christmas card outtake + stuff

yesterday after dinner we had dan's sister snap some photos of us for a christmas card. they all look cute...well all but this one. we both had a pretty good laugh at this. we are such goofs! i have already order the christmas cards and they are waiting for dan to pick them up at costco. look at me on the ball with christmas cards! 

i have been dying to decorate for the holidays for weeks well, the house is now clean and decorated for christmas. thanks to my freaking amazing husband. like, for reals guys. i can't even begin to tell you how much i appreciate that man. he has taken on pretty everything these days. he is super husband/super dad! 

oh and one more brag moment about the husband.....um the boy can cook. i knew he could grill like a boss but, cook...i had no idea! he has made us some amazing dinners. the other night he made some amazing halibut and tonight he is currently making us homemade mac n cheese with chicken. using this recipe. our favorite mac n cheese from one of our favorite places. see one of our visits here. sooo good!!! 

anyways.....enjoy your weekend! 

xo

happy thanksgiving

well guys, it's thanksgiving. the day we stuff our faces til we can't move. i hate that feeling. don't you? being pregnant i get that feeling often. the worst. anyways, today isn't about the food. it's about being with those you love and remembering what you are grateful for. that later part is something i strive to remember daily, not just today. below are just a few things i am truly grateful for this year:

via 

daniel//i can't even begin to tell how grateful i am for this guy. he is always surprising me with little things i love it. since we found out we were pregnant with twins, once he got over the shock of it. he has been so excited, and so supportive. i can't wait to see him with baby h and baby c. i knew before i married him that he would be the best dad, and i finally get to see it in action in a few weeks. those babies are so lucky, and so am i. i love you daniel! 

the gospel//there have been times in my life when i struggled with my testimony, haven't we all had that experience? i can say that, i know that this church is true and my heavenly father loves me through all my flaws. i feel so blessed to have this gospel in my life. 

baby h & baby c//being a mother is something i have wanted ever since i was a little girl, when we got married i thought i was ready right away to add children to our lives. i was wrong and my heavenly father knew it wasn't time. i learned to accept that in his timing we would be parents. it wasn't until right before december 2012 that i felt like a piece of me was missing. i ached to be a mom so bad. we prayed and prayed to know when we should expand our family. sometimes when i saw that negative sign it would hurt, and sometimes i was okay with it. it was quite the emotional roller coaster. on june 6th when, we saw that plus sign i was shocked. i know our trying experience wasn't as long as a lot of people i know, but we still ached for it so bad! since then our lives have been a whirlwind. we never would have thought we would be expecting twins, at first we thought heavenly father was playing a joke on us. no joke on us, he knows that we can handle this. he knows that these babies will be in good hands. we will love them with all our hearts. we already do. so, of course i am thankful for these babies!

family//i love my big family. having 4 parents will cause that, but you know what? i love it and having in laws now, is amazing. i love a big family. they are always there for us and so loving. it may get crazy at times but, that's family and i wouldn't change it for anything. 

bloggging//this blog has always been a place for me to write my feelings down and let it out. i started it as a way to update family and it has opened so many doors for me. i have made so many amazing friends and learned so much about myself. whenever i need a pick me up, i know i have you blog friends to turn to, to share experiences with me or to just listen. i love blogging and all of you who read. 

our marriage//dan and i are nowhere near perfect but, i love the marriage we have. yes, we have times when we bicker or drive each other nuts but, we have a lot of times when i feel we have an amazing marriage. we know what buttons to push, we know how to make each other laugh, we understand one another, and we love each other like crazy. i like to think we have this marriage thing semi down now after almost 3 years. i cannot wait to raise our children and grown old together. 

modern medicine & the power of prayer//you guys are probably so sick of me talking about this but, this was such a huge thing in our lives. i have never been more grateful for two things than these two. these two things together have helped us through out this pregnancy, especially since the pre term labor scare. if it hadn't been for our doctors instinct to check my cervix that day, i don't know what would have happened. i ask myself everyday, would have i known i was contracting? would things be ok? once we knew things weren't okay, we prayed, and asked for many of you to prayer as well. i truly believe all the prayers and modern medicine helped stop my contractions and helped keep these babies in longer. we feel so blessed that they are healthy and okay. like, extremely grateful. 

okay, i will be done for now. i just wanted to share those things with you all. if you had to choose 7 things to be grateful for what would they be? if you did a blog post about this please leave the link in a comment and i will have a look! 

