Chitty Chitty Chang Gang

Has it Really....

2011-05-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

been almost 5 months since my last post? I have seriously fallen down on my documenting job as a mom! Here are a few pictures to show you that we are still here and we do venture out occasionally.

Here are the kids in front of Methodist Hospital back in January when my grandpa Roy was there for a few days.
This is a typical picture during the month; almost any given month we are in line at a Disneyland ride.
Jensen had his first taste of Grizzly River Rapids at California Adventure. He got to go with his daddy and he loved it. He got a bit wet but that is all part of the fun!
Okay this picture is two of my favorite obsessions! Planning parties and Friends. (The TV show.) Back in March I got to plan a girls weekend with some of the girls from my freshman year at BYU. Three of my friends flew here from Arizona and Utah and the rest of us were already residing here. Needless to say we had a blast! We got to go to Warner Brothers Studios where my dad works and spend the afternoon there and have him take us to all the cool things there. We even got to go to some very off limits places that I had not even been to! The above picture is from the small set/museum/shrine they have of Friends and we got to take pictures and relive some Friends moments. I still watch Friends most nights in reruns and I love it still 7 years after the show ended! I am already looking forward to planning the next girls weekend!
This is me and the three out of town girls just shortly before they had to go back to the airport. We of course had to end at the beach because how can you be in Southern California and not at least get a glimpse of the ocean?!

So now let's try not to let five months go by before I get more posts in. Any bets on how well I do?!

Some Pictures Before Christmas

2010-12-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures that have been sitting in my camera and I wanted to post them before I took Christmas pictures tomorrow.

Just a really cute picture of all 4 kids in the bath.
My friend Jennette and I drove down to San Diego to see our friends Desirae and Mandy both of whom we went to college with. It was really fun and it was so fun to see Mandy who we had not seen for a while and to see where Desirae lived. We hauled our kids down and they all had a blast!
Our Halloween costumes. Riley was the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. My mom helped me make the babies costumes and the older boys wore costumes that my mom had made for my brothers some 20 years ago.
Jensen the jester and Tyler the clown.
Callie was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She decided not to be very photogenic here.
My mom and Riley in front of the Mickey planter at Disneyland.
My mom and Callie in front of the Mickey planter at Disneyland.
Tyler's 3rd birthday present. A Black and Decker tool table. It is a big hit at our house with all of the kids. They will stand and drill forever.
Tyler chose a birthday cake that was actually called a sea monster in the book but he called it a caterpillar so we went with that. It actually turned out okay.

A random picture of Tyler and Callie. Tyler is so good with both of the babies and they just love him.

Mai piu si mangia spaghetti per cena

2010-09-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be fitting to have the title of the post in Italian seeing as we had quite a messy dinner of spaghetti tonight. The title translated to english reads: Never again will we eat spaghetti for dinner. Here are some pictures to give you a visual of what dinner time is like with 4 children under 5yrs old.

Even before dinner has started cooking, we had a starving orphan fall on our kitchen floor in protest of not being fed. (notice the kitchen floor, clean....for an hour)

Yes, that is 5, count them, 5 pieces of spaghetti clinging to his face in an attempt to evade the mouth that could possibly consume them.

"You see, they are stuck right here"

Self explained

The 5 hitch hikers didn't make it. Although there seems to be a lone ranger trying to hide in the fold of his elbow.

And here's where the shenanigans start.....

Hit the plate, shovel as much spaghetti in as fast as you can, and pick your plate clean (never mind the floor, table, chair, face, arms, or booster seat though)

"Daggum, lost a few on the floor.....and here's some milk to go with it.

Still shoveling, still picking plate clean

Riley had finished what was on his plate and it looks like he is trying to steal Jensen's plate while Jensen is busy "painting" his face with the sauce he has managed to get everywhere. (even the bottoms of his feet)

As if it doesn't get worse. Once 1 starts hitting HER plate, the others join in

I don't think we have ever had a more peaceful evening of dinner than tonight. Can't you see the relaxation on Tiffs face as the children are being so well mannered?

This is just a glimpse of the floor during dinner

Ok, don't be fooled. We aren't that good to have the mess cleaned up right after dinner. This is another day. Tiff found these mini Popsicles that are just right for little people.

Riley eating a yellow popsi........what in the world? Why is Jensen stealing the picture?

