OK, here's the latest profile.
To the left is my latest and to the right is one month ago. I am now 7 months pregnant. My waist is 45 inches around at the biggest point! Wow, now that's something to be proud of! (I guess)
Matt has informed me I breathe rather loudly now and I suppose that might be because I have two babies taking up all the room where my lungs (and stomach and intestines) used to reside.
Another photo next month!

Note** I know my face looks quite red in the first pic but that would be due to Matt taking the photo from a laying down position. He had decided it would be fun to take some pics from underneath my belly looking up. No one will EVER see those ones, seriously, it's wrong...

Our Christmas tree will never be in a Parade of Homes. It will never win any contests. It will never be the awe-inspiring tree "the whole neighborhood talks about", but it is MY favorite and here's why.
When Alex was a baby I took him to get his picture taken (about every week or so- hey he was my first), and they gave me an ornament to put his picture in. So I did and I put in on our tree.
The next year we went to Germany and I bought an ornament there and put in on our tree. The next year I had Alex at the store and we were looking at Christmas decorations. This year he was totally into Tigger so I bought him a Tigger ornament for the tree. That's when the inspiration finally hit: I was going to buy my kids their own ornament each year that they picked out. Something they were into or liked. I thought it would be a fun tradition, but I had no idea how much my kids would love it.
Every year they start thinking about their ornament early. It has to be perfect. It has to be exactly what they're looking for. Then when it's time to decorate the tree they each get out their ornaments and line them up to look at. Each is labeled with Isaac 2004, Alex 2001.... They get such a kick out of looking back and remembering how much they loved that ornmaent that year and how much they've changed in the recent years. We also have to tell the stories that go with the ornaments. Like the time we had the people in the condo under us complain about Alex jumping around like Tigger all the time when we were in Hawaii or the way Isaac decided he loved Boba Fett before he'd seen any of the Star Wars movies.
Then it's a continual hanging and rehanging of the ornaments to make sure each is in the perfect spot for their viewing pleasure. And there will be no moving of said ornaments, this would constitute the gravest of sins.
So there you have it. Not a huge tradition, but one we love nonetheless. My kids are growing up but we still have little reminders of the past to decorate our tree and remind us of all the fun memories we've made so far.Here is random Boba Fett. We still have no idea where this Isaac fetish came from. Isaac 2005.

Though he is way too grownup for superheroes now, there was a time Alex was rarely seen not in costume. He loved Batman the most, but since he already had a Batman ornament, this was the year of Spidey. Alex 2004.
You have no idea how hard it is to find a shark ornament unless you've tried. We almost had to talk Isaac into something else when I randomly found this bad boy on Ebay. Isaac 2006.
This is a representation of how Isaac's Halloween fetish was born. Two years ago we went to Disneyland and they had the Haunted Mansion all "Nightmare before Christmas". A year later, he wanted a spooky ornament. I want you to know I had to buy a whole package of toys and make this one into an ornament because there wasn't an already made one to be found anywhere. Isaac 2007.
Alex's current (and 3 years running thus far) BYU obsession. I wouldn't call it brainwashing. Really. Alex 2006.This is Alex's ornament for this year. He chose the colors because... I forget. The football guy is him. This was his first year playing tackle football. He loved it.
Here is Isaac's ornament for this year. As mentioned before, my son LOVES Halloween. We found this in October and snatched it up so we wouldn't be scrambling to find something spooky in December.

Congratulations Utah on a perfect season. You owned the Cougars. You are the superior team. Period.

I am also pleased to announce my experience as a BYU fan visiting Rice Eccles was also better then anticipated.

This is my report:

--Of the 8 Utah fans in my immediate vicinity, only 2 were TOTALLY wasted.

--I only heard the "F" Bomb sixteen times.

--I only heard "F" BYU twice.

--Only four times was the "F" Bomb directed at me personally.

--I only saw the whole west stadium give Austin Collie "The Bird" six times (who, btw, is unstoppable--the only highlight of the game).

--I was only hit in the head with a blunt object four times.

--I was only threatened with physical violence twice.

--I only felt high from the pot smoking once (that one was worth it).

--I only saw two ladies get hit by their drunk husbands, after which the men received several pats on the back from other men saying "Way to keep her in her place."

--Several times I heard Utah woman fans singing "Utah man am I" Someone please explain that one too me.

--I heard NO ONE sing the whole Yewt Fight Song from start to finish.

--Only one rabid Utah fan put his cigarette out on my arm. It will heal, I am confident.