&& happy thanksgiving from our little family to yours! 
xoxo

a letter to my babies

Hi my sweet babies. A lot has happened since I wrote the last letter. On October 30th, you guys gave us quite the scare and wanted to come early. We are so anxious to meet you but, it was and still is too early. 

Since then I {your mom} have been on bed rest. We do lots of laying around, reading, watching tv and movies these days. Your dad has really stepped up and taken the house work on. Plus working full time. He is super dad for sure! 

You both are so active these days, I love it so much. I can only imagine how crowded are you guys are but, seem to have enough room to do lots of moving and grooving in there. Your dad and I have a favorite game to play with you. We set a phone or remote or really anything on my belly. Then giggle and laugh as you guys kick or punch it. You must not enjoy things sitting on mommy's belly. You also hate when Dr Nielson does ultrasounds and pokes you guys with the probe. Sorry about that, but we gotta get good looks at you! 

I will be 29 weeks pregnant tomorrow {woohoo! it's also Thanksgiving-I hope you guys love mashed potatoes because I sure do! psssttt...you will probably grow to love thanksgiving because that means daddy has time off from work!} we are praying everyday and night that you two are both healthy. Dr Nielson is so impressed with you guys, you have done great since the scare. We just need 4 more weeks of baking. Or you may surprise us all and go full term! 

We have also have been working hard at getting your room ready for you. It's looking pretty darn cute. I know you will love it. I can't wait until you guys are big enough to play and read in your special little space. Sometimes when I walk by your room I picture you two hanging out in your cribs or sitting on the polka dot rug looking at books. I hope you both have a love for books like, your momma. 

Baby Boy & Baby Girl, I want you to you know how much your daddy and I love you already. We are excited for you two, to join our family. Love you babies! 

Love, 

Mom 

four from the weekend

+ i may have broken bed rest for 2 1/2 hours on saturday to see catching fire. um, worth it. soooo dang good! have you seen it? i loved it so much, they did such a good job! ssshhh, don't tell my dr. just kididng, i was totally fine sitting there! 

+ spent the rest of the weekend in bed watching parenthood on netflix. i am obsessed with this show. 

+ so in love with my new minnetonka mocs. the most comfy shoes ever. you should probably get a pair! you can see the ones i picked here. love the studs they add just the right amount of flair. 

+ checked another item off the nursery to do list. washed the sheets and the clothes we have {we have some that have been given to us, im sure there will be more once we have a shower, whenever that will be!} i am love with the way it's coming together. cannot wait to show you when it's done. oh and i packed a few things in the diaper bag. you know, just getting prepared since these babies can come anytime, from now on! hopefully not for another 6-7 weeks!

did you have a nice weekend? i have come to really LOVE the weekends because dan is home and i have someone to keep me company! if you saw catching fire, please email me i need to discuss with someone. pleeeeaasseee! 

xoxo

the weekly bump

10 weeks//11 weeks 

12 weeks//13 weeks 

14 weeks//15 weeks

16 weeks//17 weeks 

18 weeks//19 weeks 

20 weeks//21 weeks 

22 weeks//23 weeks

24 weeks/25 weeks 

26 weeks//27 weeks 

28 weeks//that's it for now!

i thought it would be fun to share with you the weekly bump photos. i post these on facebook weekly and sometimes on instagram but, haven't on here. can't believe it's already been 28 weeks. hopefully they stay in til 36 weeks! crazy to see them all together and how much i have grown. i love it! 

happy friday, loves! 

xoxo

five things on thursday

print via rifle paper co.

