4 days!

Four days! FOUR DAYS!!!! I cannot believe it has finally arrived! Only four days til we leave England and head back to America!!!!!! I still remember the day Keri called to tell me we got orders to England. It was April 2nd 2008. We had only been married about 5 months and I thought he was pulling a late April Fools joke! The joke it turns out was on me!! I was devastated to hear the news! But here I am... three years later and let me tell you it has gone by in a blink!!!! I dreaded coming here and now I have to admit I'm sad to leave! I came to England pregnant with my first child and leave with three kids. Now tell me that isn't a feat lol! We weren't able to travel and visit a lot of countries while we were here but I'm taking home the best souvenirs, my three adorable and amazing kids! I don't know of many people that can say they gave birth to twins in England!! (I don't know many people who would want to!) I've had a pretty awesome time here. I have met some AMAZING people and will come away with life long friends. Through my time in England I have learned that you can do anything. Nothing is impossible especially if you have an amazing family standing behind you. I've made some mistakes and learned some great lessons. I might even go as far as to say I will miss England... a little bit. Keri and I celebrated our first anniversary here. All my kids were babies here. It has been one amazing ride! I will be happy to be back in the land of driving on the right side of the road again! ;)

My lil Ashley Bug!!

I have to take a moment to brag about my lil Ashley bug! She is hands down the brightest kids we've had!!!! Cambree was soooooo lazy! We tried and tried and tried to get her to crawl but that girl was a little stinker. Would you believe the first time she crawled was on her FIRST birthday?! (About a week later she was walking!) Buddy seems to be following in the footsteps of his big sister. He is content just to "chill." He is perfectly happy laying on the bed watching tv with Cambree! (True but sad story!) Now my Ashley bug on the other hand.... she has got some spunk and determination.

By five months my Ashley was up on her knees and by five and half months she was rocking back and forth on her knees! Could it be? Will I actually witness one of my kids crawling before one? She is six months now and still doesn't actually crawl but she definitely gets around. And while she is getting around she is a BULLY! When she sets her eyes on something she wants... she goes and gets it. For example: Just yesterday Cambree had a bag of chocolate cheerios she was eating on the bed. Ashley rocked and scooted her way over there and literally took the bag out of Cambree's hands!!!!! Needless to say Cambree went ballistic! ( I secretly laughed!) Looks like someone is going to give Cambree a run for her money for queen of the household! Not more than 5 minutes later (After trying to put a cheerio in her mouth) she scooted over and grabbed some lego's Cambree was playing with. (Another melt down which included shouting of "MINE!" She is a bully to Buddy too. Ashley has never taken a pacifier. It is quite frustrating but Buddy's pacifier is his best friend. He always has it. Well I think it is a game to Ashley because she is constantly plucking that pacifier out of his mouth which makes him cry. I put the pacifier back in, move her away, and ..... she maneuvers over takes it out of his mouth again! (Stinker!) She also will take toys that Buddy is playing with right from his hands!! My little 14 pound girl is ruling the roost I tell you! She is the bully in a pink onesie!

Besides being mobile she also can sit up on her own which is something Buddy can't do quite yet. I think the problem Cambree and Buddy both have/had is that they have the worlds largest heads! I mean trying to get a shirt on either of them is a struggle because their head is so big. Now lil sister on the other hand has a tinsy head. I think it must be easier to scoot around and sit up if you don't have a big watermelon on your shoulders.

I look forward to seeing what the next few months bring for Ashley! She is definitely a mover and a shaker! She is definitely going to leave Buddy in her cute pink dust!

The Twins are S-I-X- months old!!

Today the Twins are exactly 6 months old!! I cannot believe how fast time flies! I was looking at pictures of Cambree at 6 months old and thought I would post her 6 month old celebration along with the twins. This was Cambree's cake! And the start of celebrating the 6 month old milestone!

Look at my lil Cambree! I am thinking Austin & her are the REAL twins! They both have huuuge heads!

Cambree and mommy!! Cannot believe how fast time went by especially considering Cambree is now 2 1/2!

