Happy Anniversary to us

Well, for those newlyweds out there, married life passes pretty fast. As of the 18th, we've been married four years. Before I was married, I had no affinity for the month of October, but now if the fall weather resembles the way it was the day we were married, I get all romantic and reminiscent about our wedding day. It really was perfect; I can't think of anything that went wrong that day. If it did, we must have just laughed about it. And that's the way it's been ever since. Ben is one of the most un-serious people I have ever met. That's what attracted to me to him in the first place. He complements my seriousness, although I have become less so being married to him. I love being married for the friendship, pillow talk, and general sense of completeness I feel, having someone by my side.

A week of sorts

The last week or so has been good, and bad. The nasty cold & flu season decided to kick off at our house with a stomach bug that Evelyn and I are still trying to get rid of. Jilly got it too, but not as bad. Luckily for her, because she was already fighting off an ear infection that happened over Conference weekend. I think maybe the anti-biotics she's on may be keeping the stomach bug at bay for her. Ben was crazy busy last week, so he wasn't around as much as I would have liked while the girls weren't feeling good, but we got through it okay, and this week looks better as far as his schedule goes. So the good part in this was that for whatever reason, whether it was being sick or something else, Evelyn decided it was finally okay to go potty on her little toilet. She's been ready to potty-train for at least 4 months, but she's incredibly stubborn. I've had her sitting on her potty for hours at a time, and nothing would happen. She can go 12 hours without going to the bathroom. She's done it more than once. But now, it's okay. She's by no means fully potty-trained, but we're finally making some progress. I just hope Jilly is easier to train.

Due to all this sickness, the sleeping schedule has been thrown completely out of whack. So last night, at 11:00 pm, both girls were wide awake. I gave up trying to get them to go to sleep, as I had been trying since 9:30 to get them down. I've been on a Jane Austen kick lately, so I decided to put on Emma, and they actually kind of watched it. It was our first 'chick flick' together, and Ben though it worthy of documenting. They did finally fall asleep about 1 am, just as the movie was ending.

On Sunday, we missed church because we thought Evelyn shouldn't be passing this fun illness onto her little nursery playmates. I told Ben we were still going to get out of the house, because the girls and I hadn't gone anywhere for about 4 days. So we drove up to BYU campus and took our family picture for Christmas cards. The first one turned out the best, surprisingly, and after that Evelyn wouldn't hold still and wanted to run wild because she was feeling better. So the rest of these are just random pictures. I think BYU campus is gorgeous in the fall, with all the landscaping they do. I'll save the family picture for December.Evelyn and Jilly thought the fountain was pretty cool . I love how they're sitting the same way.

Evelyn didn't want to sit next to Daddy for this picture. Ben wanted the mountain Y in the background. It's pretty small if you can see it.

Snack time in the J. F. Smith Bldg.

Evelyn's has started to football tackle Jillian sometimes. This was a little one, and Jilly though it was funny.

Evelyn wanted to get up close and personal with the camera.

So did Jilly. Sorry for the plethora of pictures, but it's been a while since I've posted any good ones.

Jilly is getting closer to learning to walk, and her new trick is to climb into the doll stroller. Then Evelyn thinks it's so cool to push her sister around like she does her baby dolls. Evelyn has such wild woman hair in the morning. Those curls just go to frizz.

The few things keeping me sane while the girls are getting better is my scripture study with Preach my Gospel, Pride & Prejudice (I finally started reading it), and Ben. He's just funny. In times like these, I'm glad he's not serious most of the time. I think getting them back on their normal sleep schedule will help my patience too.

A chilly Conference weekend

I enjoyed conference, did everyone else? We only heard Saturday's sessions live because we don't get a good TV signal where we live, and had to use the internet. Sunday morning, probably half of the LDS population in Utah was on the internet, so we couldn't link up. I have yet to listen to Sunday's sessions. It's like a little present though, waiting for me. The weather was terrible! I felt bad for all those people walking all over Temple Square. It was cold, raining, snowing, blowing, etc. For the third weekend in a row. I'm afraid all the pretty fall foliage will be gone from the mountains before we have time to drive up there and enjoy it. Hopefully this weekend will bring nice weather. I'm crossing my fingers!

