the road back to Nebraska

This is very out of order but these are pictures after all our trips to AZ, HI, UT, WY visiting all our families. They just happen to be the next easiest series of photos to post, ha

After Hawaii we got to spend a little more time with Cody and Camille's family which we always love. Lunch at this little Mexican place was fantastico! Maxson devoured a ginormous quesadilla, danced to the music all of lunch, and was thrilled to have his OWN drink of (watered down) lemonade.

We surprised my niece Annalee one day and went to her school for lunch. I will forever remember that as we walked into the very noisy and full lunch room we were looking everywhere for her, not knowing where she could be and knowing since she's not expecting us she may not see us, but the sight of her standing up at the table with the biggest grin on her face flailing her arms in a big hello-i'm-over-here type of way. It was the absolute cutest, she was beaming with us sitting next to her.

a. Casey brought our nephew Jaden along on one of his mystery shoppers to Panda Express to teach him how to be a "spy"

b. With OBGYN appointments and Chiropractor appointments from our car accident, it seems as though we've had doctor appointments non stop and it's KILLING me. When Max is with us we do everything in our power to make him just sit still…that even means the phone.

a. It's been fun getting to lay on my stomach again at chiropractor appointments with their special tables!!!!!!

one last stop at Bahama Bucks on our way out of town.

Gas stations never failed at having pretty big stuffed animals at them, these were by far the biggest we saw and made Maxson SOO happy.

fell asleep eating his quesadilla on the way to say good bye to Granny and Papa.

Both ways we stopped at my Grandpa's house in St. George. Firstly, it was wonderful to break up the drive from Utah to AZ but secondly and even more importantly, it was so nice to get to visit with him and Grannylynn!

a. This is not an advertisement but the Britax Boulevard car seat is wonderful. I wanted to show how awesome the true side impact collision protection helps hold Max's head up SOOO well when he sleeps, no crooked neck!

b. Ten hour drives=write all over yourself for entertainment and sure have a phone and do whatever you want just please don't squeal/scream/cry (I promise we don't give him the phone that often even if this shows that we do) ha.

Springville splashpad

Whoever was the creator of this Springville splash pad area did a pretty fantastic job UNTIL they put in a water feature fountain RIGHT NEXT to the splash pad with a sign that says "please don't play in the fountain." Are you for reals? That fountain is YELLING at little children to come bask in its waters. Maxson was quite upset that I did not let him in it, we left after he and I began a battle of wills for 20 minutes with lots of tears involved.

Stopped at my brother's house for a quick hola to my family (and a very photogenic picture…) that cute little boy Britton loves to blame naughty things on Maxson when Max is and isn't around, it's quite funny to hear. He does an evil chuckle and says "Maxson do it"

Dinner on the road at IHOP. Gotta blow on that food!

I'm getting so bigggggggg, blergh. On a happier note my mom got me this necklace for my birthday and I'm utterly obsessed with it.

The drive back through (very long) Nebraska. The landscape is pretty: corn fields, farms, blue skies. It just gets old after 30 minutes but you still have 5 hours of it to go and then it just gets plain boring.

And there you have it, our trip back to Nebraska

Things I learned from the ALS ice bucket challenge

1. Fun people do fun things. Even though this ice bucket challenge thing seemed very bandwagonish but when it really came down to it, it's just something fun to do to relate to others even if it does seem silly. In 10 years you'll look back at something like this and say "yes I was apart of that, and it was fun, funny, and memorable." And you know what you gotta support great things that go viral.

2. When someone else pours the water on your head, they do it much more slowly than when you would just do it to yourself. People who pour it on themselves aren't getting the real treatment.

3. When your 1 1/2 year old begs for the water to be dumped on their head, they really don't get it and will cry a lot when they're wet and cold.

4. It's really awkward to have water dumped on you when your Chinese neighbor (who speaks NO English) is sitting there watching. Weird Americans…

5. It's also a very uncomfortable feeling to be standing in your clothes, drenched from cold water, waiting outside your house.

6. The longer the water is dumped on you, the colder it gets.

I shall post videos soon for memory sake

Arizona play time.

 Pre-Hawaii I just hung out in Arizona for nearly a week while Casey was on a dental trip in Jamaica. It was a pretty chillax week but it was nice to be like that.

Annalee swimming (and diving!)

 in the above picture, Maxson had this little scowl, pouty lip face during lots of time in the pool, probably because of the brightness of the sun, but every time I saw it it brought me straight back to a year ago in the pool with him when that seemed like the only face he'd make, ex:

Playing with Logan and Annalee, Max was thoroughly entertained by this small hot wheels contraption.

We also celebrated Blairs birthday with a delicious boston cream pie cake. Ruthie helped blow

Ruthie and Max played together a lot, although I don't think Ruthie liked it very much, ha, Max doesn't quite know how to "properly" play house yet :)

We brought out a few sparklers after for Blair's birthday celebration. Maxson didn't want to get near them but al so didn't want to leave them.

and here's a few from our phones including the trip down towards arizona:

getting in the car towards wyoming we picked our second cherry tomato

Max can't say many words but learned how to say "iPad" very quickly…children raised on technology...

best moment of any road trip is when he FINALLY falls asleep!

