Year in Review- 2013

I know I'm not very good at blogging. I don't think I have ever said that I was... However, I would like to try to be better at recording the events in our lives, and maybe some thoughts. Since I know I only wrote one post last year (on our family photos that had been taken the previous October...), I thought I'd start out this year as a year in review--- looking back on some of the things we did. (Many things taken from what we had on our calendar... I definitely have a pregnant brain, plus, some months were less eventful than others.)

January: Not a whole lot happened in January for our family... Kiely started primary, which was exciting... and quite humorous to see the look on her face after that first Sunday... She did ok, just had to get used to the newness... She didn't seem so frightened after the first week. From what I take from our calendar, James and I went to the temple, and we had a family dinner at my parents' house. I also attended a food storage class with our stake this month (as well as several other months.) I learned a lot from the classes I attended, and hope I can continue to learn and improve on getting our food storage supply for our family.

February: This month we watched the Super Bowl with James' family, which was fun. James and I were also able to have a night all to ourselves-- we went to dinner, and then stayed at Destinations Inn. (Thanks Nae & Kevin for watching the girls! We realize now how SUPER important important that was for us!) Hopefully we can do that again sometime. I went to a baby shower for one of my very best friends from high school. It was so fun to see her- especially since I don't get to see her very often since she and her husband live in Utah and we are in Blackfoot. I had been wanting a baby boy, but going to her baby shower (for her baby boy) made me want a boy even more!) Kiely also had her first primary talk on the 17th, and did a good job. In February, we met with the missionaries, and a woman in our complex who was then investigating the church. (She did get baptized later on. :))

March: In March, we went to Fast Sunday dinner at Grandma Butler's house. We always love going and visiting Grandma and Grandpa and all the family that also go to Fast Sunday dinner. My mom's 50th birthday was the end of March, and we had a party for her. I think she enjoyed seeing lots of friends and family-- relationships are so important to her. The highlight of the party was probably when I devised a plan to give her a puppy for her birthday. (James' parents were trying to get rid of some puppies, my dad said something about having a puppy, and I said, "I could arrange that!..." I called James' mom, and a little while later, she brought the puppy who became known as Coco (Coconut). My mom is a softy... :) She later "re-gifted" Coco to my dad. haha. We did tell her that if she wanted she could bring it back to Butler's, but she couldn't let go.... at least she didn't want to while Coco was a pup!

April: April brought General Conference and James' mom's graduation for her Bachelor's from BYU-Idaho. We are so proud of her accomplishment in that! I also attended another baby shower for another of my best friends- Danyel. We have gotten close to Danyel and Jordan since James and Jordan have done some hunting together, and enjoy some similar things. I made a baby blanket for their little guy, which was fun for me, and I think it was the very first blanket I made on my own without any help! James' dad also received his Silver Beaver, which is quite the accomplishment in the scouting world!

May: May was stake conference, and James' brother, Wesley's graduation from high school…. nothing much more eventful that I can think of...

June: This month marked a somewhat crazy event for us: My grandparents invited us to go on a fishing trip with them. Now, for some people that might not sound so crazy. However, just think about me and James camping with 2 kids under the age of 4, and two eighty-something year olds! Yep. Just that is pretty crazy! (There were a few other specific things that made it even more crazy, but I will leave that out...) We also went to the drive-in to Monster's University and Iron Man 3 as a family and with Nae and Kevin. That was a first for our family, and we were able to check something off of our summer to-do list. :) It was pretty fun! James also had his birthday at the end of June, and I can honestly say that I don't remember what we did for it... But I'm sure we enjoyed it together! (He had been wanting to buy some different guns for a while, so I felt sort of lame, but I just gave him some cash to add to his gun fund.) :)

July: One of my favorite holidays is in July-- Independence Day. We enjoyed a hike and breakfast with James' family, and later on went to DaNae and Kevin's for a BBQ and some fun! We did a water balloon toss, and we were also able to sit along the greenbelt by the Shilo because Kevin's brother-in-law works for Melaleuca, and Julie was kind enough to let us come sit with them. (Thanks, Juile!) We also went to our first movie as a family at Edwards: Despicable Me 2, and then went to Chuck-a-Rama afterwards. It was so fun doing that as our own little family! We also did a camp out in James' parents' back yard, and had Nae's baby shower! It was a busy, fun month!