The twins 6 month old cake! (Note: there isn't much variety at the commissary! lol)

They wasted NO time digging in! Ashley was the more aggressive one! She loooves her cake!

Happy 6 months old twinsy!! Mommy loooooves you!

Mommy and Austin!

I hope the next 6 months slow down because the first 6 months flew by! I love my twins and cannot imagine my life without them! They make our family complete! Now if we could just get Cambree to like them!!!

Twins my foot....

Ahh the twins... my pride and joy! My reason for living! My reason for crying! LOL! I thought I would jot down a few things I've noticed about the twins before I forget. It is funny to have two babies the same age because it is interesting to see how differently they develop. Here are a few of the differences in my adorable twins...

Ashley has been rolling over onto her stomach since she was probably 4 months old. Maybe even before then. She is CRAZY about rolling over. And she drives me crazy with her constant rolling! If she is laying down she will be on her tummy in about 2 seconds flat. She absolutely refuses to sleep on her back. At first I was worried about letting her sleep on her stomach but there was no fighting it. I would flip her over.. and she would flip back onto her tummy before I could even turn away...Buddy on the other hand makes me laugh. He has a little budda belly which I think has prevented him from rolling over as fast. In fact it has just been the past few weeks where he could even make it onto his belly and then once he is on his belly he is instantly crying. He hates being on his stomach!! It is kinda funny though because when he does make it onto his stomach his feet are in the air! They don't touch the floor due to his budda belly. Poor buddy!!

Ashley is SO much more independent than Austin. For example I can put her in the pack n play to sleep at night and she will fall asleep by herself. Buddy on the other hand HATES being in the pack n play by himself. (Mama's boy what?!) If I put him in there to fall asleep and he is by himself he will cry. He gets so put out. He actually has this fake cough he does when he is put out or wants attention which is kinda cute the first few times he did it but super annoying now lol. It is only once Ashley joins him he will actually fall asleep! (And the fake coughing stops! Hallelujah!)

Ashley is high energy already! She is already like go go go! She is seriously days away from crawling. She keeps trying! We keep joking that I will put her down one day and I'll come back and she will have crawled away. Besides trying to crawl she is super active. She is always kicking her legs and moving her arms. Forget trying to feed her a bottle. Her arms are all over the place and her head is like looking left to right.. left to right... as if she would miss something! When I put her in the play saucer I swear she almost hyperventilates! Breath Ashley breath! Buddy on the other hand is more laid back. He is more vocal than active. He will jabber jabber jabber but doesn't really move around much and forget about crawling. He will probably be like big sister Cambree and not crawl til for-ever!!! His motto must be why crawl when you can be carried! On the plus side he is super easy to feed a bottle to and sometimes I can actually prop the bottle up and it will stay because he is pretty still.

The one thing Buddy does beat Ashley at is eating LOL! Surprise surprise he is a boy! That boy can pack away the milk and now he can pack away the solids! I started him on actual solids (like the baby applesauce and banana's) a week ago. He eats like a champ. He even opens his mouth up when I put the spoon close to it! I think this boy has a future in hot dog eating contests! Ashley on the other hand is such a girl! She takes forever to drink a bottle and usually ends up drinking about 2 ounces less than Buddy. She refused to eat the solids at first but is slowly and I do mean slowly coming around. I think she wants to maintain her girlish figure even at 5 months old lol.

Well those are a few of the differences I can think of right now! Gotta love the craziness that comes with having twins! My days are never boring and that is fo sho!

My addictions!!!!