Now for something completely different... are there any soy milk drinkers out there? I tried some last week, and surprisingly to myself, it was very good. Especially the chocolate one. I think I may start drinking it to curb my chocolate craving when I have one. It's a lot better for you than 8 chocolate chip cookies, that's for sure. I recommend the Silk brand of soy milk. Delicious. Maybe next month I'll try tofu...

Ridiculous

So this week there was a sale at a local grocery store called Smiths. You could by all these great cereals, like Raisin Bran, Frosted Mini-wheats, Honey Bunches of Oats, for a dollar a box. I mean, that's an incredible deal, right? You just had to buy 8 boxes in one transaction, and only eight to get that price. So I did it of course. I love my bowl of cereal every morning. I just went back a few more times to get more. And I was in there yesterday, the last day of the sale, and I just couldn't pass it up. So now we shouldn't need any cereal until at least January. Maybe April. There are 24+ boxes of cereal in my pantry. So that's ridiculous item #1. But food storage, right?

Now, what, you are all wondering, is this? I will explain. I found a plum tree at the edge of our apartment complex, chock-full of ripe plums. They are yummy, and the girls love them. Evelyn loves them so much that yesterday, while I was doing bills on the computer, I turn around and see this. I said,"What in the world, Evelyn?" and she said, "What?" like it was completely normal for her to walk around like this. I asked her what she was packing around and she pulled out a plum. She had 8 plums in there! This is a first for her, using panties to carry things around. And I don't remember little girls doing it. Just little boys. So we took out the plums and she helped me wash them off very well. I just wish she would have held still for a better picture than this. She kept wanting to see the camera screen, instead of posing for a shot.

In other news, Jilly started talking this week. And actually it's pretty normal for them to start talking around her age, but whereas Evelyn didn't talk until she was 20 months, this is a bit shocking to me. Her favorite word is "Hiiiiii" and she says it when I pop around the corner, or from underneath something. She also says it to Ben when he comes home from school. She's also said "Ohhh" a couple of times. And in her little high-pitched voice, it's pretty cute.

Sisters

Not much to report here on the home front. I've mostly been organizing the house, and the business end of things. Ben's been really busy with teaching and taking classes, the girls and I only really have him to ourselves for a couple hours every day when he comes home from class. Then he shuts himself in the office to study until midnight. He's enjoying school so far, more than he did as an undergrad. He really likes teaching, and interacting with the students who seem serious about their schooling.

If it wasn't for our much larger living space, I don't think I could keep my sanity having the girls to myself most of the day. They play together a lot more these days, and like to sit together.

They are okay with toys, Evelyn is usually the one to take something away. Jilly's getting more defensive about it, so the screeching and crawling over to take it back have begun.

Evelyn is talking more everyday, and refers to herself and her belongings in the third person: She also loves to introduce: Me: "Can you say hi, Evelyn?"

Evelyn: " Dis is Evelyn. Dis is Jilly. Dis is Mommy. Dis is Daddy. Dis is Evelyn's bed. Dis is Evelyn's baby." Etc., Etc.

She also says, "No mommy. Evelyn do it." A LOT.

Jilly's favorite toy right now is the cell phone, and she pretends to talk on it. She's also turned into my little climber, and loves this purple chair. Her thing is to point. She'll point at anything she wants, especially daddy and trees. She loves the trees outside. Well, I really don't have too much else to say, other than life is good and I love my girls. Hope you're enjoying the last of summer!