We stopped in Provo and grabbed Slab Pizza, sodalicious, and visited our friend Kelly

a. stopping at Grammy's work in Wyoming

b. riding the Rhino with Kirky

torturous car shopping:

a. car buying

b. first step after buying the car: a reward of McDonald's soft serve after hours of torture

popsicles after swimming

 TIA ROSAS!!!!!

 a. Tia Rosas snoozing

b. eating his quesadilla he missed out on at Ti Rosas

 swimming

 at the YSA ward in Arizona, after the first hour we hung out in the hall (this was also after Maxson took a sharpie to the church piano…hand sanitizer works my friends). Maxson was so loud during church yelling out "papa" "more" after the sacrament and loud sounds in general, it was fun.

 cousins.

(Blair if you want to take this picture and crop Max out of it I won't be offended ha).

 a. meeting new baby Landon! This may have been the first time he's actually held a baby, usually I only let him look at them but he enjoyed for a whole 5 seconds before he began wiggling out of the baby holding

b. got to meet up with my bff Courtney.

Playing with the Cutler cousins who JUST MOVED to Arizona! It's going to be so much dang fun having them there!

the maximus and motherhood

words written last Friday.

Reasons why Max drove be INSANE today:

He kept drinking water from waterbottles and spitting it out.

He rode his tricycle into the street when he KNOWS he shouldn't.

He opened the fridge door a million times and began making a mess

He kept wondering to the front yard to play.

He hosed down my picture frame mat I had just spray painted.

He threw food everywhere at every meal.

He hit a few different times today.

He screamed at us when he wasn't getting his way.

He got into the kitchen drawer a million times today.

While we were (finally) putting a baby lock on the kitchen drawer he was crying at our feet the whole time.

He refused to brush his teeth, screaming, gnashing, foaming at the bit.

Once done brushing his teeth and I let him have the tooth brush, he threw it violently across the room.

We were 15 minutes into our first "friday family movie night" and he began pushing the buttons on the DVD player (eject and off), so we turned the movie off for good and his world shattered, cue tears and tantrums.

He pushed my belly button really hard which practically made me sick.

As I was taking (the smallest) cat nap on the couch, he stole my pillow away from me (as always) to wake me up because he hates when I take naps.

He ran away from the playground twice today at the park towards/into the street and I had to chase after him.

When leaving the park he would not get into the car but instead ran far away towards the walking trail and wouldn't come back, another mom brought him back to me.

He got into the trash and pulled out a marker I threw away and began coloring on the floor with it.

He said "no" literally a thousand times.

He tried repeatedly to take off the whole nail of my pinky toe.

He took off another key on Casey's computer

He rolled around like an alligator during at least half his diaper changes today.

He fought us going to sleep for both his nap and night time

But even at the end of the day, I was so glad I got to be his momma. 

I'm glad it was me dealing with his tantrums,

trying to teach him right from wrong,

laughing at his messes,

hugging and kissing him when he was acting up.

I am so thankful I have a perfectly functioning hands and body that can care for him so easily,

he and I are both healthy,

we have food to eat (enough to throw on the ground and not go hungry),

we have a roof over our head and private quarters where he tests his boundaries.

I am so glad I am his momma and that he is my baby boy. I know that being a mother is hard, yet it is so fun and it truly is God's work. I am where I am supposed to be at this time: at home teaching a 20 month old boy how to love, obey, and listen (and not cry every time he can't have the iPad). I know I am not alone in this and that even the smallest preyer in my heart to my Heavenly Father will add to my strength and patience.

My favorite talk on motherhood here.

A small video clip from that talk:

We be swimming.

Max turned into a fish while in Arizona. The week and half before we left to Hawaii, we were in my parents pool everyday if not up to 3 times a day. My child has no fear in the water. He'd stand on the edge outside of the pool and jump (belly flop) towards me in the pool without  moments hesitation, it was so fun. The no fear thing is awesome and awful because he's so reckless, just walks down the ramp into the pool not caring a bit once his head goes under, ahh. One morning after breakfast we walked outside and he just mozied himself into the pool in his pajamas up to his neck before I could stop him. Cue head shake.

27 weeks with twins

Holy moly has this pregnancy been different. So different all around from what it was like with Maxson. At 27 weeks I'm feeling rather large, more like I'm 36 weeks pregnant and just have a little longer to go, but that is not the case (stay in there babies!). My lower back hurts so much, it's a constant thing, last night I told Casey I need to stop using "my back hurts" as an excuse not to do things because I could literally use that as an excuse for everything. I just need to suck it up for the next couple months. and realize my back is going to hurt for the next little while. I am carrying 25 lbs of babies and stuff right there in the front of me, I don't think the weight is anywhere else in my body.