We have found that the twins love love love fruit salad. We have found that Cree hates hates hates having the twins eat fruit salad. (not really. how can you get mad at faces like these?)

See?

Hollywood Bowl, Beach and Birthdays

2010-08-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

We have been having fun this summer and there are a lot of pictures to show for it. I have been trying to be better about taking pictures for the things we do, but I realize that keeping track of four kids at these events usually comes first and the picture taking falls by the wayside. But I have managed to get most of the things we do on camera.

My mom and dad and I got to go to the Hollywood Bowl in July to the "Warner Brother's Bugs Bunny at the Symphony" show. It was a great night and so fun to see some of the Warner Brother's cartoons on the big screens and hear the Philharmonic Orchestra play the music along with the cartoons.

I took the kids to the beach a couple of Saturday's ago to meet my mom and dad there for the Young Men/Young Women's Stake beach party. My kids had a blast and the stake kids were so great to play with them and love them. Jensen building a sandcastle (the beginning stages).
Tyler playing soccer on the sand and making one of his usual camera faces.(It really wasn't that sunny yet.)
The babies usual place, the beloved (or dreaded) pack and play. (To me the beloved, to the babies the dreaded). They did love the beach and they did not have to stay in the pack and play for too long, there were plenty of people to take them out and carry them around.
We had cake and ice cream at my mom's house for my dad's birthday and for the twins 1st birthday. They got some fun things and loved their cupcakes. How can a year have gone by already?!

The best picture we could get of the twins together and holding still for a second.
Looking at the candles and wondering what to do. They had help blowing them out but did not need help eating the cupcake part.

On the Thursday of the twins birthday my whole family went to Golf 'n Stuff to go miniature golfing. My boys had never been before and they loved it. They have been asking everyday since when we are going miniature golfing again.
My dad is never in any of my posts as my aunt pointed out the other day so I am trying to get him in here. It was his birthday after all just 2 days before the twins!
My youngest brother Cory and his wife Christina and their 10 week old baby Kailyn (in the Snugli).

The closest Callie and Riley got to golfing for this trip. Maybe next time they can walk around on the course!

So here we are now just a couple of weeks from Jensen's first day of preschool (do I really have to send him? I am just dying thinking about it!) the twins are walking all over, Riley is climbing everything he can, Tyler has become quite the chatterbox and life just continues to get more and more fun!

To Catch Up...

2010-07-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

So this seems to be the story of my life. Catch up and never record things right away as they happen. Oh well at least they get recorded. Things are moving quickly at our house. Time, babies, little boys, summer. All of this is flying right past me and it could not be more fun. Riley has four teeth and Callie has two teeth. Jensen will be starting pre school in September and Tyler is loving having all these siblings around. So take a breath and see what we have been doing these last few weeks.

Jensen and Tyler running and playing like any normal day. The most fun at grandma's house though because they can go in a circle over and over.
Jensen and Tyler at the Aquarium sitting on a turtle statue.
All of the kids at the Aquarium enjoying themselves. We had a lovely day with grandma and grandpa.
Some budding artists at our house. Actually just Tyler. Artist?, future tagger on the freeway walls? I hope the artist is closer to the truth.
This is what having triplets would be like on any car trip. We went to see my brother's baby and took my sister in law with us in the car. What a fun madhouse. I loved every minute of it! (Mostly knowing I did not have to take all 3 infant seats home to my house! Two seemed like a piece of cake after this.)
Jensen and Tyler decorating our neighbor's wall and fence. With clumps of mud of course.

And always our favorite ever popular summer activity, swimming at Grandma Mitzi's house.

Riley enjoying the pool with my cousin Matt. He loves to stay in and splash forever!
Callie will stay in her ring and just kick and and laugh. She is always so happy.
The twins normal place when we swim. They mostly have to stay in the pack and play because I don't always have an extra adult to bring them into the pool with me. I am lucky and they are very good happy babies so they don't mind too much having to watch the swimming. More summer posts to come. Hope everyone is having a lovely summer, we love to keep up on what everyone is doing!

May Days

2010-05-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

I have almost no pictures of all 4 of my kids together so when an opportunity presents itself I am going to take it! Of course it is when they are in pajamas or no pajamas as some are preparing for a bath. But it was cute anyway.

