4th of July Treat

Here's a quick and easy 4th of July goodie for your BBQ's and get togethers. Chocolate dipped marshmallows on skewers with sprinkles. I did some regular marshmallows and some strawberry flavored ones and decorated them with blue and red sprinkles. I also did both dark chocolate and white chocolate combinations.
They made a great, fun and edible centerpiece for my glitter toe/hair flair party I hosted last night. The table looked pretty festive.

I got this idea from a cousin of mine she had used the star shaped marshmallows which was even cuter, but after 4 stores of looking for them I gave up the hunt. I am still really pleased with the result though. Fun, easy and I didn't let the kids help this time but it would certainly be something they could do and enjoy. And they are loving eating and can't seem to get enough.

My Obsession Lives On

I have never been one to stay up just for a midnight showing of a movie but on a whim last night my friend Wes and I decided just for kicks to see if there were any tickets available for the midnight showing of Eclipse. I had been threatening him (as a joke) for a while to drag him along. Well at 9 pm, I was sure surprised to find some available tickets online. They were available at only one theatre and the theatre just happened to be the one within 2 miles of my house. Score! Mike said he was up for watching the boys so I purchased them and Wes met me there. All in all it wasn't too bad as far as lines go and he was as surprised as I was that somewhere had any tickets. We had a great time enjoying the movie and each others company (even if he did mock it constantly and spill popcorn in my lap). I loved it of course and my obsession lives on. I am already anxiously awaiting the next 2 installments. Hurry Hurry Hurry!

Destructo-Bots

The boys woke up at 7:30 today. This is what the family room looked like by 10. I'm not even going to mention what the rest of the house looks like now that it's noon. Love my boyz!

A Camping We Will Go

We finally got out the camp trailer this weekend and kicked off our summer time camping trips. Mike still insists he hates camping, but I think somewhere deep down he's starting to like it (at least that's what I tell myself). We started out this year by heading to Granite Flat campground in American Fork canyon. This was a campground that we found merely by accident last year and fell in love with it. So I was sure to book us in there this year as well. Our friends Scott and Holly also came to the same campground with their trailer so we were able to play with them and share meal times. On Saturday, Papa Ringo, Grandma Judi, Uncle Ryan and Tyler drove up to visit our camp and to go fishing at Tibble Fork Reservoir. They only caught one little trout that they threw back but it was still nice to visit and relax. Zaric and I dipped our toes in the cool water and they ran around soaking up all the extra attention and pestering Papa. After they left, our little family went on an adventure up a mountain road to see Silver Lake since we had never seen it before and couldn't get up there last year in the rain and snow. It was quite the rough road, but so worth it. The water is so clear and blue in that lake. And even though it was 3 miles higher up in the mountains than the reservoir, the water was also warmer. We were wishing we had brought some swim suits for the boys to splash around. Mike and Caleb spent time skipping rocks and the boys ran around and found the mud puddles. Then it was back to camp for dinner and roasting marshmallows and lounging by the fire.

We left camp early this morning and headed home. Our initial plans changed but we took advantage of still having most of the day and took a break from unpacking and other chores to take the boys to see Toy Story 3. The twins were being a little rambunctious so Mike didn't get to see all of it but me and Caleb did and we loved it. I already can't wait for it to be on video.

What a great weekend. I'm looking forward to next weekend being a long one and a holiday. Also this week will mark my official "permanent" day at SLCC. I'll still be helping out there as needed, but am looking forward to more family time and not a regular schedule of going in. Bring on the week, I am ready !

The Dash

It's not often that I copy and repost things I see on other people's blogs but I thought this one was worth sharing. Enjoy.

the dash

i read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend,
he referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning... to the end.

he noted that the first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all was the dash between the years.

for that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth and now only those who love her know what that little line is worth.

for it matters not how much we own; the cars... the house... the cash
what matters is how we live and love...
and how we spend our dash.

so think about this long and hard; are there things you'd like to change?
for you never know how much time is left that can be rearranged.

if we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real...
and always try to understand the way that people feel.

and be less quick to anger and show our appreciation more
and love the people in our lives...
like we've never loved before.

if we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile...
remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

so when your eulogy is being read...
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be proud of the things they say...
about how you spent your dash?

-linda ellis

Thanks for sharing Amelia.