1. today, i am 28 weeks pregnant. holy moly, is right. i am starting to be very uncomfortable at times because they move so dang much. which is not a bad thing, trust me. i love it more than anything. on instagram i posted 2 videos of baby girl kicking and moving i have yet to get baby boy on video. it's so crazy to me that we can see them move now. feels like little aliens in my belly {not like, i know what that feels like. haha} i am feeling pretty grateful we have kept them in 3 weeks longer. let's pray they stay in another a few weeks! 

2. bed rest is starting to make me go crazy. i thought oh yeah, being in bed is going to be amazing. um, not. it's so hard to not want to do things around the house but, i literally can't. i know my limits now and it's hard to stick to them. i am not trying to complain, trust me. some days i am totally fine with this bed rest thing and others im not. i think anyone would agree. i know it's the best for the babies. now, i need to decide if going to catching fire this weekend is a good idea or not. i just don't know, it's not part of bed rest but, i would just be sitting in a theater right? not like im shopping at target {which i miss}. who knows what i will decide. probably wont' go but, who knows! 

3. can we talk about how fast november is going? thanksgiving is next week. then comes christmas! it's so crazy to me how fast the holidays go. this year i am itching to put up our tree. like, so bad. since dan is going to have to do the decorating {while i direct} we are waiting til after thanksgiving because, he's boring like that. haha just kidding babes! speaking of thanksgiving, i feel sad for it. it often gets overlooked by christmas. i am guilty of this. i did just say i wanted to decorate. haha. i do love thanksgiving!! 

4.  i won a giveaway from bonlook a few weeks ago and on monday i went to order my new glasses {i chose these ones}. well long story short, their site was having issues and not letting my payment go through. i had to pay $30..00 for my lenses because my prescription is so high. after several emails back and forth and a phone call. they couldn't find my payment. my bank had said it went through. so, bonlook is amazing and feels so bad for this headache of a problem that they are sending me the glasses for free! right?? so amazing. i am grateful for companies that have great customer service. i would have had no problem paying the $30.00 but, man it feels like good to know there is some nice people out there! {these are my own words, i am in no way getting anything for talking about their company. just wanted to share this story!}

5. during my days i have a lot time to think. this week i have been thinking about how blessed we really are. yeah, bed rest isn't ideal and i would rather be back to my old preggers self but, when i think about it. i am so thankful i am pregnant and soo thankful the babies are okay. i am extremely grateful for our doctor and her amazing care. she really is the best. i have a post planned on thanksgiving with other things i am grateful for but, i just wanted to share this now! 

from the weekend and other times

feeling his babies move//warm baths for this preggo//this husband of mine has been amazing at cleaning and cooking while i am on bed rest//birthday dinner date-then home to bed//little visitors the other day//birthday cake-yummy!//dan and our nieces are pretty cute//dream diaper bag//mondays adventure to the doctor

babies are still looking great and i am hanging in there while on bed rest. somedays are easier then others and somedays i go crazy wishing i could go to target or something. oh well! gotta keep these babies in longer. this thursday i will hit 28 weeks pregnant. can you believe it?

this doesn't go with this post but, i want to take one second to say how grateful i am for the knowledge i have of eternal families. we have very close friends, who lost someone very close to them this weekend. when i heard the news my eyes watered thinking, of how bad they must be hurting and my heart aches for them. i wish there was something i could do. 

luckily, we have the knowledge of eternal families and the love of our heavenly father to comfort us when we need it the most. we believe that we will see our loved ones who pass away again someday. it still hurts but, it helps just a little to know you will see them again someday. i want to tell these friends of ours that we love them! 

okay, thats it for today. remember to tell your loved ones you love them! :)

currently + such

from a few weeks ago when we had our first snow fall. didn't stick
but, i think the storm we get this week will. AHH!

listening: 
to lady antebellum's christmas album. the other day i needed a pick me up and since then i cant stop. it's just that good. since i can't decorate my house myself this year i will settle for christmas music early. i know it's not thanksgiving yet, but hey i can't help it! 