These next 4 pictures are from a series of photos taken by Jensen while I was in the shower. He got a hold of my camera and took about 25 pictures, these are just 4. I will spare you the others as they are mostly random items in our house. These are of his siblings and not too bad for a 4 year old.

The advantage of having a husband who is a plumber is that we get new sink fixtures when other clients replace the ones they have. Cree put a faucet in our kitchen that was almost new from a family he did a side job for. They got a new one and we got the leftover almost new one! Of course we have two plumber apprentices.
We went swimming last week in grandma Mitzi's pool so we had to have a picture of the first time the babies got to be in the pool. They both loved it and splashed and kicked their legs. It will be a fun summer to have everyone swimming together.
My friend Carrie who lives in Colorado came to visit her mom in Riverside last week and so I took my kids down to Riverside to spend the afternoon and evening with Carrie and her three kids. Our friend Katie brought her four kids as well and we all had dinner together. It was really fun and between the three of us we have almost twelve kids! (Carrie is going to have her 4th in a few months.) These are the only pictures I got one of the boys and one with Carrie, Katie and I and my twin babies and Katie's four month old baby. It was so much fun to visit and catch up. I am so grateful for my girlfriends who have grown up with me and continue to be my friends. I am glad we can go through motherhood together!

Spring Events

2010-04-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

These are some things that we have been up to lately. My mom and I gave my brother's wife Christina a family baby shower on Saturday. She got so many cute things, I told her that I hope she doesn't mind that Callie was going to suddenly have some matching things in her closet!
Now both Riley and Callie can stand up in their crib. Callie almost has crawling down and Riley thinks he should be able to walk by himself. So we have lots of bruises on heads already!
All the kids in the wagon out for a stroll in our front yard. Everyone loves to be outside!
Jensen and Tyler's Easter baskets. Of course we can't see Tyler's because he has to see what his brother is doing and then repeat the action exactly. So we saw Tyler's after the picture was taken.
Riley and Callie in one of the few matching outfits that they have. I should say coordinating not matching. Riley would not look too good in a skirt!
The boys outside at grandma's house. Resting from running and playing on the slide.
The running. Hence the reason for the resting above. So cute and so fun to have all these wonderful, good, active children! I am so blessed!

7 Month Old Twins

2010-03-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so this is obviously not the twins, but as a side note, what kind of cure is there for a 2 year old who bites his nails to the nub? Is life really that stressful or is it just a habit he has because of some unknown reason? I wish I knew and could find a good safe cure.
Also these are out of order as usual, but here is Riley who at 6 months was crawling and at almost 7 months is standing up in his crib and on the furniture and anywhere else he can pull himself up to. What am I going to do? I thought I would have a bit more time before I had to be pulling him off of things.
The babies can both sit up and make all kinds of babbling sounds. They are still so happy and so fun. We can't wait for summer when we can all go swimming and be beach babies. Disneyland has gotten easier and life in general is becoming more routine. I guess until they start walking around!

Jensen's 4th Birthday

2010-02-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Jensen blowing out the candles on his cake. He got to go to lunch all by himself with my mom on the day of his birthday. He thinks he is very grown up and says things like "Tyler when I was your age I did that" and "I can put the bathtub plug up on it's hook because I am 4 now." We just love him and all the funny things he says and does.
This was the cake he chose out of a book of cakes I have(thank you to Nora). But he wanted my mom to make it not me! That was okay as I was (and am) trying to juggle cooking time with baby and toddler time. She did a fabulous job as I knew she would and it looked just like the picture in the book.

3 Months

2009-11-19T19:34:00.001-08:00

So we've made it to three months. Alas I am always a bit sad as my babies get older, but it just gets more fun as we go through each stage. These babies are so good and they have been sleeping through the night. The boys love them and they smile and talk all the time. Overall it has been so fun to have 2 babies at our house. Because they are boy and girl I don't really think of them as twins but just as two babies. I haven't torn all my hair out yet, but I rarely leave my house! It is incredibly time consuming to get four kids out the door. That is when they all feel like they are the same age! Hopefully I will continue to post each month, so I can keep track of the changes.

