s two brothers were there, and his sister came with all of her kids. Including her twin girls! I haven’t seen Seraph since she was 2 months old because she’s either in the hospital when we go or my kids have a cold. But this time all the planets aligned and we were able to see them! Yay!
Everyone had lunch and I loved hearing Juice and his brothers reminisce about all the bad things they did as kids. Juice’s mom said that it was amazing any of them lived to be adults. About half an hour later full of more stories, she said, “I want to change my statement. It’s amazing I lived!”
Butterfly spent the whole afternoon jumping on the trampoline in their field with her cousins. She had a ball. Juice’s dad showed us his new hobby: a beehive. Very cool. We’re going to try and go over again sometime next week and he’ll pull it open for me to take some pictures. I’m excited!
The boys were very good and even slept for awhile while we were there. We were smart and brought their beds and their blankies and music. But they had a good time playing with their cousins too and the toy train.
Once we actually left (like an hour later than we wanted to!), we headed up to my Aunt’s house for my Dad’s family reunion. Good food, good family, and good conversation. Butterfly ran and ran and ran with her second cousin who is just a year older than her. The boys played on the slide and ate only chips for dinner. We left there around 9pm.
They stayed awake for the entire 45 minutes of the ride home. I thought with all the playing for sure they would be asleep in seconds. They were once we put them in their beds around 10pm. Tomorrow is going to be fun, I can tell.
Safire
BBQ, cousins, Juice's family, my family BBQ, family, trips, Utah
May 14
Everyone,
I have been running from one thing to another day getting ready for Butterfly’s big birthday bash tomorrow. We’re having a carnival and hopefully it will turn out okay. I’ve got a million and one things running through my head. Mostly I’m just happy I found my underwater camera that is my video camera today. It has a tendency to walk away in small hands. This time, I found it in my camera bag. Imagine that.
Ahem…moving on.
*******
Tonight we had the great pleasure of going to a wedding of Juice’s cousin. It was a lot of fun to see all of our relatives, and to have everyone remark on how SIMILAR Butterfly and Pirate were to all the other little cousins running around. Gotta love those genes and how they show up! Also, it’s fun to hear of all my cousins who read the blog. Hi guys!
Juice’s cousin was in charge of pictures and asked me to bring my camera along and help out a little. I was a bad phototog and didn’t charge my batteries. So the camera ran out of juice right as they were cutting the cake. (See Dad this is why I need a battery grip!) Still, Jenny was able to get some good pictures (I just handed my camera over to her. You try wrangling 3 kids and try and take pictures!) I was also able to help her stage family shots and get every one’s attention. Juice’s comment after we were done with the pictures: “Your dad would have been so proud.”
*****
Joining Lolli and her picture meme this week.
I took this picture of Juice making his chain mail gloves. A tutorial is in the works (hence the pictures) but I really liked this one for some odd reason.
I like the depth of field and the picture of Juice with tools in his hands. Something he loves to do.
*******
Today’s giveaway is brought to you by the wonderful people of SEED Power Body Care. Do you remember when Lolli and I washed our hair together for the vlog contest? And that I won a sponsorship to BlogHer ’10 in New York City because of those suds? I’m still using their shampoo bar (and loving how my hair looks and feels!) and SEED wants you to use it to! They are offering 3 travel kits of their products to 3 lucky winners!
To enter in this contest you need to comment! I love love love comments so please, comment as much as you think you can. For every comment you leave you get an entry to win these fabulous products.
For extra entries:
Seriously people, you want to win this one. As always, the giveaway ends one week from today.
Now get going!
Safire
blog contests, BlogHer 10, facebook, give me your best shot, GMYBS, Juice's family, reviews giveaways, GMYBS, Review
Jan 08
Everyone,
I spent this morning with my parents. We tried to go out to breakfast at the cool outdoor store but they don’t open until 10am. My kids can’t wait that long for food! So we ended up at a burger place and enjoyed ourselves.
My BFF Mink and her two girls, Spider and Fair, came over and we had a fun afternoon playing with them. My nephew Cappy came to spend the afternoon too. So we had Butterfly, Spider, Cappy, Pirate, Professor, and Fair all running around. Fun! We had lunch together and then the boys went to down for their naps. Mink and her kids and Butterfly and my Mom all went to the furniture store and wandered around. We got the girls ice cream cones. I got Butterfly a night light for here since she says it’s too dark to go potty at night.
