We're home!!!!

We stayed at my MIL's house until 2/16. Here are just a couple of random pics in some of my favorite sleepers on them:

{taken 2/9, before bath}:

{taken 2/9, after bath}:

{Jared was SO sweet and sent me a package for Valentine's Day, which included an awesome note written with candy hearts, pink slippers, a plush dog, a bottle brush, some candy, and a baby healthcare kit}:

{Maw-maw & Paw-Paw (my parents), came to Utah and saw the girls for the first time on 2/12}:

{Ready to hit the road to Aunt Kiki's house on 2/13}:

{I couldn't resist taking this pic of sweet cousin Carma in her adorable dress after they got home from church on 2/13}:

Everyone talked me into staying the night at Kiki's that night (2/13). Carma was begging me and Judson even gave me a hug so I would stay (that's huge, ha ha!). Kiki took the night shift with the girls and it was SO NICE to be able to sleep through the night!

I went back to her house on 2/16 and stayed there two nights until we left for AZ on 2/18. Kiki took the night shift again the night before we left. She is so awesome!!!

{One of Paw-paw's favorite jokes--pretending to feed babies real food, in this case chicken enchiladas on 2/16}:

{This is how we fed the babies on the drive home, 2/18}:

We had great weather on the drive on Fri. but Sat., we had cold rain, freezing rain, snow, strong winds, fog, you name it. Getting in and out of the car to make bottles and get the girls out of their car seats to feed them was not fun! It was worth it once we got home, though!

{Jared had the foyer decorated for us, 2/19}:

{He was SO happy to see his girls and was ready to feed them--and they were ready to eat as soon as we got home!):

{During our last stop before home, we put the girls in these outfits}:

{He loves holding both of them at the same time}:

{Mommy catching some much needed sleep with Makenna, 2/20}:

{Cleo is great with the girls--and we all love the Boppies! 2/21}:

{My mom and I went and got a rocking seat and a swing; Paw-paw put them together and the girls really like them; Makenna, 2/21}:

{Avery in the swing--the chair turns so that it either swing back and forth or rocks side to side}:

The girls had their first dr. appt. this past Wed. (2/23). They are in excellent health and weighed exactly the same--8 lbs. 4 oz.!!!

My parents and I took the girls for a ride up to where Jared works. It's about an hour from our house. We met up with Jared and he showed us part of the mine:{And he showed us this really cool cemetery on the side of the rocky mountain}:

It has been so nice to be home as a family. My parents have been a big help but are leaving on Monday, then I'll be on my own, except for the precious few hours Jared isn't at work--right now is really busy for him. The girls are so sweet. It is fun to see their personality differences. Makenna has a shorter fuse and a more urgent cry--complete with these little coughs and yells to express her displeasure. She know what she wants and she wants it now! Ha ha! Avery is far more patient. When she does cry, it is a sad cry and breaks your heart. They're eating a little bit more and are going a little longer between feeding, especially at night, thank goodness. Sometimes, they even go four hours between feeds and last night they actually went five hours between two of the feeds! It helps that Jared slept with one of them and I slept with the other (on our chests), though.

I can't wait to take them to church but we are holding off on that for another month or two--church is one of those places where people think they can just go up and touch your baby and ask you to hold them. There were so many people coughing last week that confirmed our decision to wait, ha ha. We did venture out with my parents to a Mexican restaurant tonight, though. We tried keeping them in their car seats but they were having none of that so Jared held them the whole time--both of them on their tummies on one of his legs. It was pretty cute and he was still able to eat.

I'm having a lot of fun with the girls. Sometimes I can't believe this is really my life. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world! I love my daughters and husband so much!!!

AZ, new house!

On Sat., 10/16, Jared and I flew to AZ and stayed a night with one of his sisters, who will live an hour and 1/2 from us, about which we are very happy. We had fun playing basketball with our nephews and taking our nieces on walks. We saw a rainbow while we were playing basketball:
After church on Sunday, we drove to Safford to look around a bit and check into our hotel room. Safford is a little bigger than we thought it would be but it is by no means a big town. It does have a Walmart and Home Depot and several fast food joints, though, ha ha.

Jared had to be in meetings on Monday and Tuesday, so I went and looked at houses with a realtor, then we showed Jared a few of the house on Wed. Jared and were driving around in the evening and happened upon a house with a for sale sign and Jared called the phone # listed and the guy said he had three houses in the area for sale and asked if we wanted to go look at them that evening. We ended up choosing one of those houses. It is awesome and I can't wait to move into it! Here is a virtual tour of it--it has over 2200 sq. feet with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths, and it sits on an acre of land--lots of pics since I know most of you won't be able to ever see it in person:

The front--we'll have to landscape (with rocks and some rugged plants):

To the left of the foyer is a formal dining room (we will probably use it as a sitting room with a couch or two and my piano):
There is and entrance-way from the dining room to the kitchen:
View from the front door; kitchen around the left corner, doors to back porch ahead, and living room around the right corner--
The kitchen bar:
The living room--I like how the part where we'll put the couch is carpeted but the parts where you'd walk to the kitchen or over to the bedrooms is wood:
The foyer and the entertainment closet in the living room:
The inside of the entertainment closet--I guess you're supposed to put your TV in there but I'm not sure we're gonna do that:
Granite counter tops and black appliances, yay! That entrance way leads to the master bedroom (around the corner to the right, the laundry room and 1/2 bathroom (straight ahead), and the food storage room and garage (to the left):
Some neat little extras--a pull-out spice rack next to the stove:
A cutlery/silverware drawer and bread drawer:
A kitchen nook back there:
The master bedroom is about the same size as ours now, which is plenty big enough. I'm not gonna include pics of any of the bedrooms--they look pretty basic without furniture and you can't tell how big they are. Maybe I'll put pictures of it after the stuff is moved in.