Halloween

2009-11-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

Since this is my first year with four small children to outfit for Halloween our attempt was a little bit lacking. I wanted them all to match or have the same theme so the only thing I had the time and the inclination for was spiders. My mom fortunately was able to really help and sew the spider arms since she has the sewing machine and I don't. The kids cooperated really pretty well and even for being a bit of a lame attempt they looked kind of cute anyway. We had our ward Halloween party on Friday night and the kids had a blast trick or treating around the rooms and playing the little games for the primary kids. On Saturday we went to my grandparents house and Cree's dad's house very briefly. Hopefully if I start now, next year's Halloween will much better in the costume department!

Callie and Riley. (I know who is who but it is kind of hard to tell in some pictures.)

Disneyland!

2009-11-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

So my mom and I decided to take all the kids to Disneyland for the twins first ever trip.( We took both of the boys to Disneyland when they were 4 weeks old, the twins were 8 weeks old.) So can I just say (and I never thought I would say this about Disneyland) NIGHTMARE! Okay so we were outnumbered 2 to 1 and that was bad enough. But it was so crowded because of Halloween time and 2 double strollers and that many people do not make for easy maneuvering down Main Street. So we got on no rides, had to eat dinner at the Bakery (the only place that we could take the strollers through the line with us) and couldn't even stay for the fireworks because we were so exhausted by then. My mom and I spent most of the evening laughing incredulously that we had even attempted this. So our next trip will consist of at least one adult to every kid and probably one more just in case! So here are the few pictures I was able to grab before we left.

Tyler's 2nd Birthday and the Twins Blessing

2009-10-14T22:19:00.000-07:00

My baby is two years old now! I can't believe how fast it went by. The years seem to go faster with every kid you have. Tyler is really a lot of fun, a bit mischievous but just so darn cute! The look he gives us when he is doing something naughty just makes it so hard to be mad. He still loves the babies and tries to always pick them up. He adores Jensen and must do all of the same things that Jensen does. It is really interesting to watch.
He is my food lover kid. Well, him and Callie. He will eat most anything and loves all meal times.
This is outside our building after the twins blessing. All of our families and friends that gathered are here. Cree did a great job but said it was a little bit hard to do two blessings right in a row. The babies were so good through each of their blessings. We had a nice lunch after church at my mom's house and had a very relaxing afternoon. All in all it was a very nice day.

The great grandparents of the babies. Grandpa Cree and grandma Ila Kofford and grandma Renee Reed. Grandpa Roy Speirs left before we could get a picture of him.

The Joy of Motherhood

2009-09-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

This is Riley waving to the camera. Actually he does not wave on his own yet, but because he is a newborn and they wave their arms frantically, Tyler is convinced that the babies are waving "hello" to him. He loves it and says "momma baby waving" with a huge grin.
This is our Tyler look a like, Callie. They have so many similarities already. She is a pound bigger than Riley at almost 8 pounds. She has so many of Tyler's looks it will be interesting to see how they compare when the twins get bigger.
Riley is 7 pounds at one month and Callie is almost 8 pounds at one month. We should have put Callie behind Riley so she could have looked smaller than her brother, but they are both so cute it doesn't really matter who is bigger than who.
I have to say there is no way to describe how it feels to have twin babies come to our house. I think only if you have had twins would you even begin to know how to explain. It is such a humbling, wonderful, scary and awe inspiring feeling all wrapped up together. They are so amazing. It is so, so fun to have two babies at once. I feel that if I ever have any more children and they came just one at a time, I would feel like the second one was missing and it just would not feel right. We are so blessed to have had these two children come together to our home. I'm glad that one of them grabbed the other's hand on their way down from heaven. They must have known something that I'm only just beginning to discover. How can any one not feel the presence of the spirit when they have children in their home? My four perfect babies just confirm to me each day how much we are loved by those in our home from above. I love motherhood!

Babies, Babies, Babies

2009-08-26T13:25:00.000-07:00

Okay, sorry I can not get the pictures in order or write better captions, but I have two toddlers wreaking havoc in the house and I am too technologically impaired to try to figure out how to improve the blog. Enjoy the pictures, I will try to be better next time.

Loving to be on the outside, but still close together.

Some cute new outfits for the cute new babies.

All four of the Chang kids in order of birth Jensen 3 1/2 Tyler 22 mos. Callie 4 days Riley 4 days
Grandma Celia in heaven with two! new babies to hold.

This is Callie and Riley in the hospital just before we got to leave. The newborn clothes obviously are meant for actual newborn size babies.

They love to be together and they are so small they fit in the same swing.