Speaking of night, Professor woke me up 3 times crying. He just wanted to be reassured where he was. The Butterfly woke me up snoring. She has a cold and I’m sad I couldn’t see my sister in law tonight!
We did see Juice’s family tonight and that was awesome. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. I talked to Flower and I miss having her at my house. She’ll have to come again soon!
I feel like I’ve been running hard all day long so I’m off to bed. More running tomorrow and hopefully some pictures!
Safire
Flower, Juice's family, Mink and Spider and Fair, trips to Utah
Dec 14
Everyone,
So I am 99% done with my Christmas gifts. I have one more to buy and that should be it! Juice and I were talking about what the kids are doing for their Christmas gifts to each other this year. I think I have several toys squirreled away. I’ll have Butterfly pick out which boy gets what, and I’ll pick for the boys to Butterfly. Do your kids do sibling presents? If so, what do you do?
Since I only had one sibling (hi Bro!), it was never a question who was giving who what. I always got a present from him. He always got a present from me. Done. I do remember buying these presents at the little present fair they had at the elementary school. Did anyone do that? We always were able to have an hour in the room with a bunch of trinkets to buy presents for our families. I only remember buying my mom a brooch there one year, nothing else. Bro, can you remember any of the gifts we gave each other? I have a headache and can’t think of any. I went through my baby book which has a short list of presents from my first Christmas till I was 8 years old. The only mention of presents from my brother was that 8 year old Christmas when he got me doll clothes. So maybe I should ask my mom…what did we do for sibling gifts, if any?
Juice says he remembers getting money to buy presents for everyone. They got twice as much money as their age. So if he was 5, he got $10. He remembers buying a gun for one of his brothers so that when they played together, his brother wouldn’t have to use his finger anymore. He also remembers buying tiny things for his siblings one year and a big present for himself with the left over money.
I was talking to my friend today about what her kids are doing for each other. Nothing. We kind of brainstormed ideas of things that don’t cost anything that they could give each other. A card with some drawings on it. An animal made out of paper and toilet paper tubes. Cut out cute snowflakes together. Make special cookies for each other. Give an old forgotten toy to a younger sibling that would like it.
We may do something like this next year. This year I just happened to get some amazing deals on a few toys in July and October and saved them.
So, what are your kids doing for each other for Christmas?
Safire
Christmas 2009, Juice's family, my family, presents, siblings
Jun 29
Everyone,
We really have been having so much fun here in Utah. We’ve been really busy and I’ll try to add some pictures in this post. We’ll see if I have enough time though. This is going to be very very long and I understand if you just scroll through the pictures. Also, a big announcement at the end!
The zoo was fun. We went with my very very good friend Zuke from high school and his family. (Zuke and I were stand partners in orchestra.) Their boys get along really good with Butterfly and they ran the zoo like it was a race course. We saw lots of animals and even had the thrilling moment of the cougar really wanting to eat their baby girl. Apparently bringing a cougar out of it’s den, having it hiss and snarl at her, and try to pounce on her happens with every cougar they’ve ever seen. She better not go to BYU. (Mascot is a cougar.)
That day Juice and I were able to get to the temple and out to eat for a date. I love hanging out with Juice. He’s fun.
Also that day Juice’s nephews came over to my parents house and played rock band in my dad’s theater. They had a great time!
Thursday I watched my nephew Cappy in the morning and then we spent the day with Juice’s family. We took his nephews (minus one) geocaching. We took family pictures (everyone, minus my sil Splats and her family) and Juice stayed up talking till 6am with everyone. I took the kids home around 9pm.
Friday we had all of our friends over for a BBQ and had a great time! At one point there were 13 kids at my mom’s…all 5 years old and under. You’d think we all had babies at the same time! 
Here are all the kids, minus 2 who left before I thought to take a picture. All the older kids enjoyed playing in the sprinklers outside and we all sat and talked about old friends, houses, jobs, etc. I had a great time.
