Christmas 2009

We had a fun Christmas Eve with all of the family last Thursday evening. Jamie and Kelly came late because of other family parties and Melinda didn't get to come at all because she had bronchitis - we missed her. We tried our hand at fondue and decided we need a lot more practice - I over heated the chocolate and the cheese was stringy ... so they didn't look very pretty but they tasted good - and I MISSED the yummy artichoke dip that Da was going to bring. It was an interesting Christmas Eve - every year I work hard to find just the right story or program for our family Christmas Eve and then every year we have the Christmas Story done by the grandkids. Well this year I just plain couldn't think of anything to do program wise, so we decided that we would just get together and eat and visit and then do the reinactment of the nativity.

We waited for Jamie and Kelly to bring their babies so we would have a baby Jesus and then we decided not to do the nativity at all - we had a fun time visiting and eating and thought that would be sufficient. But we missed the nativity --- it isn't what you call spiritual because the kids don't practice it in advance or anything - but it is definitely one of our family traditions... and it was missed. It also is a break in the talking and eating and I missed the chance to stop and take a moment and appreciate the reason for the Season -- the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The evening felt incomplete because we didn't 'do' the spiritual part of it!

Another reason that the evening was incomplete was because we were missing Makae. We did get to see her though - a bunch of the family all headed down to North Salt Lake for a 2 pm visit with her. It was a wonderful chance to hug her and talk to her and watch her get excited over seeing many of the family that she hadn't seen for two months.

We also got to see Makae on the Tuesday before Christmas - her whole group put on a very fun musical program for us - This is Makae singing with the girls at Lifeline. She seems to enjoy the staff and the students and has adjusted to their routine very well. She is learning to make some good decisions with her life right now and she is in our every prayer.

It was so fun watching Shawn and Kristanne's boys lovingly hold their new little cousins. All three of them were so excited to be holding a baby. Of course the babies were the hit of the party with everyone - here we have Ethan and Cade holding Taylie and Brayden. Taylie even looks a little bit like Ethan!
Here's Cade - in his fancy new jammies which he LOVED!! With a sweet Brayden
Taylie and Brayden were held and held and held that whole Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - they had to be exhausted after having to entertain all their aunts and uncles and cousins and gramma's and granpas!!
Jace was really excited to try and hold Brayden. At first I held Jace as he held Brayden but it didn't take me long to realize he did a good job holding the babies. So we sat him on the floor and let him go solo. We had a fun evening with everyone - there is nothing I love more than spending time with my family. It gets a bit BUSY in my little house when all of us are there but there is no cure for that problem - its only going to get worse as the families get bigger. I am still waiting for my kids to buy me a bigger house!! ;-D


But we had a lovely evening and then the next day Ed and I got up early and were on the road to Lehi by 6:45 am so we could be there when Ben and Simon came down the stairs to see what Santa had brought.

This picture of Benjamin is priceless - the look on his face is exactly what Christmas morning is all about. The excitement and thrill of a new train set! One that he could make go all by himself!

this is our own version of Godzilla - as soon as Simon realized he could make his train go foward and back, he had to get in the middle of things - literally!
Here's Ben watching Da as she sets the train back on the track again - I bet Dirk and Da wish they had a nickle for every time they have had to do that in the last week!
Benji got a normal looking train and Simon got the 'front-runner'....it didn't take him long to figure out how to get the little person in the train out and then he discovered he could make the train go on the carpet as well as the track...the rest of the time we were there he was driving his train all over the carpet. We tried to get Ben and Simon interested in their gifts but nothing doing...all they could see was TRAIN!!

After we had spent 45 minutes at Dirk and Da's house we got back in the car and headed to Provo where Kecia had been waiting patiently (???) for us to arrive. She woke up Glenn when we pulled up (he was glad to get to sleep in an extra hour!)
this picture should be very last --- I had been taking pictures of Emma and her trucks - there she was running back and forth in her jammies and her high heels and watching the trucks go = she was sooooo excited. Then I looked over at her mommie... sitting there with her hat and scarf on, her stack of presents in front of her and holding up her new saute pan in HER jammies and with her new high heels on too! Like mother , like daughter!
Note princess Emma's glass slippers - she didn't want to have anything to do with her new princess dresses and jewelry and crowns but she put on her new high heels as she chased back and forth watching the trucks going.
She didn't touch the trucks or the tracks - she just ran back and forth and back and forth saying truck truck truck
Like Ben and Simon - Emma was so excited about her tracks and trucks she was not the least bit interested in the presents we brought or any of the other presents under the tree - she would look for a second and then back to the 'truck, truck, truck'.
This was what was waiting for Emma when she first came into the living room - a whole box full of princess dresses and high heels and crowns and jewelry ... NO THANK YOU, NOT INTERESTED.....TRUCK ......TRUCK.....TRUCK!