This spontaneously happened and I had to get a picture of their intertwined arms.

We are here. We are here. We are here

2009-08-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

We finally had the twins last night at Methodist Hospital in Arcadia. After 38 weeks, you heard right, 38 WEEKS, Tiff finally got the answer she had longed to hear. Tiff was admitted at noon on 8/19/09, barely after her husband made it home from work, and was being induced at 1:30pm. 7 hours later at 8:34pm Callie Chang was born with ease. Weighing 5lbs 13oz, 20in long/tall, with strawberry blond hair. She was glad to be out and free from the wrath of her brother who was breech and laying on top of her. After much pushing and commotion Riley Kendall Chang was born, feet first, at 8:39pm. Weighing 6lbs 1oz, 19.5in tall/long, with strawberry blond hair. Everybody is doing extremely well and everybody is healthy. Tiff is hoping to get released sometime Friday and can't wait to receive the much needed help from family and friends. Cree can't wait until Monday when he gets to go back to work. He has already tried to go to work without much success. Jensen and Tyler saw their new brother and sister, Huh, a girl? What's that?, and love to hold them. Tyler is already saying, "Open eyes, open eyes" and Jensen taps on their beds like they are in fish tanks to try to wake them up. Enough of the talking, enjoy the pictures.

Some Pictures Before I Am Too Big and Hot to Post

2009-05-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

I have been very bad about posting our latest activities but it is hard not having a computer at my house. Oh well, one day.....

So here are some of our more recent activities and the accompanying pictures:

This is the only Easter shot we were able to get of both boys looking at the camera together. If I think getting 2 to look at the camera together is hard, I am sure that 4 will forever be frustrating.

We went to Cree's mom's house in Arizona for Cree's brother Hal's wedding. It was the first weekend in May and it was quite warm already. So the boys got to swim in grandma Kim's nice pool and spa. It was Tyler's first time to wear water wings and he did remarkably well. Of course for a child who likes to do everything on his own, water wings suit him just fine.

Okay now the best story from our wedding trip. Jensen was asked to be the ring bearer and his cousin who is 3 months older was the flower girl. Now two 3 year olds in a wedding is iffy at best. Or you can have what happened at this one. Jensen looked so cute in his little tuxedo that matched his daddy's. (Side note: getting a little tuxedo is so not as simple as it should be) Now when it came time for Jensen and Makaelee to walk down the sidewalk (we were at a golf course) Jensen stopped over at the water station they have for the golfers. He then proceeded to get a paper cup full of water for himself and Makaelee. This of course waylaid him for so long that grandma Kim had to go over and try to steer Jensen and Makaelee back over to the actual aisle to walk down it so the bride could come and get married. While this is going on I am sitting with Tyler who of course is screaming trying to get away from me so he can go and get a paper cup of water too, like his brother. (Notice in the picture the paper cup of water and Jensen's look which apparently means he was unconcerned that there was anyone else there) Needless to say it really wasn't such a tragedy, more funny than anything and the wedding went on. My only piece of advice is think long and hard before inviting 3 year olds to be part of the wedding party! (They are easily distracted!)

This last picture is just silly, but we got a new minivan (yes I am now a minivan mom) and of course the week after we got the van (arrg car payments!) our washer broke. The repairs were just about the same price as a new washer so I shopped around and found a good deal on a new one. So Cree dismantled the old one and the boys went inside the empty shell and thought they were pretty cute. So of course a picture.

Well that about sums it up for us, I am now at 25 weeks with these babies and continue to get a bigger belly every week. If I was really brave (which I am not) I would put a picture up of my ever rounding belly. So you'll just have to imagine 2 people inside that each weigh over a pound. I only have 10 weeks to go to be in the safe zone of 35 weeks, but I am hoping to go a bit beyond that just to make sure they are big enough to come home with me. Happy summer to everyone! I will be rolling around trying to stay cool, I hope everyone else has more fun plans than that sounds like!

17 Week Doctor Visit

2009-03-24T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am so excited that today at my doctor's appointment the babies cooperated and it looks like we have one boy and one girl in there! Hooray for dresses and hairbows! Not that I don't love boys because I do, but 3 boys and 1 girl is just perfect. I could not however get a picture of them today because they were a little restless and would not hold still for a picture, so again a post without a picture. Hopefully next time. We'll see in 3 weeks when I go back. I'm off to find a beautiful blessing dress now!