Saturday we went on our annual trip to Cabela’s for all you can eat breakfast. We fed the fish, saw some animal dioramas, shopped for shorts, and saw some more fish. Juice and I were able to find some shorts for him to wear since he ripped a hole in his only pair. I was able to go to a birthday party for my BFF Mink’s little girl Fair. (She was born a few days before Christmas and so she’s celebrating her half birthdays in June.) It poured cats and dogs that day. Juice went up to the hospital to see Seraph who was not doing too well. She is better but still needs your prayers. We also went out to eat with my family. I had 3 people come up and pat me on the shoulder and tell me, “Bless you.” I must have seemed a little harried that day.
Sunday was Father’s Day and we went to church with Juice’s family. I am starting to count down the time until nursery because these boys are driving me crazy in church. We also went over to my Nana’s house. My aunt counted and out of 39 members of my family, 37 showed up. My cousin S (who fixed my tire last time) had to be taken to the hospital because a bike tire blew up in his face and he hurt his eye. He’s alright. The paramedics were a big hit for the little kids…and some of the big “kids”.
Monday I met up with my old college roommates at a park. We had a picnic lunch and I think I aged 3 years trying to keep the boys from killing themselves. At least they aren’t going to die but I think I am! We did the same thing last year, only this time around there were 2 new people in the picture.
We took my family pictures that night and they turned out pretty cute. If you’d like to see them…just email me safirecat at gmail dot com and I’ll send you the link. We also went and visited my sister in law Splats and her family that evening. We had fun playing!
Tuesday I went to see my cousins and their kids. It was fun to have 8 kids (Butterfly being the oldest) and 3 cousins and one cousin in law. We had a blast at the park near the house and had a very nice lunch. I was glad to get Butterfly to meet some of her second cousins because they are all her age and love princesses, just like she does.
I raced home to put kids to sleep and also get to a whale movie with BFF Mink. I think we only missed the first few minutes which is good for me. Poor Mink…I feel bad making her late ALL THE TIME. The movie was in 3-D and I only got a few of the things in 3-D since I apparently have a hard time seeing artifical 3-D. It was fun to hang out with her without our kids and walk around Thanksgiving Point.
My brother and sil came over for dinner again and we had a nice time being together. This was Juice’s last night in Utah. He left at 6am the next morning.
Wednesday I was supposed to go see another cousin but things kept getting in the way. Instead I took Butterfly horseback riding and out for ice cream. (Her bribe for being good for the photographer on Monday.) She had a great time and road Bailey, my uncle’s horse in his pasture and in his yard. My feet have apparently changed since my pregnancy and my boots gave me HUGE blisters on my heals. They hurt so so bad. But we had a great time with the horses.
Thursday I spent the morning with my Nana again and no disasters at her house. That evening Mink and I went horseback riding with my uncle’s horses again…but without kids. We rode 2 miles down the trail by their house and back. My horse was very skittery, but I had such a good time. I love riding. I wish I could do it more often. I think I may need new boots though because my blisters were oozing blood after this ride. Worth it.
Friday morning Mink and I drove to This Is the Place Hertiage Park for a breakfast they were having there. Well, the breakfast was over by the time we got there and it was 20 dollars a kid! No way we were paying that! So we drove up the canyon to a little tiny diner for breakfast. Well, they couldn’t seat 7 (how many we had…kids and all) so we left. But as we were leaving, a big group left too. So we went back into the diner and took the table for 6 and held baby Fair. The biscuts were amazing! We left with pretty much everyone crying and a huge mess on the floor. Back to the park for some pony rides and baby animal petting. We also had really good ice cream, rode the train, bought things at the general store, and didn’t spend nearly enough time there.
Saturday we were supposed to go to Promintary Point but recieved a phone call from my other grandmother’s nursing home. She had been taken to the hospital unresponsive. My dad went out there to be with her and my mom and I went to the BYU bookstore. Their toffee peanuts are amazing! We got ice cream at the creamery and dinner at our favorite sandwich shop in Provo. My grandmother is doing fine but she had a bad infection.
That night my dad and I did go out to the Great Salt Lake and stayed until almost midnight taking pictures. We almost got eaten by bugs but luckily my Dad had bug stuff in his camera bag.
Sunday (yesterday) we went to hear my brother and sil sing in church. It sounded very nice! I spent most of the meeting walking the boys in the hall with my mom. Zuke and his family came over for dinner and the kids played. We had amazing steaks (thanks Dad) and stayed up talking way too late. But it was fun.