The Boys Weekend

The boys had such a fun weekend at Papa's from what I hear. They got to go to a car show, run through the sprinklers and the part that Caleb is still raving about is that they got to go fishing. His first time fishing ever and he caught 3 fish all by himself. He's been going on and on about how he caught them and what they feel like and is enthralled to find out that they really have teeth! He has also been telling us how he dug up the worms from the soil to fish with too. Here he is with a picture of his big one.


And Zaden caught one while sitting on Maygun's lap too. From what we hear, he thought that was pretty cool until it started flopping around a lot and scared him.

We went and picked them up in Provo from Papa and once we got back home Mike went out and finally found their little swimming pool for them from last year. Zaric was so excited he jumped right in before we could even get any water in it and spent the next 30 minutes or so filling it himself with the hose.

Zaden spent time getting in and out and in and out.

They used the slide that came with it but weren't too keen on that so we brought out their indoor slide and let them use that. They loved that idea. Here's Zaden going on down.

And of course it didn't take long for big brother to join in the fun. We think he's getting a little big for this pool this year. But he doesn't mind at all. He was having a ball.

Welcome Summertime!

Kid-Free Weekend

Papa and Grandma Judi were nice enough to take the kids for the weekend and since they have been going stir crazy at home with no one else to play with and driving me crazy, it was a much needed break for all of us. Of course since Mike and I had the weekend free, we took full advantage of the extra chaos-free time. We started out by doing our grocery shopping Friday afternoon. We needed quite a bit so it took a long time and we kept commenting on how nice it was to not have the kids along and to actually be able to talk while shopping. Then we came home and got all of the yard work done. It was the first time this year I have been able to truly help, so that went faster than usual and was again so nice. After coming in from that, we went to work on adding some more color to our house. Entering phase 2 of interior paint renovation. So we picked out a red for one living room wall. I must admit that I was a little intimidated by it. But I absolutely love it (maybe even more than my purple kitchen, don't tell Mike). I keep joking with him that our house is going to be a rainbow by the time we are done adding color everywhere. We did the one wall then the wrap around section where the coat closet connects the living room to the kitchen. In true fashion I failed to take any before pictures. But just picture it, plain white wall with a flowery picture and sconces hanging. K got the before pic in your head? Behold: the after pic!

This is the view from the stairs so you can see how it connects to the kitchen around the corner. I was pretty worried how it would look at the places that the red and purple came together. But it's actually not too bad. (excuse the blue tape on the top section, we were still waiting for that piece to dry when I started taking pics)

Next up was the boys bathroom. For those of you that have never been to our house, 3 of the walls were painted kinda an ugly gray/tan color (a painting faux pas from our first year in this house). For those of you that have been here, you know exactly what I am talking about. We didn't have the money back then to redo it so we tried our best to minimize the ugly and stenciled puppy dog paw prints on the wall (thanks to Aunt Sue for that idea) with the dark blue color of the 4th wall to match the shower curtain/doggy theme. It worked well for a while but I was really sick of them. We started by trying to match the dark blue wall and trim (which we decided we both still liked, so had decided it would be staying) best we could with some swatches I had picked up. But as we were doing so we noticed that we liked the way some of the lighter blues looked against it so we picked our favorite and went with that. So here are the results. Again no before picture. I've really got to get better at that step.

You can see the new lighter color against the darker color here.

And here. We are so pleased with how it came out. I'm thinking it needs a new theme in there. I was thinking something pirate-y but Caleb tells me dinosaurs when I asked him about it last week so we'll have to see what we can agree on later.

And that was all on Friday afternoon/night! Can you believe it? We went to bed around midnight and got up Saturday morning and finished it up and did our touch ups. While waiting for it all to dry, we left to enjoy our fun part of our kid break. We drove to Provo and headed up that canyon. We made a stop at Bridal Veil Falls. I hadn't been there since I was little and Mike had never been so we walked along the walkway and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery as well and marveling at the waterfall when we approached. I am so glad we stopped. I think I will definitely take the boys back some day this summer to play in the natural water pool at the bottom of the falls. There were tons of kids there and loving it and I know mine would love it as well. Any takers on joining us? I snapped just a couple photos of the falls and kept wishing we had more time to walk further and hike to the top level and explore more.