4 Little Indians

2009-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

1 Little.. Jensen 3yrs

2 Little.. Tyler almost 16 months

3 Little.. Twin A

4 Little Indians.. Twin B

Yes we will have 2 more babies join our family in August. We are having fraternal twins that will come sometime in August, the date is still up in the air due to the fact that twins usually come early. We are excited, but somewhat overwhelmed thinking about all of the fun things that go along with two babies. Sorry I haven't figured out how to put the ultrasound picture on yet but I will get some help and post pictures. Just wanted to let everyone know the status of doubling our family in one fell swoop!

Christmas 2008

2009-01-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

Okay so Christmas was less than a month ago, but how come it feels like it was a lifetime ago? So I am of course late in publishing a post but there is finally something. The boys had a great Christmas and loved opening presents. They got matching jammies and looked so cute all morning. Cory and Christina joined us and we went to Grandpa Hal's house and then later the Reed family all came over to my mom and dad's house. All in all a very full but very fun day.

Davinee Ramirez(cousin) Makaelee Ramirez(cousin) Tyler, Jensen

Pumpkins and the Ward Halloween Party

2008-10-26T16:46:00.000-07:00

This year Jensen chose his costume and it was a pirate(of course) which made it really easy for me because I just got us all matching pirate costumes. Jensen was thrilled and would ask everyone if they were going to be a pirate and insisted that they should if the answer was anything but yes. Cree also carved pumpkins with the boys and he gave one of them a pirate eye patch. Cree is so creative which is why I delegated the carving to him. Our ward party was on Friday night and we were the pirate family. Jensen and Tyler got to play games and trick or treat and Jensen now thinks that he needs a treat after every meal especially breakfast! I wonder how I am going to survive actual Halloween!

How To Host A Murder

2008-10-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not heard of How to Host a Murder, it is, in my opinion, one of the most fun games that a group of people can play. It is a dinner party with eight people that all come as a different character that they have been assigned before hand. Then the night of, you come, eat dinner and be "in character" as you all talk and discuss and try to figure out who the murderer is. It is great fun and I have been playing these games for many years. This one particular group that we play with have been doing one a year for a little while. We had to skip last year because Tyler was new so we were back on track this year. The game this time was titled "Archaeologically Speaking, it's the Pits." In this particular episode, my character was the murderer. We had a fun dinner(thanks girls for all of your help!) and a nice time catching up with everyone. Mark your calendars for next year!

The boys showing off their costumes. Notice the hats in particular!
The girls really can't compete especially in the hat department!

Tyler's 1st Haircut

2008-10-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

I am sorely behind on this blog. Perhaps having no computer at my house is a contributing factor. Or perhaps it is that my time management skills still need a little work. Whatever the reason here goes. We took Jensen to get a haircut and Tyler really needed one, but he is so wiggly I wasn't sure it would work. But he was so good. He loved the cape and he sat still and had no problem with the clippers. We love haircuts at our house, which is a good thing since we need to have them so often!

The Catch Up

2008-08-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have been extremely negligent about posting on the blog so I have missed quite a few important things. I will try a quick recap of the past three months. (whew 3 months, that is like a lifetime!)

The following pictures will help explain some of our activities:

Grandpa Ernie passed away on June 27, 3 days before his 60th wedding anniversary

We go swimming at great grandma Mitzi's everyday Mon-Fri and have dinner with our cousins

Jensen has been honing his cooking skills

We have all been getting ready to go on tour with our Guitar Hero for Wii

Jensen and Tyler are getting ready for a wet winter

Jensen and Tyler are finding new places to play hide and seek at the grandparent's Speirs house

Jensen and Tyler are continuing a next generation of bathing in the blue tub that their mom and uncles and grandma Celia before them bathed in.

We hang out with our cousins, (ok really our second cousins)

Jensen is getting ready for preschool by only reading the best books

We watch Justin cutting apart a 30 year old tree that fell over at grandpa Roy's house

Tiffany got called to be the Young Women's President of Duarte 2nd Ward(wasn't I just a young woman myself!)

Cree got a new Dodge Mega cab truck for work that so far Tiffany has been driving 85% of the time

Tiff gets to be involved with Girls Camp this year

Cree gets to be home with the boys more often now that Tiff is gone more with the Young Women

We have missed having a big summer party,(but not to fear, summer isn't quite over)

And we have been having so much fun that somehow 3 more months of our lives have flown by!