August: This was probably one of the busiest months of the year for us! We had something every single weekend this month! This was also the month that we found out we were expecting! :) The first weekend we did our annual bike ride to Reed's Dairy with my family, and also had a little BBQ afterwards. The second weekend we went to the Andrews Reunion in Logan. My aunt planned some activities to make it sort of like the amazing race around Logan, and we had a pretty good time with that. (I started the day with a migraine, but decided to go along with them for the race, and after throwing up, I felt much better!) The third weekend marked a fun/crazy couple days for me and James: The Grand Teton Relay. This was especially big for me, because I don't think I'd run more than a mile before the beginning of last summer. I remember feeling so accomplished after running 4 miles... and then by the end of the race I had run 13-14 miles within a 24 hour period! (At 6 weeks pregnant... no one else besides James and I knew on our team, of course, though! When I told my friend we were expecting, she said "And you ran while you were pregnant?!") I felt accomplished but SO worn out by the end of the race. My first leg was mostly downhill, my second pretty much all UPHILL. UGH! I'm so grateful James ran my last leg with me, otherwise I probably would have walked the entire leg. (It was definitely a combination of jogging/walking, but I was so determined to finish... no matter what I felt like!) The following Monday was Kiely's 4th birthday, and we just celebrated at home with our little family. The fourth weekend was our 5th anniversary, and the Mesa Falls Marathon for James. James and I ate at Pizza Pie Cafe and then spent the night at Bubba and Jaclyn's... not exactly the most romantic, but we had fun together, and I'm glad I could be there to support James for his first marathon. The last weekend was our annual Labor Day campout with my family. We had some fun, but I was definitely starting to feel the nausea starting to come on... Thank goodness I didn't throw up while we were there! We ended up heading out Monday morning because it had rained lots Sunday night, and we didn't see a point in hanging out in the rain all day.

September: The second Sunday in September was Wesley's farewell speech. It's crazy to think that we had just gone to his high school graduation, and now he's on his mission! It's so neat to see the Lord's Work going forward! This month was also my first doctors appointment and James' Spud Day 1/2 marathon.

October: In October, Charlotte had her second birthday, and we also had General Conference. I guess we're pretty low-key with birthdays, because we just celebrated at home for her birthday, too... Maybe someday we'll do something more extravagant, but I kind of like keeping things simple. I also had my first ultrasound, "confirming" that we were just having one baby. I had had thoughts about twins early on, because I felt like I was getting big so fast. When I told people that, they were like, "No, it's just because it's your third... you always get bigger faster with your third..." I'm not sure how I feel about how we found out the truth, now, but I think it was probably better for me... James still continued to question if we were really having twins because my belly was growing so fast. Guess he was right to question it! I was also able to take some photos for the Firth girls' cross-country team, as well as Danyel and Jordan. It was pretty fun, and I'm glad I'm able to use those skills occasionally, even if it's not consistent work.