After that we headed a couple more miles up the canyon to our next destination. Since we got there a little early we went for a quick exploring drive up past Vivian Park. So pretty. We found some sort of reception hall type place hidden up there in the mountains. Absolutely gorgeous. Makes me want to get married again and again just to use it. Then it was back to our stop. We met up with Allison and Jamie for Allison's birthday and went on a rafting adventure down the Provo river. We had never been rafting before so were excited to go and didn't know what to expect. It's a pretty mild river so it was more relaxing than adventurous really. However, I found that I really enjoyed just floating down the river and enjoying each others company as well as the company of our young tour guide. We got just a smidgen wet but it felt so good in the absolutely beautiful weather we finally received. We want to try it again sometime in kayaks and tubes (papa when are you taking the kids next? j/k). When we got back to our cars we took off and finished going up the canyon then across past Park City and back into the valley where Mike and I then stopped at The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. They were super fast there so we were in and out quickly. Then back home where we finished up touch ups and cleanup up the paint messes and then started the next adventure. I decided to make homemade doughnuts for the first time for Mike for Father's Day. The recipe I wanted to try required that it be refrigerated overnight so I made the dough and then we both got to lounge on the couches. The first time the couches had seen us all weekend. It was wonderful. I watched The Lovely Bones and Mike got to get caught up on some of his work that he needed to do this weekend. It was wonderfully relaxing. This morning we got up and rolled out the dough, left it to rise and cooked the doughnuts. I am in love. They turned out great as you can see in the pics. Of course Mike says they are just "ok". I think they are delicious and that since we don't really have any Father's Day traditions. I think maybe we just found one. Homemade doughnuts every year! How can you go wrong? Recipe found here.

Now it's time to get back to our regular chores and get ready to go meet Papa and get the boys back. I do miss them terribly today. I think 2 nights alone is just perfect and from our phone calls it sounds like they have been having a blast as well. Thanks again Papa and Grandma, we really appreciate these weekends more than you can imagine.

New and Glorious!

Isn't it beautiful? My favorite vinyl supplier Regional Supply was having a summer craft fair today and tomorrow to check out some project ideas and the latest and greatest in the vinyl world. When I walked in the door and was told to check out the patterned vinyl, my heart skipped a beat. Patterned vinyl? Could it be? Oh it was! And it was glorious. I would have liked to get one sheet of every pattern but alas I had to control my urges since I needed to stock up on some of my old favorites as well. So I ended up with three sheets to play with. Now here's the problem, what do I make with them? Any suggestions?

Feather Brained

Tonight was Caleb's last baseball game. Since Zaric is sick I got to stay home and help out which also allowed me to go to the game while Mike wrangled the fussy baby for a while. It was a long long game that went into double overtime. Caleb struck out his first 2 times at bat and the third time he was ecstatic that he got walked. He was doing so well and listening to the coaches and stole the bases all the way to third. Coach sent him on a big lead off getting him ready to steal home when Caleb spotted this feather in the baseline. Instead of listening to coach, he stopped and marveled at it and had to have it. So bent over to pick it up. At that time the pitcher noticed what was going on and ran over and tagged Caleb out! All the while his coach screaming "Caleb! get back to base!" The attention span of this kid amazes me sometimes. He was pretty upset about getting out and even cried. I calmed him down with a little pep talk. But Geeze! It's a damn Seagull feather! Those are pretty hard to come by in Utah you know? ;) Oh well, he's 6. What are you gonna do? Besides since he had to bring the feather home, at least we will always have a good story to tell.