thinking: 
how is my birthday already on sunday? how the heck am i turning 25. can someone explain this to me? please. haha.

dreaming: 
of a white christmas. we got one last year and it was magical. 

pinning: 
lots of sweaters, cute baby things and christmas crafts that i probably wont do. see them here! 

loving: 
all the kicks from the babies. they are so dang active it's crazy. we can even see some when just looking at my belly. 

reading: 
allegiant by veroinca roth 

wishing: 
for this sweater and this one too. oh and this too! 

adjusting: 
to bed rest. im learning what things i can and can't do. i've learned being in bed is the most comfy. so i stay in bed til dan gets home then move my preggo butt to couch. exciting stuff huh?

watching: 
i have had lots of time to watch endless amounts of tv and movies. im watching last man standing on netflix. a cheesy show but, so funny. oh and just finished gossip girl for the second time. amazing! what should be next?

praying: 
these babies stay healthy and stay in longer. i just want them to be healthy and okay. if the come early {which they very well can} i just pray they will be ok. we think and say a lot of positive thoughts around here these days! 

grateful

over here today sharing things i am grateful for. 

be sure to to tell jennie hi! 

ps. hi to all you readers from her blog!

xoxo

bumpate {26 weeks}

worst quality photo. sorry the lighting was terrible! 

HOW FAR ALONG:  26 weeks with TWINS! {26 weeks 3 days in this picture} 

MATERNITY CLOTHES:  yep. all about comfy clothes now that im on bed rest. the top in this photo is actually a tunic from old navy. it's sweatshirt material and amazing. see it here. if youre preggo you need this in your life-trust me!

WEIGHT GAIN/LOSS:  i think i am up another 4 lbs from last time so a total of 15 or so lbs since the start. i am totally guessing i don't remember what the scale was at my last appt. which was only a week ago haha. get to go again today. 

BEST THING THIS WEEK: lets see, feeling them move so much. at times its annoying or even hurts me when baby girl kicks my ribs or in baby boy's case my pelvic bone since he is so low. i still love it. im learning they are already tricksters i saw babe feel and then they stop. already messing with their daddy! 

GENDER: boy & girl :)

MOVEMENTS: oh yes. since the whole hospital adventure they are so active. my belly gets super hard when they move due to my uterus being crazy still. they still are the most active at night or lately in the morning. 

FOOD CRAVINGS/AVERSIONS:  no aversions. although sweets don't usually sound that great to me anymore. so weird. im loving all the foods i used to love before i was pregnant. still crave french fries all the time. haha. 

WHAT I MISS:  being able to do more around the house. i know resting is the best for the twins and i but, still hard not to want to pick up that sock or whatever. thankfully my mom was here and helped so much and dan is doing so well with everything! love that guy! oh and my stretch mark free skin-yep i found my first few stretch marks! 

SLEEP:  last few nights have been get like 3 times to pee and adjust the pillows a million times kind of nights. the babies are stubborn and don't like when i sleep on my right side they move and then my belly gets super hard and SO uncomfortable. silly babies.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO: taking these next hopefully 10 weeks to rest and focus on me and these babies. thankfully the nursery is pretty much done well kind of. oh and my baby shower. my aunt and i were talking about it. made excited for when it happens in several weeks! 

there you have the 26 week bumpdate. even though im uncomfortable from the kicking and stretching of my skin i love being pregnant. i also feel so blessed to still be pregnant. gotta keep them in at least 10 more weeks-we can do it! :) 

xoxo

what bed rest looks like

+ the hubby sleeping by my side when we were at the hospital 

+ very grateful to be out of the hospital 

+ and grateful to have those ivs out

+ currently reading this and loving it

+ two peas in a pod my mom and dan 

+ my mom has been here since the whole per term labor and has been the best 

+ we have some of the sweetest friends {thanks lundrigans for the goodies, the hendersons for dinner and the olsens for the treats!}