A new place to call home

Hello from south Provo. I am still alive, though tired. The girls are still adjusting to the new place and sleep has been in short supply some nights. I love our new apartment, it's three bedrooms with two bathrooms, and on the first floor. That's a big improvement for us, where as we've always lived on the third floor. I don't have to lug my huge stroller or groceries up the stairs anymore. The other things I most enjoy about it are the dishwasher, the washer and dryer, a kitchen table, and the extra room Ben calls his office. I figured after 3 years of living without the above mentioned amenities, I could spoil myself and have them. In Wymount, we had a card table, no dishwasher, and coin-op laundry. Which is fine and all if you don't have kids, but lacking them became painfully obvious once I had to take kids with me to the laundry facility, and doing dishes took 45 minutes while Evelyn was screaming for attention. And Ben can lock himself in his office to study and the girls still have free rein over the rest of the place. The only drawbacks I've found so far is the bad TV signal (no cable), and the train being only 8 blocks away or so. I don't know why they have to blow a train whistle five times in the middle of the night, hopefully I get used to it soon.

This THANK YOU goes out to both sets of parents, who let us eat their food, take over the house, make messes, and helped us move our mountain of stuff. I really like having the piano, the only thing about it is Evelyn won't ever let me finish playing a song before she turns the page to find another one. So I'm not the only one enjoying it. Evelyn and Jilly were both spoiled this summer, and we enjoyed living with family and seeing everyone. I don't know how we will ever return the favor. We love you!

T - 2 days to limbo

Already, our stay in Washington is coming to an end. We leave Tuesday to begin moving back to Utah. I'm excited and sad at the same time. Excited to have our own space again, to finalize potty-training with Evelyn, and sleep train Jillian. Both have been very hard to do here. Evelyn finally decided yesterday it was okay to use her potty. She has impeccable timing - any training we accomplish right before we move will more than likely be lost. Oh well. It's always kind of sad leaving a place you call home, and I will miss the help with the girls. They will miss having aunts and an uncle to play with and Grandma and Grandpa as well. Evelyn almost always greets everyone as they walk in the door from working by yelling their name happily and running up and giving their legs a hug. It's so cute, and will be missed.

I apologize for not posting for almost three weeks - I've been trying to finish projects up I started this summer, and with two kids running around, it takes time. We had fun having Nicole, Kaden and Jaren come to spend a few days with us around Brock's wedding, and were both reminded why we don't want to have twins, ever. 2 toddlers and 2 babies all together in the same house were sometimes more than our sanity wanted to handle, but it was still fun. Our neighbor Randy has horses and he periodically brings them by the house to ride, which the kids love, and even Ben got in on the action one day.

It seems that this summer, brown and pink are the colors to have at your wedding. So I was inspired one day to make this dress. My mom has a plethora of scrap fabric laying around, so it looks like a little prairie dress. Evelyn loves wearing dresses, she is already such a girl. When I have her try on dresses, she wants to stand in front of a big mirror and model.

Jillian is crawling all over the house these days, and really starting to show an impish personality. She is really feisty, and Evelyn is so laid back. If there is a fight to be had over toys, Jilly will usually start hitting first. Evelyn almost always finishes the skirmish, unfortunately. Jilly already wants to walk so bad, you could hold her hands and help her walk all day and she would be fine. The little scrunch-face she's making in the far picture is her newest, "I'm happy," signal. She does it all the time, sometimes with her tongue sticking out. She also crawls around making growling noises. We've dubbed it the "dinosaur baby."

Ben says that when country people/farmers want to have fun, they seek out the nearest natural disaster to look at. I think this is partly true. For example, we headed over to the river bluffs to look at this weekend's fire out on Rattlesnake mountain. It burnt the entire east face of the mountain, totaling 67,000 acres. Part of it was on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, but no worries, there were no mushroom clouds to be reported.

Sorry this is so long, but I probably won't be posting again for a couple of weeks. When you hear from me again, I'll be moving in and unpacking (hopefully). Enjoy the last little bit of summer!