The master bathroom--two sinks:
Larger shower than we have now:
Water closet:
Jetted tub with walk-in closets on both sides:
The other sides of the house--the entrance is off the living room:

The 1/2 bath (right outside of the laundry room):
The linen closet in the laundry room (there are also two other linen closets, one in each of the halls of both sides of the house):
Cabinets above the washer and dryer and a small counter:
The food storage room! (notice the stuff for the central vacuum system, as well):
The guest bathroom:
The back porch (or some of it, at least):
The back of the house:
Aview from the back yard:
A view from the front yard:

The town we will actually live in is Thatcher. There are 6 family wards there and four singles wards for the community college (there are 9 wards in Safford, and 4 wards in Pima--both neighboring towns). The temple is less than 10 minutes from our house. We stopped and talked to a neighbor. She is LDS and has six kids 10 and under. She said the ward is very friendly and helpful. When they moved in June, they told the Elder's Quorum that they wouldn't need help until Sat. but the moving truck got there Friday night so they started unloading by themselves and Elders started showing up to help. The Relief Society brought them some meals that first week. Sounds like a great ward. We will move the week after Thanksgiving. Please pray that the house here in Louisiana sells quickly!! We just put it on the market today.

July

July started with Jared going on a trip to Utah. One of our nephew's was blessed on the 4th and there was a family reunion. I had just gone to Utah in April and I'm going again in Sept., so I stayed home because I couldn't find any really cheap plane tickets. On the 3rd, Jared got to go to a July 4th pancake breakfast and parade with nieces, nephews, his mom, a sister, and grandpa and they went and saw fireworks that night; he had also gone to the family reunion at Grandpa Ted's house. On the 4th, he went to the baby blessing and get-together afterward, then went and visited my sister, Kiki, and her family for a bit. On the 5th, he went to lunch with some of his roommates from Ricks College. On the 6th, he went fishing with Grandpa Ted and Jason and caught lots of trout! On the 7th, Jared and two of his sisters' families, his mom, and brother camped out at Grandpa Lingmann's. On the 8th, he and Jason went to Utah Valley and visited Kiki and Nikki and went and played at Nickelcade. On the 9th, he hung out with his dad for a while, then started his drive home. His company needed a truck from Salt Lake City and, when they found out he would be in Utah, they asked him to drive it to Baton Rouge. So he left that Friday and got home on Sunday. It was a great trip for him. Some pics from his trip:

I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads my blogs knows this already but, if not:
Jared found while he was in Utah (on 7/2) that we were chosen to adopt. He finally told me on the 5th (my birthday)--he didn't tell me earlier because he was with family the whole weekend and didn't have a good opportunity to tell me. He got home on the 11th and on the 13th, the birth mom called and told us she had an ultra-sound that day and that it was twins! We were laughing and crying and speechless but OH SO HAPPY! The original due date was Feb. 8 but, since we now know it's twins, the due date will most likely be up to four weeks earlier. I will probably fly out to Utah the first week of January and wait for the babies to be born, then stay until the adoption is final. Jared will come as soon as he can after they are born and for the finalization of the adoption.

We had a hard time getting Jared's and my dad's schedules to line up so we weren't able to tell my family until 7/25 (we also told all of our other family that weekend). We got videos of us telling my family here in Louisiana and it was hilarious! Jared wore a t-shirt with the "we're adopting" from above and I wore the "2 peas in a pod" t-shirt. You can see them going nuts in these videos:




We told my sister, Kiki, about the adoption while Jared was in Utah (I was on Skype with her); we didn't get that on video but we did video me telling her about the twins:


On 7/15 I got to spend a few hours with just Brenna. We played on the marimba, colored, and took Praia for a walk by the pond. She's quite the cute, spunky little girl and chatters a lot!
I have to show off this apron that Kiki made and gave to me for my birthday. Isn't it awesome??? It's too pretty to wipe my hands on! :)
On the 22nd, I watched both Brenna and Belle for a few hours. We watched a movie (with popcorn and everything), colored and drew pictures, and played a lot.

This video is of Brenna holding a stuff cat that meows and hisses:

This one is her telling me how a wasp stung her arm. Does she not have the cutest voice ever???


Our 11th anniversary was on 7/23!!! We celebrated on the 24th by going to our ward Pioneer Day pancake breakfast, going shopping together, going to his boss' house (where we took the picture below) to tell his wife about the adoption, and going out to eat for dinner at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro.


Last weekend, my cousin, who is a Marine, was in town with his wife and new baby and I got to see them at a baby shower for them. It was fun seeing a couple of my cousins. They have really cute kids but it's still hard to believe how grown up all of my younger cousins are! It makes me feel old, ha ha. I'm the oldest grandchild, BTW.

August will seem very long, not just because of horrid heat and humidity down here--heat indexes up to the 120's!!!--but because we are on pins and needles waiting to find out the sexes of the babies. I'm also anxious for my trip to Utah, during which I'm going to Disneyland with Kiki and her family, lots of her in-laws, and my parents; I leave on Sept. 1. Lots of good stuff going on!!! :)