November: The beginning of November wasn't too busy. We went to Nae & Kevin's baby's blessing ("Baby Baxton" as Charlotte calls him), and also had Stake Conference. I went to a little Achievement Days activity, and the girls in our ward painted mine as well as a few other lady's fingernails. It was kind of fun to go to, and to be able to chat with the ladies that were there. The biggest event was the Monday before Thanksgiving. We had the doctor appointment we had been anticipating probably for months, because we wanted to have a little boy so bad! (We love our girls, just need some balance!) While, we went in to the room for the ultrasound, and as the doctor was getting things going on the ultrasound, we were watching the monitor, and then the doctor said, "Have we done an ultrasound for you yet?" I said, "Yes... around 12 weeks." Then he says, "Well... How do you feel about two babies?..." My response was, "Are you serious?..." And James said something like, "Really?..." Oh yeah, and this all happened when I had an EXTREMELY full bladder... The doctor ended the ultrasound at that point (printed off a couple pictures of the two heads) and allowed me to use the bathroom before we went to his office to discuss any questions we might have. Our feelings included fear, excitement, unsure, and overwhelmed all at the same time. We didn't get to see a lot that day, which brought on some crazy dreams for me, and worse sleep than usual for the next few nights because of it. (Not that I was getting excellent sleep anyway...) As we started telling our families that week, our fears didn't completely subside, but we definitely felt more excited. We were supposed to find out the genders just 2 days later, but because of the holiday, they ended up having to reschedule for a week after the original appointment with the specialist.

December: We celebrated my birthday at the beginning of December. I had a good birthday, and James decided he wanted to get me a big comfy chair (which we had been talking about getting sometime before… but then we found out we were having twins, and decided it would definitely be worth it) for me for my birthday. After searching and searching, we finally found THE ONE. I didn't know chairs could be so complex, but decided that if we were going to put money down for a new chair, I wanted something really good that would last and that I would enjoy for a long time. Our bishop is the manager of the Idaho Falls Blackers, and helped us out, and also gave us a deal! (He told us he didn't really do much, but it felt like a huge blessing and "a lot" to us.) The only issue is that the chair won't arrive for another couple weeks probably because they had to order it in with the speculations that I wanted. (Glider Recliner!) I can't wait for it to get here, but I think it will definitely be worth the wait!
The next exciting event came 2 days after my birthday when we found out that we would be having two little BOYS join our family! Have I mentioned how badly we wanted to have a boy?! Kiely had been saying all along (and even before I was pregnant) that we were going to be having a boy… Who knew we'd get two! I was a little sad that James wasn't able to come to the ultrasound with me, but made sure I let him know as soon as he could (at his lunch) about our little guys! We were both so excited, and I just wish I could have seen his face as I told him! We feel so blessed to have these little guys coming to join our family. It has been a very different pregnancy for me-- easier in some ways, and much harder in others. My morning sickness subsided and pretty much quit at about 16 weeks, and I've only thrown up a couple times since then, which is a huge deal compared to my pregnancies with Kiely and Charlotte-- I was sick pretty much the whole way through with them, throwing up at least once a week all the way to the end. I get nauseous sometimes, but that's nothing compared to the vomiting. (and I'm pretty sure it's much better on my teeth!) The tough times come with back pain, no break from middle-of-the-night "potty breaks," and my belly getting large much faster! Last time I went in to the doctor I was measuring about 6 weeks bigger than a single baby pregnancy! Thus, the aches and pains that usually come later in pregnancy already seem to be coming on. Oh, and I feel like I'm getting back to being tired almost all the time! (Maybe from having to wake up so much??)
Preparing for Christmas after receiving the news of twins was quite different for us… not that we decided to go out and buy a bunch of baby stuff, but because we had so much more on our minds (and on our plates) than we had originally thought we'd have. Honestly, it's still crazy to us when we talk about "HOLY COW! Two BABIES!?!" I don't think it will be completely real until they get here. Ok… so we did the majority of our Christmas shopping online… probably at least 80-90%. AMAZING! A couple of things got lost in the mail, which ended up turning out ok… not because they got here on time, but because one thing we just got something different until the other thing arrived (after Christmas) and the other, we just cancelled the order, and bought the items at Walmart. It was pretty nice not having to worry so much about fighting the crowds in town. We got both the girls bikes for Christmas, and they love them! It has been fun watching them ride around (especially Kiely, Charlotte is still a little small, but it should work in the summer) and getting excited about their "bike rides." We enjoyed time with both of our families on Christmas day, and James was able to talk a little bit to Jake, and then we were able to be there to Skype with Wes.
We feel blessed in so many ways, and look forward to all that 2014 has in store for us!