Today the plan is for me to go out to lunch with Mink for our annual girly lunch without kids and then Bee (remember Bee?) is taking Butterfly ice skating. I will not be skating because my blisters are still really bad. My mom has this whole week off so I’m really looking forward to doing some fun things with her. I do miss Juice and I’m getting anxious to see him again in about a week. I can’t believe our time here is almost over!
If you’ve made it this far…congrats! Here’s the annoucement. Remember this girl?
Guess who is coming to stay with us for the rest of the summer?! I am SO EXCITED! I love Flower. And I love her family for letting her come with us on our driving and for letting us keep her for over a month and then put her on a plane by herself to come home. We are going to be able to do so many cool things this summer now.
Safire
family pictures, Flower, horses, Juice's family, my family, picture taking, trips to Utah
Jun 16
Everyone,
It’s sad. I was trying to write every single day for a year but it just didn’t happen. Oh well…here is a catch up post.
Friday we spent the day with my grandparents and enjoyed their company and their lunch! Thanks Nana and Grandpa!
Saturday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with my grandparents and my bro and sil and Cappy. Fun but cold outside! We also took all the kids to get their hair cut. The first cut for the boys! Professor screamed through the whole thing (while dripping saliva from his sucker all over the drape and getting hair plastered to his face because of it). Professor had a bell he was focused on (the place had little cars for them to sit in) and he stood stock still. Ah, life with twins. Butterfly also got a trim and a princess hairdo. They had a slide in the hair cutting place and Professor loved it so much. He got so excited at the top bouncing on his knees. He then pitched forward to get on his hands to go down the slide but didn’t realize the edge of the slide was right there. He bashed his head pretty good and had a huge goose egg. I think he cried more that we were leaving the slide than the goose egg.
Sunday we spent at Juice’s parents house, going to church with them and eating a ton of fruit. I fell asleep in the mother’s lounge with one of the boys. I think I might be tired. We also raced downtown to see my brother sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that morning. I love to see him up there doing what he loves to do! We also saw a good friend’s drawings and were able to see our Prophet.
Monday we went hiking wth BFF Mink and her girls. We had a great time until we had to run home so we wouldn’t be caught in the thunderstorms that are happening every evening. It has rained every day since we’ve been here. Juice’s BFF J came over that evening and we went for yet another hike (this time without the kids). We also went geocaching which I always find fun. We found one we had been looking for for over a week so I was excited. Juice and J stayed up until 1am talking and playing Rock Band.
Today was another day spent at my grandparents’ house for me and a day spent with Juice’s family for Juice. Juice had a great time with his nephews who are visiting from Idaho…mostly because we are here and they have never met our kids. Their youngest was a baby when we moved to Maryland so it’s fun to see how grown up they all seem.
My kids decided to knock over a fake tree of my Nana’s and break some glass orniments she had hanging on it for decoration. They also decided that the orniments should be eaten!! Ack! I have no idea if they swallowed anything (probably) and we left soon after that. I also got a flat in BOB’s wheels from a thorn I probably picked up while hiking yesterday. My awesome cousin S (who is 14?) fixed it for me. I kind of miss being around my family.
I also got my hair cut today. Yes, cut means really different. I have bangs. It’s short. It’s seriously different. Pictures later since I haven’t taken them yet.
Cappy is spending part of the night with us and it’s been fun to have all of the cousins together. They are actually all sleeping (yes, they are asleep) in the same room. We took some pictures of all the boys in their pjs together and it’s so cute! It has also reinforced that I’d really rather not have triplets. My boys are running me pretty ragged these days and adding another one to the mix changings the whole dinamic. Triplet moms are amazing.
We’re off to the zoo tomorrow so I’m off to bed!
Safire
Boys hair cuts, family, Great Grands, Juice's family, life with twins, MusicMan, my hair, temple
Feb 21
Everyone,
A long day of driving for us. We enjoyed Russ’s funeral. I was trying to upload pictures but it just won’t let me do it. I am beat so this will be short.
Russ is loved by many many people. We were late (because we got lost, stupid google maps) and I was shocked to see the entire chapel filled with people. They even opened the overflow and people were standing in the back. Wow. If only I could be as loved at my funeral.