Tagged

2008-05-09T23:39:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I didn't realize that tagging can be very big in the blogging world. My friend Jilynn tagged me and I am sitting here on a Friday night at my mom's house, my boys are asleep upstairs and my dad and Justin are at work and my mom and Cree are chaperoning the LDS prom so I have decided it is time to answer the tag.

What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was just a few weeks home from my freshman year at BYU

5 Things on Today's To Do List

Laundry
Treats for the LDS Prom
Transportation for the LDS Prom
Pay my bills and balance my checkbook
Friday, get my nails done!

5 Snacks I Enjoy

Oreos
Pretzels
Anything baked, cookies, cakes etc.
Cheese and crackers
Anything chocolate

5 Things I would do if I was a Billionaire

Buy a House
Fill my savings account
Go to Hawaii
Go to various concerts and shows (Cirque du Soleil, Michael Buble, Celtic Thunder etc)
Have diamond jewelry

5 Bad Habits I Have

Being bossy
Procrastinating
Never saying no to anyone
Not getting right up in the morning
Not making my bed every day

5 Places I Have Lived

Duarte, CA
Provo, UT
Duarte, CA
Arcadia, CA
Monrovia, CA

5 Jobs I've Had

Babysitting
Franklin Covey
Dental Receptionist
Motherhood

6 Quirky Things About Me

I always use words that people think I've made up
I do the LA Times Sunday crossword each week
I don't load the dishwasher until I have rinsed all of the dishes first
I have to have my checkbook balanced to the penny
I love watching Sesame Street just as much as Jensen (maybe more!)
I have to have a list for almost everything in my life

So now that you all know a bit more useless information about me I must get back to that laundry on my to do list. Actually this was a fun exercise for me to get me thinking about things I don't always have the luxury to just sit and dwell on. Audieu for now!

I Get Around

2008-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Jensen got a red battery powered truck from grandma Kim and he rides it all around the backyard. His favorite thing is to put Tyler in the seat beside him and drive him all over the yard. As you can see, Tyler loves it. The other picture is Jensen wearing Cree's hat. He just put it on one day as we were heading out the door and he kept it on most of the day. I thought it was too funny.

Arizona

2008-05-08T14:47:00.000-07:00

Makaelee, Tyler and Jensen
Jensen enjoying grandma Kim's pool
Tyler in the swing in the backyard
Jensen and daddy in the much warmer spa
Jensen being the acrobat on the trampoline (or the tramp as he says)

During conference weekend in April, Cree and I and the boys drove out to Mesa to see grandma Kim and grandpa Dave. We had a really great time and Jensen and Tyler got to enjoy the huge backyard and the brand new pool. They love being outside and fortunately the weather was really quite good. The boys also got to see their cousin, Makaelee and we were able to get nice pictures of the three of them.

2008-04-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

Lucy and Jensen sharing goldfish crackers.
Tyler and Jensen happy and dazed to be out of the car.

Maddie, Lucy, Sophie,( being held by Riley), Tyler and Jensen.

On General Conference weekend Cree and the boys and I drove out to Arizona to see Cree's mom. She lives in Mesa and on the way we stopped for about 20 minutes to see my friend Julie who had just had a baby. She also has a little girl who is just 6 days younger than Jensen. We were able to get a couple of quick pictures of Julie's girls and my boys all together. It was fun to see them and hopefully next time we make it to Arizona I will be able to catch up with all of my friends who live there.

Daily Constitutional

2008-04-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

Two summers ago Cree inherited a John Deere wagon set from his Kofford grandparents and he spent that summer fixing and repainting and refinishing it. Now it is lovely and Jensen and Tyler love to go in the wagon for rides. So this spring Cree started taking the wagon out each afternoon and putting Jensen and Tyler in it for a walk through the park and on the bike trail in Duarte. Jensen came back after the first walk and talked about seeing lizards and horses and birds. Now when they go he comes back and says he saw lizards and horses and birds even when they did not. Funny how a kids mind grabs onto something and it sticks forever.

Face Your Fears!