If there is one thing I know about myself it is this.... when I find something I like... I do it over and over and over AND over again. Food, movies, drinks... whatever it may be... once I latch onto something good it pretty much becomes my newest addiction. When I was home in Utah we decided to all hop on my moms bed and rent a movie. We stumbled across this movie called Country Strong and really by chance decided to watch it. For whatever reason that movie spoke to my soul!!! I instantly became obsessed with that movie. My fabulous sister downloaded all the songs from the movie and I immediately began listening to them over and over and over AND over. Don't believe me, ask my sister! My favorite thing from the movie is obviously Garrett and his a-m-a-z-i-n-g good looks er... I mean voice! I listen to the songs he sings from that movie pretty much every night when I'm going to bed! Check out his "Timing is Everything" song... it is truly inspired I tell you!!
My next current addiction is chocolate covered strawberries. My first encounter with chocolate covered strawberries came about a year ago. I had a friend who brought them into my life and ever since them I have been sold on them. Currently I make them like no joke three times a week! I would totally be a lot thinner right now if a) I didn't make them so much and b) I didn't feel the obligation to eat them all in one sitting! What?! It's an addiction! Suuurely you can understand! They are best when slightly chilled from the fridge... ohhhh don't get me started I want some NOW!
Another addiction has plauged me for a long time.... that is Shabby Chic sheets! I know I know ... I said SHEETS! When I was single and rich I bought sheets alllll the time. I know, who does that right? I was the sheet queen I tell you! I came across Shabby Chic like 10 years ago and we instantly became best friends. Now that I'm married and poor with three kids I can't afford to buy them as much but I currently have Shabby Chic sheets on both Cambree's bed and my bed at the moment. If you are in the market for new sheets check-cha-check-check-check check them out!
One of my last addictions/obsessions is that of autobiographies. Nerd alert I KNOW! My sisters are both into the (sometimes saucy) romance novels.... but me my friends.... I love me a good autobiography. My past favorite reads were Andre Aggassi (a REAL page turner... I cannot say enough about that book) and George W. Bush (who knew he was SO funny!) I started reading Larry H. Miller's book but somehow it ended up getting lost at my parents house. Literally we could not find it. One minute I'm reading it on the couch (or it could have been in Shaun's room) and the next I am turning over couch cushions with no luck and no book... I'm currently reading Chris Herren's book. It might seem like an odd choice but Chris Herren played at Fresno State the same time I was attending Utah State (so like an eternity ago right) and Freson always played against Utah State so I actually remember watching him play. Not to mention any sports book is a good book to me so that helps too.

So I guess if I were to put them all together a perfect night would be watching Country Strong... and then going to bed on my Shabby Chic sheets with a plate of chocolate covered strawberries and my Chris Herren book..... all of which I intend to do tonight because a) I'm nerdy like that and b) Keri works nights so what else do I have to do? Watch British tv? I think not......

Anxiously waiting...

We thought we had the next four years of our lives set but then we got word that we aren't going to Washington D.C. after all! In order for Keri to work for the White House he had to have two separate types of security clearances. (A Top Secret Clearance and a Presidential Clearance) It takes a certain amount of time to do each clearance and from the time Keri accepted the assignment til the time we are suppose to be there... there isn't enough time to complete the security clearances and apparently you can't arrive there without having both in place) Confusing I know and completely retarded. Basically they shouldn't have given us that assignment knowing we wouldn't have enough time to completely the steps necessary to have in place to accept it. Sooo now we are waiting to hear where we are actually going!!!! I'm a nervous wreck!! I wasn't exactly thrilled to hear about the D.C. job but after a few months I was (getting) excited and now we are back to square one!! I feel like I've paid my dues living in England so I HOPE we get a good assignment next!! On the top of our "wish list" is Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Ohio, and Virgina. I would be good with any of those but the only luck Keri and I have is BAD luck so we will probably end up in Alabama or something hot and humid! (Noooooothing against Alabama because I could definitely become an Auburn fan but I'd rather live in a dry climate!) Overall though I will just be happy to be leaving this tiny miserable island I'm calling England lol!! We are suppose to hear any time now so cross your fingers for us!! Pray we don't get sent to somewhere like North Dakota either!!!!! None of us have winter coats ;)

Sorry doesn't even cover it!

Just when you are cruising along life thinking everything is great you get thrown a curve ball. In this case it was a curve ball that I should have let pass me by but I didn't. The thing about life is you can get so caught up in something that you don't stop to think about the consequences or people that could get hurt in the process. I hurt a person who I once called a friend and if I could talk to that person again I would say from the bottom of my heart how incredibly sorry I am!