Totally a place I would like to bring me kids. You should be proud, Yewts!

So, with all that being said, congrats Yewts on being a terrific football team far superior to my Cougs this year and I hope you take the BCS!

Fans... You still blow!

See you next year! Do you Yewts have ANYONE coming back? Because we have EVERYONE coming back...

This is my report!

Matt here.

I am not one for a simple "This is what I did today" post. Sometimes my posts turn out that way, but I am not a big fan. I wish I could convey something insightful or inspiring with every post, but most of the time, I fail in this endeavor (thus the lack of posts). I like substance and ideas. Not simply 'this is what I ordered off the menu...'

My father is awesome at writing with a message. He maintains a daily journal that is always fascinating to read. Nothing can happen during a day but in his writings such events are always interesting and captivating.

Last week, we hiked a vigorous trail up Bell's Canyon. This is my father's account:

"Oh I hurt! I get up, I hurt! I walk, I hurt! From the waist down I just hurt!

Matt was set on a hike yesterday and pressed me into service. 8:30AM he, Alex, Isaac and I found the Little Cottonwood Trailhead to Bells Canyon, and with sticks to steady, we started up. Above the first switchbacks vistas open and we spot five deer, at least one with a large rack. We pause only momentarily at the reservoir, then I detour us on to the "romantic" route around the lake and up to the water diversion facility. The trail is far to the north but we stay south on the stream, flounder and explore until just below the upper bridge where we get back on the trail.


Ever upward over the bolder strewn route, frequent pauses, "how much further?" --this is a climb, not a hike! Steeper, longer, aches, rests... Alex never tires, Matt leads, Grampa uses Isaac as excuse to slow, wait, try again. We should be there! Isaac can't go further... streetches out, determined to wait our return. Matt goes ahead to explore -- 300, 500 yards, calls me twice on the cell-- to return? --push on? Then he finds the falls! Eureka! He yells encouragement down the canyon. Isaac hears his dad! ...draws new life, strength, determination... and leaves Grampa struggling in the rear.

The reward is breathtaking! We descend to the bottom of three sets of cascading falls --100 feet of plunging splendor! A thrilling reward! We pause and snack. The weather has been awesome-- cool and blue skies. We have phone signals and I report to Karen, but we still have a long way back-- a steep, rugged, bolder strewn retreat. I need sticks in both hands to steady my lunging steps. Knees, calves, thighs -- all hurt and ache, but we keep moving.

Alex is in total control and could have gone farther. Matt is strong and stable, but feeling his limits. Isaac is awesome! He pushed to the top, pranced back down, and all were waiting with the engine running when Grampa slithered out the bottom. We were all ready for the hot tub. I was still slow getting in and last out, but happy for the entire ordeal."

OK. So here they are. These are not my favorite photos. I do not love posting them, yet I am going to anyway. For those of you wondering if a twin pregnancy is different than a singleton- IT IS!

The picture on the left is the day I went in to have Isaac. Why the goofy look on my face? Not sure. I was about to have a baby, so I'll go with that as a reason.

Picture on the right is of me today. I am six months pregnant with twins. So far the vote in my family is I am officially bigger at six months than I was at nine with Isaac. Scary eh?

If any of you have a morbid curiosity of what the human body can do you should google photos of twin pregnant bellies. Whoa! There are some real crazy looking bellies out there. I think I will probably continue to take pictures just because of how frightening it really is (And so I can show my babies what they did to my body). I mean, there are two, count them, two humans growing in my body right now. Each of them is just over one pound. So when they get to say, five pounds....

Like I said morbid curiosity.

Anyway, totally random post, yet somewhat interesting. At least to me.


**Note** My stomach has been photoshopped to remove stretch marks, but the actual size is real.

**Note to self** I should put make-up on the next time I decide to take a picture of myself I plan to post on my blog.

My friend Jim sent this Email. I don't know the creator.

4224.

This is the number of pages I have read to my sons over the last year or so.

Today we read the last 120 pages in just under three hours.

So, we finished the Harry Potter series. All seven books. Out loud. Voices included! I do a mean Hagrid by the way. Voldemort's voice was a challenge. I don't know if I ever wrapped my voice around the high pitched whisper he exuded!

And what a blast it has been...

It is a bitter/sweet feeling, seeing it all come to a close. It has been riotous watching the boys laugh, jump, sit at rapturous attention, and to see it all come together in book seven was quite magnificent! I would never have read these books if it hadn't been for my boys, but to experience Harry with them has been an unforgettable journey.