Awareness

**** Warning! Downer Post. If you aren't up for that, feel free to skip down to the happier posts from today below********
I had been putting some of this post aside waiting for the "perfect time" to post it. Waiting for it to coincide with something or for me to feel comfortable sharing it with everyone. Not that I think it's a big secret or anything, but it is still personal and something we have and continue to struggle with. Some days I am all about sharing and other days not so much. Mike and I struggle with infertility issues and we have ever since Caleb was born. I have been doing some research online and there seems to be some disagreement when the actual month of awareness for this issue resides. Some say October, others say June and then there's also just a fertility vs. infertility awareness month. It's too much to remember and I keep putting this off trying to make it "fit" with one of these but what I have decided is that it really doesn't matter because when you struggle with infertility, you are ALWAYS aware, just like everything else people struggle with. So I don't need a special month to talk about it. It's on my mind every day, nearly all day. I have been quiet about most of it except for a few friends and my sister as of late, but like they say blogging can be therapy, and I think writing it all out may help some and make others aware of what is going on with us. That was the whole point of starting this blog was to share with everyone we love both close and far away what is going on with us and invite them on our journey with us as parents, as a couple and as individuals.
No, this isn't an "official" announcement that Mike and I are trying to get pregnant again. But yes at some point, we would like to. We have always talked about having 3-4 children. It's always been a goal and a dream of ours. So we are confident that we do want to try one more time, but we also know the struggles both emotionally and physically that lie ahead for us in this endeavor. Everything has to be just right and we have to be willing to put our all into it when we do decide to go for it. And it may take a while so we have to decide how long we are willing to try before we say enough is enough and can't handle the raw emotions and stress it brings to the table any longer if it doesn't happen quickly.
That being said, I have started having many more problems in that area health-wise lately. I suffer from PCOS which continues to get worse all the time for me. Symptoms include (just to name a few) irregular cycles, weight gain, infertility, excessive hair growth, trouble regulating insulin, etc.... I have been to the Dr. a couple times this year already with little to no help. And for the first time, we have sought the help of an actual fertility clinic to get a second opinion and arm ourselves with knowledge and what it will take to make another go round. We had our first consultation last week and it went well but there was so much information given. It's been very hard to digest it all and so many emotions provoked that it has led to a lot of crying on my part and a lot of late, late night discussions between us trying to figure out the best path when the time comes. I have also been scheduled for an HSG procedure on Monday to assess our situation a little more.
Infertility is tough, it's tough on everyone. Just like everything else, until you have gone through it and know what it's like to want more children so badly, it's hard to comprehend the toll it takes on people. It's hard to see the "perfect" families running around. It's hard to talk to women who never have problems in this area and things seem to just work perfectly for them. It's hard for me when people I know or people around me are announcing they are pregnant. At times, it can feel like a slap in the face. Just being thrown at you and reminding you of something you can't forget in the first place because it's always there. So if this has been you, and I haven't responded in the most "appropriate" way when being told of your pregnancy, I do apologize but also hope you understand. I can promise however at some point when I figure out how to deal with the information in my own way, I do come around and am at that point genuinely happy and excited for you. It just may not be right away, so be patient with me.
Something that is very annoying and at times even sometimes infuriating is when people stick their 2 cents in and think they know the right thing to say, when they don't and they just tend to make things worse. I took these things that I think you should NEVER tell a woman going through infertility from a friends blog who also deals with infertility issues and I think they are good from wherever she got them so I am using these with my own little thoughts and twist on them. So here are some things that were before the twins and are still commonly said to us.

1. "It will happen in the Lord's time." First of all, you should consider if this person is religious or not. For some people this may be comforting, for others it may be aggravating. For us, it can be both but mostly it is annoying and frustrating. While we do have some religious background, we also find it hard to believe this line of thinking so please back away.

2. "Just adopt!" Adoption is a huge undertaking and there is tons of stress and decision making on it's own in that area. And no, for us it is not totally out of the question. But at this time it's not what we want so don't try to push us down that path. If/when it may come to that we will consider it. But until then, just be understanding of our choice to try it on our own and listen and be there. We are both aware that at some point, that may be our only option but while there is still hope otherwise we want to go in the direction we are going for now.

3. For the last one I am going to quote her WHOLE quote she listed on her blog from the source she used and her thoughts on it. "You need to relax. Go on vacation. Let me tell you from experience, it is almost impossible to relax when going through infertility. Imagine, if you will, your child going missing for a few hours. There is a huge hole in the pit of your stomach, right? Like you have lost one of the most important things to you. That is what infertility feels like all of the time, like you are missing your child." Whether you are at home or in Aruba that missing feeling is there. It travels with you in car or on a plane and it doesn't go away. We all know what it feels like to feel incomplete from time to time and this is how it is for me all the time. Right now, I feel the child missing in the pit of my stomach. I want to hold, love and raise that child. But they are missing.

I am so thankful for the 3 wonderful, healthy and crazy boys we have already so don't ever get me wrong there. But we know our little family isn't "complete" yet. That may change as we go further down this path and at some point we may decide that we are "complete." But we aren't there yet. So you may get blog posts and updates on this issue from time to time. If you want to read them and come along on our journey, we can use all the positive support we can get. If you choose not to, that's fine too and we understand but please be respectful of my desire to share and just skip those posts that relate to this subject.