I didn’t know Uncle Russ was in the Peace Corps and went to Ethiopia. I didn’t know he rode his bike to work for years, biking over 200,000 miles. I didn’t know he worked for the Department of Transportation and helped with the Metro here in the DC area. All really cool stuff.
Juice had the best time talking to his Uncles and Aunt and cousins. Butterfly was able to play with some of the kids, although she was pretty tired/cross from having to be quiet for so long. The boys were amazing, as always. We got a lot of comments from him and everyone thinks Pirate looks just like Juice.
The only thing we missed was Grandma and Grandpa.
Safire
Feb 16
Everyone,
Death has been on my mind the past couple of days. I was going to say I don’t know why but really I do know why. Juice’s Uncle Russ has been dying. I say has been because he died today. I’ve been following his cousin Jen’s blog about his last days. I thankful that she posted these last touching moments with her father. It has made us feel closer to them.
The first time I met Uncle Russ and Aunt Polly (that I remember), we were newly moved to Virginia. I think we had been there a month and we went to see them. They have the most amazing cabin in the woods. I think it was the first time I realized that there still were open spaces in the east. I had thought it was all city city city. Because where we lived, it was. Still, their cabin was amazing. They gave us dinner, we chatted, I learned a little bit more about their family and enjoyed ourselves. Aunt Polly gave us pineapple juice from huge cans and I loved it so much we have a ton of them in our house today.
When we moved here, I don’t think we realized that Juice has a lot of family that lives out here too. But we’ve been to their houses for Thanksgiving, missionary farewells, and they have been to our place for baby blessings and birthdays. Butterfly loves having cousins to run around with. I am still learning every one’s names and faces. I have loved getting Christmas cards from them and seeing them through out the year. It’s nice to have family close by. I miss my own.
Thinking about Uncle Russ’ last days have made me pensive thinking about death. Juice does not fear death. Nor is bothered by it at all. It’s a quirk of his. I don’t fear my own death. I guess I don’t fear death. I’m sad for the people left behind. Because while the departed is just that, departed, the people behind are, well, left. Left without a father, a brother, a grandpa, an uncle. I do believe that we will see these people again. Death is not the end of our life, just another phase. Another door we walk through.
This picture of Russ I believe my dad took at the boys’ blessing in June. I was always so touched they would drive up to see us for these little life celebrations. And on Saturday, we hope to be able to join their family in his own celebration of his life.
Safire
Jan 14
Everyone,
You guys know that my sister in law had twins about two months after my boys were born, right? She had girls, Angel and Seraph. That’s Seraph on the left and Angel on the right taken last summer. They were about two months old.
These girls are special. Not only did they come as mo/mo twins (sharing the same placenta, same amniotic sack [my boys were di/di twins, two sacks, two placentas]), Seraph was born with a heart problem. She has been in and out of the hospital since she was born trying to help her heart get better.
They did an MRI on Seraph’s heart the other day and delivered some hard news to my sil and her family. They are not exactly sure, but they believe one of her blood vessels to her heart is too small. If it is too small, there is nothing they can do about it.
They need a miracle.
Splats (my sil) is special to me. She has always been sweet and lovely. Wonderful to Juice and to me. She and I were pregnant together with Butterfly and Bear. They were born a week apart. We were pregnant with twins at the same time. How often does that happen?!
I want her to have her baby home. I know I would be going crazy if one of my boys was in the hospital. I want her to experience all the joys of having twins. When they scream at the same time, laugh at the same time, laugh at each other. I want her to try and make macaroni holding both of her babies at the same time and think, “I have a big head, and little arms.” (Name that movie.) I want her to be happy that all of the macaroni went into the pan and not all over the counter because then she’d have to put a baby down to pick it up and screaming would result. I want her to tell her other kids to stop taking the babies’ toys from them. I want her to go to church with her whole family and have the girls whisked away by loving helpers in her ward. I want her to have two of everything, including twice the chocolate because she has to in order to stay sane.
I want our kids to be able to get together and play when we visit. I want us to have twins (Butterfly and Bear) and then a set of quads…along with her other kids! I want my boys to have cousins who know what it’s like to be a twin.
They need a miracle. Please please pray for them and especially for Seraph and her doctors. They need to know how best to help her and get her home.
Because next summer I want an updated picture of them in their strollers together.
Safire