It was good to have Alex along to explain what was happening every now and then and even Isaac added terrific commentary as well.

As the book came to a close, tears were shed, everyone hugged each other a little closer, and together, we turned the last page. Thanks Harry, for the great childrens' read and we look forward now to moving onto the Rings.

GOOOOoooooooooooooo Frodo!

Today at Church we were blessed to hear from all the children in our ward for this year's Primary Program. First of all, we have the best Primary Leaders in the entire church because the program ran smoothly, the kids talks were polished, the music was exceptional, and the message was enlightening. So, to all the Primary workers I say "Well done!"

There is a lot we could all learn from the Primary Sacrament Meeting. In other words one might say, "Everything I learned about running a Sacrament Meeting I learned from the Primary Program!"

Point 1- Talks were short and concise.
Point 2- The children focused on Gospel Principles. The testimonies were NOT "Thankamonies", "Travelmonies", or any other "-mony." The kids didn't blabber. They delivered their poignant message and then SAT DOWN.
Point 3- There were wonderful musical numbers that were more uplifting than any talk delivered over the pulpit.
Point 4- Messages were spread around a variety of different speakers and those delivering talks stayed within the time frames allotted. They did not run over so there was the perfect amount of time for all. I daresay that if a child started going long, they would have been yanked down into their seat. I think we should implement this practice in our regular meetings as well.
Point 5- We finished our meeting seven minutes early. Glorious.

I didn't even have to get out my iPhone to help pass the time...

And there it is. The perfect Sacrament Meeting.

Thanks Primary kids for once again teaching us adults more than we could ever teach you!

Let me start by saying Alex has been wanting to have a lemonade stand sort of thing forever. So when the first REAL soccer game opened at the new stadium last week and hundreds of people were walking down our street we decided we would have one.
Yesterday we went to Costco and bought our supplies, today we made posters, and about 2 hours before the game started the boys were set up and ready to go. They had candy, soda, cookies and apples (Isaac insisted we needed to have a healthy snack to offer).
Matt and I sat a way off to observe and just let the boys do their thing. They were great. Yelling out "cold soda, one dollar! lots of candy too! And healthy, healthy, healthy apples (Isaac again)" to all the people walking by. Some stopped and some didn't, but that's part of how it goes when you're running a business.
The thing Matt and I found interesting was which people stopped and which ones didn't. We would guess when we saw them coming down the street if they would stop or not. The thing is, we expected the moms and dads with kids to stop. After all, they have kids and don't their kids set up lemonade stands from time to time?
Well, some of them did. But mostly they passed right on by. Our kids' #1 customers were the young couples out on dates. The guy wanting to impress his date by buying some candy from little kids. Very interesting people study.
So why weren't the families stopping? How, being a mom or dad, do you look at two little kids selling stuff in their front yard and not pull a dollar out of your pocket. I mean, it's easy to ignore the Singular cell phone guy or the green tea girl at the mall, but a five and nine year old that have a sign saying "earning money for Disneyland", come on people. You don't have to buy them out, just one dollar would make their whole day! I really wanted to ask some of them what their reasons for not stopping were, but that may have been a little rude. So I simply sat in my lawn chair quietly judging them instead.
OK, I will now get off my soapbox.
The REAL fans were great. Alex and Isaac had a super fun time together yelling to the people passing by and selling their candy. They had contests trying to convince people what to buy (candy vs. apples), what kinds of accents they could talk in, who could yell the loudest, and who could sneak the most treats into their mouths when mom and dad weren't looking. Then bonus, they made quite a bit of money in the process (as long as I don't collect everything I spent buying their wares).

Well, last night's debate solidified the next President of the United States: President Obama.

Get used to it.

McCain just couldn't hang. Obama was smooth, polite, professional, and impenetrable to McCain's weak attacks. Obama held his composure while McCain's impersonation of a rabid dog nipping at the heals of America's next boss, was less than convincing. Any other candidate could have done a better job than McCain. His little smirks, goofy smile, and stuttering comebacks were distracting and disheartening. Obama owned McCain, now he owns the presidency.

Also, the same is true with the VP pics. Beiden is a professional politician while Palin is a fresh, but unfortunately shallow, showcase. If asked honestly who I would want to become president if something were to happen to POTUS in an assault on America, whom would I choose? Well, Beiden would be my answer. That really hurts to say. The same argument could be made about the VP debates as well. Being a politician for SO long, Beiden knows what to say and how to act to be liked by the American people. I think Beiden owned Palin due to his slickness and better political composure.

