In an effort to explain the following pictures a bit, the kids were playing with a Nerf-ish rocket launcher that was powered by jumping on an air pouch. I was able to get several action shots of the kids doing their best to get air to jump on the air pouch while I sat in my lawn chair sipping a chilly Diet DP. Too bad it feels like winter this weekend.

Three years ago today we were at the hospital pointing out the differences between them (besides the obvious) so that we could tell them apart as they lay next to each other in the nursery dolly. Three years ago today we doubled the number of kids we had. Three years ago today we finished up our family. And now, three years later we’re pretty much officially out of the “baby” stage (even though we still refer to to them as the babies). In fact, just this morning as Jack and Annie opened their presents, Emily caught herself telling Annie not to let “the babies” get the small pieces of her new Polly Pocket collection. It was only after it was out of her mouth that she realized what she had said and had to backtrack.

I remember vividly the shock and awe Emily and I felt as we left the doctors after our first ultrasound appointment. Up to that point Emily had had several doctors appointments, but the doctor apparently hadn’t noticed the fact that there were two heartbeats. So as the ultrasound technician mentioned that both heartbeats sounded good, we did a bit of a double-take and I seem to remember saying “Wait, what?!” However, three short years later it’s hard to imagine our lives any other way. We obviously needed both of them in our family and I don’t doubt they needed each other.

We’ve been lots of places and had lots of adventures in the last three years, but we’re still just getting started. It’ll be fun to see what the next 3 years brings.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY “BABIES”!

As usual, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I meant to, but you can see the results of our nature walk below.

I figured that was the end of it and I had resigned myself to stay home, but once Jack woke up, he was still excited to “do (think “go” with a D) tamping”. I could tell he was still feeling sick, but I had gotten him so excited to go camping and sleep in the tent that he didn’t care about his 101 degree temperature. I felt terrible and knew he should probably stay home, but I also felt bad that all that built up excitement would be for nothing. We gave it a couple hours and I just mulled around the house waiting to see how he was feeling, but his excitement would not be pushed aside and he continued to ask if we could “do tamping”.

After some internal debate I decided we could give it a try and if he felt too sick we could always come home (we were only going to be about an hour from home). So we packed up in the Jeep and decided to head out. It started out well enough as we headed for Parley’s canyon, but after 15 minutes of curvy canyon roads Jack wasn’t feeling too awesome. The Jeep had been smoking up the canyon thanks to a small transmission leak so I pulled off as we got into Park City just to check it out and as soon as I stopped the car Jack lost what little dinner he had eaten into his lap. I felt horrible. I could tell he felt like crap so I pulled out one of the camp chairs, stripped him out of his puked on clothes and we sat in the shade of the Jeep in an empty parking lot with a light breeze blowing and cooling us off. I asked him several times if he wanted to head back home, but he wasn’t having it. “I want to do tamping!” was the only response I got.

After sitting in the parking lot for about 30 minutes (and providing directions to a poor lost Asian couple from Alabama) we hopped back in the Jeep to finish the drive to Rockport. He did ok the rest of the way and actually dozed off by the time we got to the camp ground. Once we were there though, he was up and ready to go sit by the fire. He impatiently waited for me to put the tent up and get camp settled and then we walked over and joined the ward around the fire. After about 15 minutes of that we took a walk around the camp ground and even got out our Master Replicas Darth Vader light saber to show off (the kids had been playing Star Wars steal the flag and most had brought plastic light sabers). Jack was happy to be the center of attention with our “real” light saber. He quickly set to “killing” anyone who came in range.

After we put the light saber away, we sat by the fire a bit more and he fell asleep on my lap as we watched the flames and the stars. He was still a bit warm, but other than the single loss of lunch in the car, he seemed to be feeling a bit better.

The next morning he woke up ready to “wock and woll” so we had some breakfast and then set out to explore. We didn’t stick around long, but Jack was happy to be outside and free to wander around camp. We even took our shoes off and waded in the river for a bit, but that didn’t last long cause the water was too “told”. I still felt a little bad for dragging him out camping while he was sick, but I’m glad he’s a trooper and wouldn’t let it drop cause we had a lot of fun hanging out with just the guys.

to start off, I’ve got some pictures from this last Saturday. Emily decided we celebrate Pioneer day by visiting the International Peace Gardens while the weather was still good so we all hopped in the car and went to see what there was to see. To be honest, I didn’t even know the gardens existed, but it was a nice Saturday afternoon stroll and the kids had fun (other than the fact that it was around 100 degrees).

We finished off the day with a BBQ at grandmas with all the cousins and we even had a nice little fireworks display in the street with lots of glowing jewelry to top it off. Overall it was a nice relaxing holiday.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!

For those who are unfamiliar (don’t worry, I had no idea what this thing was when I agreed to it), it’s basically a race that makes you pray there will be someone waiting at the finish line with a gun for you to shoot yourself with. The race begins in Logan and then winds 190 miles up the backside of the Wasatch to end somewhere round about Park City (Course Map). The race takes the better part of 2 days and we’ll be running straight through the night. Each of the 12 team members gets 3 legs of the race for a total of around 15-20 miles and spends all of their non-running time packed into a couple minivans which follow whomever the current runner happens to be. Basically it’ll be 2 days of tired, cramped, smelly hell. Fun, huh?

This is a happy pre-death picture

Anyway, the main point of this post is to solicit support from our dear beloved readers. Emily and I have joined up with several friends from my new job to be on one of two “Cancer Teams” that will be running the race. The main difference between a regular team and a “Cancer Team” is that all of our entry fees will be going to the American Cancer Society. The only downside to this is that the entry fees/donations for the Cancer Teams are much steeper than are those of the regular teams and this is where you, my dear readers, come into the picture. Emily and I are humbly asking for your monetary support in the way of donations to the American Cancer Society as we train for this brutal ordeal. Please feel free to donate as much or as little as you can and be assured that all donations will go to the ACS in the form of one lump sum donation that will be put together by the members of our team. Emily and I will need to come up with $700 for our part of the donation so every little bit helps. The only thing we can offer in thanks is the hard work we’ll put into trying to survive this thing as well as a promise to have someone post pictures of our limp and lifeless bodies located wherever we happen to collapse between Logan and Park City. Thanks in advance for your support and prayers for our survival. We’ll need em.

Donate for Mike

Donate for Emily

Bus to Beelzebub Team Donation

Or you can donate via PayPal below and we will include your portion with our team donation.