I have not swollen up anywhere yet, (except that big old belly of mine of course) a big hallelujah there. Pregnant life is so much easier when your ankles, legs, hands and fingers haven't grown in size.

The babies kick like crazy. It's a mad house in there at times I swear (and of course anytime someone wants to feel the babies move they stop right away). With Max I can only remember "kicks" and "pushes" really. With the twins it's more like rolls of arms and legs and big jumble crazy movement; kinda cool how different it is. Lately they've been active right when I'm laying down to go to sleep, makes falling asleep rather awkward and impossible.

I have definitely slowed down immensely over the past couple of weeks. I am drained after chasing Maxson around for just a little bit, I feel bad for constantly asking Casey to do x and y for Max but I just can't keep up with him. I'm a slow mover now days (and Max just keeps getting faster I swear). Picking him up is getting harder and harder and I try to do it as little as I can. He still begs at my feet/legs sometimes to pick him up and all I can see are his little eyes sticking out behind my large belly.   I am NOT looking forward to having Casey go back to school just knowing I'll have to wrangle Maxson myself, I'm literally dreading it.

Clothes are beginning to have less options. Even though I could probably still fit into a bunch of them, I'd rather be comfortable in loose clothes (like Casey's shirts). Some maternity shirts that used to have tons of room to grow when I first saw them, now end at the bottom of my tummy and are border lining too short, it's stupid ha. Maxi dresses are definitely still a huge win though, love those puppies (and I can foresee those to be the only things that I can legitimately wear in public the further along I get)

I have a growth scan next week to see their progress, very excited for that. Back at 24 weeks we had one and they were approximately weighing 1 lb 9 oz and 1 lb 8 oz. We're hoping and praying everyday for them to grow at the same rate!

Breathing is hard at times. Sometimes I just can't get DEEP breaths and that makes it so very uncomfortable.

Food is great. I eat a lot. I'm kinda self-conscious when I eat around other people because I'm seriously packing in a TON of food. Probably as much as Casey if not more than at each meal. I am no stranger to getting seconds and thirds at each meal. On the flip side if the babies are in a certain positions (I'm guessing) and I eat too much food it just hurts and is so dang uncomfortable, almost sickening. And I just have to lie down for a long time in hopes that it goes away soon.

I get LOTS of braxton hicks when doing too much activity, mostly walking too much. Casey has been a great supporter of limiting and supporting my minimal walking because we've had a few scares where it seemed like the contractions weren't going to stop. I want to do all I can to keep these babies in and I think borderline bed rest is my best bet right now.

24 weeks

25 weeks

26 weeks

Also I must add that it seemed SO MUCH harder to be pregnant in Arizona than it was in Nebraska. The humidity is awful, truly. But pregnancy wise, that high heat just DRAINS you. I was so unbelievably tired after just a little time in the sun. I hope I am never huge pregnant in the Arizona summer again.

back and kicking

wowee, was that a long trip or what? we are glad to be back.

we are tired, oh so very tired.

we put maxson down at 8 tonight and promptly fell asleep ourselves for an hour. it felt great, but once we woke up at 9 we were suddenly awake again and can now not go to sleep, thus my blogging.

i am large with children. oh so large. we left and i was still comfortable and great with this pregnancy. we came back and i feel like 9 months pregnant. my back endlessly hurts and some of my "maternity" clothes are getting tight already.

we loved visiting family. we got to see all our families members, not a single person was missed, even grandparents. (ok, maxson missed seeing my brother in utah but we adults spent a week's time with him).

hawaii was wonderful. we came back mostly relaxed and tan. i suggest not going to hawaii 6 months pregnant with twins though, puts a little damper on some activities…

it's so hard to transition to being home after being gone a month. you have so much stuff to put away, there's no food in your home to eat, there's lots of mail to go through and thus people to call, random things in your house have molded (the toilet and syrup?). and now there are not all these extra hands to help out with maxson. it is oh so tiring.

i have a bajillion and half pictures to go through. i had a goal of keeping up on them each night but let me tell ya, it actually felt great to not get on my computer for nearly 3 weeks. i was still on my phone checking things here and there if there was hard core downtime (i.e.- the airport and long car drives), but it did feel pretty great to be overall disconnected from really doing stuff online.

we have this whole week to get things done before casey heads back to school. i'm so happy we have a week of downtime before school starts and not just a night or a weekend. hopefully i can squeeze in a little blogging.

can i just point out the best thing of being on a trip: you get taken care of. you have, at the max, your 2 suitcases of laundry to do, purely clothes. meals are mostly planned and made for you. we helped out when/where we could but the overall burden was not on my shoulders, what a beautiful break. overall housework pretty much disappeared. there were ALWAYS extra hands to help with maxson; as i'm getting bigger, slower, achier, and overall more tired, this meant the world to me. our families were so kind to take such great care of us while we visited them, we are so so so very blessed.

so there you have it, hopefully i can catch up with life this week!

church in kauai outside the small hanalei branch.