The Democratic candidates are better. Period.

But the messages that define them definitely are not.

I have a list of things that disturb me greatly about the Democratic platform (like every MORAL issue on the table) that I have mentioned on this blog in the past, so I won't delve too deeply in this post, but something was made very clear to me last night by McCain: Obama fosters mediocrity. He wants to give something for nothing. He wants to simply 'redistribute wealth'. He wants give money to many for not earning it. He wants to create more of a socialistic society by taking over health care and taxing more big business and just giving it to those 'less fortunate.'

Now before you go crazy in talking about the poor and billion dollar surpluses for big business, it is the ideology about which I am concerned.

America is built upon capitalism. It is this concept that has made us successful. Capitalism, through business, fosters growth, success, jobs, AND taxes that pay 98% of our bills. When a President wishes to stunt our economical growth by punishing the entities that are moving this country forward, then our growth suffers and our economy becomes stagnant.

Obama's 'spread the wealth' approach encourages laziness, stunts economic growth, is the first step towards Socialism and even further down the road, Communism. Let's get government out of our pockets and let Capitalism work.

I'm afraid we're going to have to wait 8 years before we can clean up the mess.

My friend Jim wrote the following post and I loved it. Thought I would share...

http://thebloggeries.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-mccain-must-do-and-say-this.html

Matt here.

So, Alex is nine. Isaac is 5. Both are now in school. Both feed themselves, don't need help going to the bathroom, and can clean their room plus put away their own clothes. They have jobs around the house to help lighten the load. They clear the table after dinner. We can have meaningful conversations with them. They can make me laugh. They watch sports with me and understand the games. They can both play catch. We like the same things and I can only imagine it getting better.

Many would say that we have arrived. The hard days are over. They are now contributing members of our family and not just requiring constant care. We can now start living it up!

Twins?

Of course the twins are an answer to our prayers, but are we really ready for this? Jenny and I have been having a fantastic time with the kids, and for those of you who don't know what it is like to say "Go to bed!" and the kids listen, trust me, you have NO IDEA how good it can be! But the idea of starting over scares me to death! Sleepless nights, crying, and non-stop care-giving, TIMES TWO? Heaven help us...

But in those quiet moments... when my mind calms and my heart stops racing with anxiety, I think of Daxton and Elsie. I think of the road ahead. I think of sports and games, dance recitals, and Family Home Evenings... I think of still having kids that want to snuggle when the others are too old. I think of still having buddies in the house when Alex is off to BYU and Isaac is on a mission...

Maybe I am grateful that our empty nest just got extended for another 18 years...

Maybe twins this late isn't so bad :)

So it's finally getting a little crisp outside. I think fall might be getting here. Time for jackets, soups, and hot chocolate at night. And time for curling up with a good book. Problem. I don't have one and I desperately need one. So any of you out there reading this... Help! Suggestions? (Oh, and by the way, this is Jenny. Not Matt. Please keep that in mind. I don't need to read the biography of Clay Aiken)

Anyone notice Obama's forked tongue tonight?

Sent from my iPhone

So if this worked, I just figured out how to post directly from my
phone. Technology is cool.

Sent from my iPhone

Raise them right!

For Alex's birthday, he wanted one thing from family members: Gift Cards.

"To what?" you might ask. Well, I as was happy to hear him say "... to the BYU bookstore!"

atta boy...

So tonight, we ventured down south to Happy Valley and Alex (9) went on a $100 shopping spree at the bookstore. Below is the loot!

No fan is complete without this years "The Quest" for perfection shirt.

My favorite: "Friends don't let friends go the U of U." How true.

He also got a BYU Under Armour shirt for his football jersey.

What fan doesn't have his/her 3X5 foot banner flag?

And lastly, some BYU basketball warm-up pants to go with everything else.

Proud...

Today Alex is 9 years old! Instead of showing photos of his birthday party and opening presents I decided to take a look back at the past 9 years. I know how cheesey it is to say it goes by fast, but it's true!









At nine years old Alex loves: BYU, reading (especially Harry Potter), roller coasters, Arby's, river rafting, football, rockband, cinnamon rolls, basketball, and playing with his friends.

Alex does NOT love: shopping, sandwiches, going back to school after being off track, homework, dancing, cleaning, or the University of Utah.

For his birthday dinner he has requested ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, homemade rolls and pears.

We love you Alex!