2008-04-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

This is terrible to admit, but I have just not had the patience or courage to sit and put new posts on the blog. I have lots of cute pictures and I have really been wanting to post them, but then I let everything else be used as my excuse to not spend any time updating. I like the computer but I also live in a little bit of fear of it. It is kind of my same attitude about the ocean. I love the beach and the ocean, but I also have a healthy respect(and yes fear) of it as well. So I am now in the repentant mode and need sit down and look at what has been going on this last month and find some fun moments to share.

Easter Morning

2008-03-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

On Easter morning, we got up and got ready for church and then went to my parents house to see if the Easter bunny had come. He had, and so Jensen had an easter egg hunt, which he loved! He helped Tyler find his eggs too, but he really just cared about looking for them and slamming them into his basket. Most of the real eggs ended up cracked but the plastic eggs were more durable. Of course, once Jensen figured out there was candy in the plastic eggs, he opened them all as he went. At the end of the hunt, he ran from room to room saying, "more, momma, more." Needless to say easter was a big hit! We went to church and Jensen brought easter eggs to all of his nursery friends and then later we went to my grandma's house for dinner. We really had a lovely time being with family and having such nice weather.

Coloring Easter Eggs

2008-03-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Jensen and Tyler and Grandpa Chris and Grandma Celia and Cree and I all went down to Aliso Viejo to Uncle Cory and Aunt Christina's house to dye our Easter eggs. The boys had a great time and Cory and Christina have a cat that Jensen loved! I wasn't sure that Jensen would take to the cat but it was not Jensen I should have been worried about. I don't think that Charlie kitty will ever be the same.

St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We really didn't do anything special, but I was so proud that I managed to remember to put us all in festive green for the occasion. So I just wanted to showcase my two little leprechauns!

Tyler the Tongue

2008-03-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

I am a few days behind, but this is Tyler's 5 month picture. He has less hair than Jensen did and his eyes are blue as compared to Jensen's brown eyes. He is up to 11 or so pounds and he has started on rice cereal and loves it! My mom calls him Tyler the tongue because he usually sticks it out when he smiles. He is a happy baby, with a bit of his daddy's temper, but overall a very good baby. We love having him add so much to our family!

The Ball Pit

2008-03-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

So the boys got an inflatable ball pit from grandma Kim for Christmas and they both love it. We are up to 300 plastic balls that, fortunately for us, live at grandma Celia's house. (Sorry grandma Celia!) Jensen loves to dive into it and Tyler, at his whopping 11 pounds, likes to just sit in it and let his dad and Jensen bury him.

Great Grandparents

2008-03-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

The boys spending some time with 2 of the 7 of their great grandparents.

Boys weekend out

2008-03-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Cree traveled to Arizona to see his brother while Tiff was in sunny Utah ( a scorching 5 degrees) for a wedding. While in Arizona Cree went skeet shooting with his brother and visited his restaurant. Except for the drive alone, he had a pretty good time basking in the sun.

It's my birthday

2008-03-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

Jensen celebrated his 2nd birthday with his family. Of course he had to have chocolate cake and ice cream after working up an appetite opening all of his gifts.

Rose Parade 08

2008-03-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

We went to the Rose Parade again this year. For Tyler it was his first year going and Jensen's second year. They both enjoyed watching the floats and listening to the bands. I'm afraid this is going to be a regular event for many many years.

Farmer J

2008-03-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Jensen in our backyard on his John Deere tractor that was given to him by his great grandparents Cree and Ila Kofford

Grandpa Dave and Tyler

2008-03-15T14:20:00.000-07:00

Some day Tyler will get bigger

One less monkey jumping on the bed

2008-03-15T12:52:00.000-07:00

Jensen and dad were playing on the bed a litte too much and Jensen fell off and hurt his leg. Dad thought he could just walk it off. 8 hours later we took him to the hospital just to find out that he had a very small spiral fracture in his leg. Jensens friend Jerry, the doctor, helped him fix his leg.

Two Piece Chicken Nuggets

2008-03-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know this picture is old (circa Halloween), but as I was looking back I realized that I wanted to finally start a blog so that I could put pictures like this in to keep everyone up to date on my family. I know that we don't get to see everyone as often as we would like so this seems like as good an option as any. Since I love keeping updated on blogs it only seemed natural to start one of my own. Once I get the hang of this it should be easier to get regular postings on. Just to clarify, Jensen is the chicken and Tyler (about 21 days old) is the "New" baby.