+ boy its been freezing lately-hot cocoa is a must 

+ if you ever need me ill be in bed or on the couch

most of you probably know that we have been home since last friday. i have been put on strict bed rest with bathroom privileges. well, really i can "putt" around the house but no chores or lots of walking. i can also go out to meals if we want. like dinner. but, boy it wears me out. i move pretty slow these days. i just don't want to exert myself and cause contractions again. 

my mom has been here since this all started and will be leaving us on saturday. she has been amazing. cleaning, cooking, pampering me, and keeping me company. when she leaves it's going to be very quiet around here. which, i guess is ok. doctors say they want me to be bored. haha. im always up for visitors so, just text me! 

bed rest isn't very fun but, i know taking it easy is in the best interest of these babies. we saw our real doctor on monday and she said babies look great. she doesn't want to check my cervix too much in fear of messing with it. i will now see her once a week from here on out. if i start contracting or anything then she will check me but, til then just weekly visits to be safe. i am taking progesterone every night in hopes of it keeping my cervix where it is at. we are all still praying baby h & c stay in a few more weeks. tomorrow i will be 26 weeks. so, lets pray i can make it passed 30 weeks. 35 would be ideal! 

again, i want to say thank you for all the prayers, thoughts, calls, texts, etc. we feel so blessed to have so many people thinking of us. we love you all! i will tell you this whole thing has taught me to let others do things for me and helped me know my limits. i can't do it all, all i can do is rest! 

this is a sure test of our faith in our heavenly father.....it has help us truly know with him all things will be okay! 

xoxo

i actually went to a blogger get together

last tuesday alacia, kim and i headed down to provo for a blogger get together at francescas in the orem mall. bri from breezy days hosted and it was oh so much fun. living so far from provo makes me sad because, i don't get to go to many blogger events. boy, i am glad i got to get out of the house for this one. 

i loved seeing girls i havent seen since march, getting to know new bloggers and meeting some in real life finally. i feel like i know these ladies from all the blog reading i do. meeting them in person in so much better, i love forming real life friendships with them. blogging is really a great thing. 

since we were in the cutest store ever. we were split into teams and each had to create a fall look from one of their collections. then we dressed one of our team members. in my team our model was the lovely elise from hunters of happiness. {can i just say i love her soo much!} guess, what we won the game! too bad, i didn't get good pics of every teams outfits. they were all soo freaking cute! 

while at the party i was eyeing so many cute clothing items i wanted to take home. maybe once i get birthday money later this month i will have to make a trip to my local store in slc! 

here is a list of the bloggers that attended along with their blogs:

bri from breezy days 

kyla from fordology 

elise from hunters of happiness 

rachel from rachel sayumi

alacia from hoodwinked 

kim from life as a bird 

jessi from haircut and general attitude 

kelsey and hubby from kelsey bang

deidre from love, the skinnys 

sue from chevron and lace 

brittany from lovestiched 

natalie from {ahhh i didn't get your blog...sorry girlie!}

&& me of course! 

boy, you all tired this preggo out. i was so tired by the time i got home! a good tired. had so much fun. heck, the next day was when the whole hospital thing started. oy vey! haha. 

what's been going on....

Now, that things have slowed down and I have some time I want to write down what has been going on since Wens afternoon. This is mainly to update those who don't know all details and keep for our records of these babies. 

Wens afternoon I had a regular Dr appt with my regular Dr. My biggest worry earlier that day was the glucose test I had to take. We got to our appt-did the blood work and then went in for an ultrasound with our Dr. She usually starts by checking the babies real good but, this time for some reason she said she wanted to check my cervix and measure it since I was far enough along that it was time to start measuring it. 

She usually takes lots of pictures and talks to us a lot. This time she got really quiet. Made us kind of nervous at first {that would make any new parents nervous}. She then checked it herself and was able to stick her finger tip into my cervix and it is half the size its suppose to be. She said she probably could've stuck the whole finger but, didn't want to risk it just yet. She has me change back into my clothes and came back to discuss what was going on. 