Thank you Kecia and Glenn and Dirk and Da for sharing Christmas morning with us. Ed just decided on Christmas eve that he wanted to watch the little ones and see and feel the excitement of Christmas morning. I wasn't too sure about it (after all, I didn't get to open my presents until 11 am when we got back home!!)

Christmas Day was a fantastic day as we got to spend it with the people we love, watching the excitement on their faces as they opened the gifts that we had lovingly picked out to give them. Christmas is such a special time - as we drove down South that morning we saw a cross walk above the freeway where someone had taken cups and created the message in the fence that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS"

Mauri and Ira and their sweet kids got to our house about 12:30. Grandpa was anxious to give them all rides on the RZR but it was sooooo cold and his hopes of pulling them on their sleighs over behind the church house on the lawn there were dashed because of the ice mountain between the lawn and the parking lot. After they left I got a half an hour nap (which is a good nap for me) and then Shawn and Kristanne came with the three boys. While they were still here Jamie and Kelly and the twinners showed up. We had lots of good food all day long and again, lots of love and laughter. About five pm we followed Shawn and Kris down to Kelly and Terrie's house to see grandpa Merritt - All of Kelly's family were there plus Jeff and Teresa and Skye and Katie Jo - so again, we enjoyed the love and laughter of our wonderful family. Teresa and Jeff added so much fun to the group.

Ed and I were getting ready to leave when the phone rang and it was Chase calling from North Carolina. Kelly put the phone on speaker mode and we all sat around the table for an hour chatting with Elder Nielson. It was great - and it was a marvelous ending to a marvelous day. As he bore his testimony of Jesus and all that Christ did for us I couldn't help but feel an even closer tie to my Savior.

People complain about how commercialized Christmas is but I love it because it gives me a reason to put smiles on the faces of the people I love the very most. Christ is the reason - we ARE celebrating his birth day - Thank you Jesus for inviting us to such a wonderful birthday party!

More Twinner Pics

We had the August/September birthday party on Saturday Evening. Surprisingly Ed didn't hand each of the guys a shovel and say HELP!! but he didn't. The weather was just perfect and we sat out in the backyard and just visited while the kids played. We had LOTS of good food, too.


after the party Saturday evening Kelly sat both the babies upright on our couch, leaning against the pillows. They looked so cute both Jamie and I ran for our cameras.


Here's daddy giving Brayden a kiss - it looks like Taylie is saying 'me next'
Taylie slipped way down and when Kelly scooted her back up he put Brayden's arm around her
Cute! Mouths and eyes open on both of them!! They were definitely the hit of the party!
Even Emma thought to imitate them as she started crying "waa-aah, waa-aah, waa-aah just like newborns cry.

The whole family came with the exception of Melinda and Makae - we missed you both. The food was delicious and we sang Happy Birthday to Jerod and Ben and Adrie Anna and Ethan and Dirk and of course, the babies as their birthday is in August also.

Saturday afternoon and Evening

Be sure and read the blog just before this one talking about our Zions market. It is always a fascinating endeavor and a lot of work but well worth it.

After I finished with Zions Market then I went to work on our back yard for the family party that is going to be held this afternoon. Ed has been hard at work leveling out and preparing the area next to the house for our hot tub. In the process he tracked mud from one end of the yard to the other and then we have been accumulating junk that we stuck behind the little shed next to our house - I was fed up with it all so I went to work cleaning it all up. I dug out our Black and Decker vacuum/blower thing a ma jobber and first vacuumed up leaves and mud and pits and all manner of crud. Then I switched it to a blower and cleaned off the whole basketball court. That all took hours and I was hot and sweaty and went in to take a quick shower so I would be presentable to go get some Subway sandwiches for supper. I decided a nice hot soak in the tub sounded much better and it only added 15 more minutes to dinner time. By the time I got back home with the sandwiches and started to climb out of the car I felt every muscle in my body. Sitting in the car and not moving around for 15 more minutes had allowed all those overworked muscles to tighten up and I wasn't even sure I could walk.

fter we ate I had Ed fire up the lawnmower for me. You need to realize i NEVER mow the lawn. Ed always does it but he is working so hard on the back yard I couldn't bear to have him have to do it too. So I mowed the whole lawn. Lemme tell you - although it did loosen up those muscles I could feel all of them aching as we finally headed into the house at dusk. I was heading for a hot soak in the tub again - with lots of sweet smelling skin so soft oil. The phone rang just then and it was Kelly wondering if we wanted a couple of babies for an hour or so while they went out to dinner - YES!! Forget the exhaustion, forget the aching muscles - babies to play with!!! I took a quick shower and was ready for them to show up.