She told me that my cervix was very thin and dilating. My heart started racing. She said she would like to admit me upstairs to Labor & Delivery. I started crying out of being utterly scared. I just held Dan's hand and up we went. 

They started placing heart monitors on both babies and me. Things are kind of blur at the start. I just remember that I started contracting quick. They put iv's in me and started pumping me with all kinds of medicine.  After a little bit the contractions slowed down and my Dad, Stepmom, little sister Oakley and Dan's Parents were let in. Dan, my Dad and my Father in Law gave me a Priesthood blessing {to read about the priesthood click here}. I felt an instant calming feeling take over me. I was still scared but, I knew with the help of the Doctors, Nurses and our Heavenly Father everything would be ok in time. 

After the blessing things slowed down and then I think randomly they started picking up again. The nurses called my Dr and she came back to the hospital. She arrived and said they may transfer me to another hospital that is better equipped to handle babies this early. I lost it. That scared me so bad. I felt totally out of control. 

Well, long story the did transfer me via helicopter to the University of Utah Hospital. Dan followed in our car with his mom. It was a quick trip about 5 min. By the time they got me into a room in Labor & Delivery. Dan, and his parents and my Dad were right behind me. 

Things kind of hectic at first. Lots of people in the room. Doctors and Nurses. Hooking me up to things and so on. That started a scary night of being constantly monitored. Dan and my Dad both stayed with me and my in laws went home to try to get some rest. While my Mom and Stepdad were on the way from CA {driving all night!}

It was a night of being constantly monitored. Not much sleep happening with all the Nurses coming in and out. My contractions were pretty close 1-5 min. After an hour or two of being on medicine they spaced out to 3-5 minutes. After a few more hours they had spaced out a lot. Around 6 am they came in and asked how I was doing since they noticed that they had slowed down a lot. I said I felt a lot better just, hungry! {I hadn't eaten since 2pm wens}. Around 8 am they took us in for an ultrasound and said that when we got back they were going to switch us to a new room. Ultrasound went great. When we got back to our room they said they were ready to take us to our new room and take out my iv's and take off the heart monitors. Such a relief. The new room we are in is amazing. Comfy bed, and such a nice break to have less people coming in and out. 

We have been in the new room since about 9am yesterday. They have come in every few hours to monitor the babies and me. We are all looking great. Still no new contractions or anything. I haven't dilated since Wens/I guess Thurs at midnight. Through this whole ordeal the babies have been great. Never been in any distress or anything. Just super active since they are still so little. Each only over a pound. We are praying they stay in a few more weeks!

This morning the head OB here came in and said during rounds that the other Ob's are please with the amazing progress and they may send us home this weekend. For me to be on bed rest at home. We are staying positive and are so grateful for all the prayers that have been sent our way. We truly feel blessed to have so many people thinking of us and these babies.

This had been such a scary and trying time in our lives. We have really relied on family, friends and most importantly our Heavenly Father. We know with faith and understanding things will be fine. 

I want to take a minute to say how lucky I am to have Dan by my side. He has been unbelievably strong even though I know he was just are terrified as me. He has been my rock. I feel so blessed to have an amazing husband to be with me through this journey. I love that man so much. He will be the best dad to these sweet babies. I love Daniel! 

There you have the story. I am sorry if it doesn't make sense I am still a little tired. Again we appreciate all the prayers and ask to keep them coming these next few weeks. Our goal is to keep them in at least 5 more weeks or longer would be best! Thank you so much we love each and everyone of you! 

xoxo



   

happy list//november

my birthday month 

a hard working husband 

the cute babies in my belly

our street covered in leaves 

boot weather 

hidden blessings 

close friends who are always there 

apple cider 

weekends with daniel 

my amazing visiting teachers 

sweater weather 

my wedding ring {still after over 2 years i am in awe}

you readers 

what's on your happy list?! 

xoxo