The were both sound asleep when they came. Full tummies, dry bottoms and so comfortable
Instead of getting a close up of Brayden, I got a picture of the cute jammies he was in complete with puppy dog toes.
Here is an angel at sleep She woke up first and started fussing but I was able to hold and cuddle her until she went back to sleep - and then I held and cuddled her while she slept for about 45 minutes. :-) Then Brayden started fussing so I laid her back down and held Brayden. He continued to squirm and to fuss until I put his binky in his mouth and that settled him right down. He relaxed and slept so well in grandma's arms. I finally put him down after another 45 minutes. Shortly after mommy and daddy came home so cuddling time was over. Thanks for sharing, Kelly and Jamie.
She has finally grown into her preemie size jammies - yes, newborn sizes still drown her!
Here they are together -so precious

I thought it would be fun to post a picture of what they looked like when they were newly home. This was just a little over four weeks ago - they have changed from preemie s to a more softly rounded newborn look

BIRTH 'DAY'

MORE PICTURES!!

Mauri and Kecia - this picture is for you!

I went and saw the babies again last night and had to add more pictures to this 'Birth Day' blog. The nurses had bathed them and fed them and given them their three hours of sleeping without being bothered time - they now have them on bright colored flannel sheets and little horseshoe shaped cushions - Taylie was on a bright red one with a cute red and white checkered bow in her hair.

Taylie Grace in her 'preemie' sized' hat!

Brayden's fit him a little better. Jamie and Kelly had us put these hats on the babies for a day or so and then Kelly will take them home to Harley to smell to teach him that they are 'good'

Look at all that hair!

Brayden doesn't like the bright flashes of the camera!

Even with all of the paraphernalia of oxygen, IV's, and monitor patches - he still looks so comfy and content under that nice warm heat lamp.

Taylie was sound asleep on her tummy when I asked the nurse to to turn her over so I could get a cute closeup picture for her Aunt Mauri and Aunt Kecia - she did NOT like being woken up!

Brayden is in the top picture and Taylie below him, holding onto daddy's finger!

Daddy Kelly talking to Taylie - Jamie was mostly sleepy this morning (do you blame her after how many hours of labor and then a C section !!!) but Kelly was so excited - he is gonna be such a good daddy.















Again, Taylie is on the left and Brayden on the left. Notice how much darker Brayden's hair is!

Brayden Kelly

Taylie Grace

o
Jamie and Kelly had their twins today - Monday, August 3, 2009 - and they are healthy and seem to be doing well!!!! They were six weeks early - Taylie Grace is 17 1/2 inches long and 4 lbs 1 oz; Brayden Kelly is 18 1/2 inches long and weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 6 oz. It sure brought back memories of when MY twins were born 28 1/2 years ago - Kelly weighed 5 lbs 7 ounces - only one ounce more than Brayden!! Kecia was closer in weight to her twin brother at 4 lbs 14 ounces -

When I got to go into the NICU to see the twins all I could think of was how SMALL they were. I can't remember my babies ever being that small and my daughter Mauri's twins were much bigger it seems - Mauri - remind me of how much they weighed when they were born please. These babies seem normal size in the pictures so I had Kelly stick his hand next to them so you could see how small they are.

Anyway - They seem to be doing well. Taylie especially even though she is the smaller one. Brayden was struggling with his breathing and his blood sugars were low so they have an IV in him and an oxygen canula attached to his nose to help him breathe. They also gave him some meds to help increase the surfactant in his lungs to help him breathe better too. Thank heavens for today's knowledge and medical abilities to help these precious babies at their most critical time.

When Kelly and Jamie arrived at the hospital about 6 am Monday morning they thought that Taylie had moved into the birthing canal, head down ready to deliver. After they did an ultrasound on mommy they realized that Taylie was tucked up in the corner of her uterus and the nurse was feeling Taylie's tail bone instead of her head. They were both breech. So yeah, she got to deliver them C section so Jamie will have a longer recovery time. She only got to see the babies in the delivery room for just a quick moment and then they whisked them out of there into the NICU. Later on, as they moved Jamie from her room in the delivery suite to a nicer bigger room in the post partum section of the hospital, they wheeled her into the NICU where she got to see both babies and hold Taylie. . Poor Brayden got jealous of that and wailed the whole time she was in there.

I can't wait to see Jamie with one of these precious ones in her arms...or Kelly with a baby in each arm! There are lots of long days and longer nights ahead but also lots of joy and love.


I will try to keep you all updated through my blog.