10 Things to Prepare For When You Have Kids Closer Than Two Years Apart.

1. Prepare yourself to hear the phrase "Oh, you've got your hands full!", 6985400003234000217 times -usually from complete strangers.

2. Prepare yourself to have sweet older ladies to come up to you at the store and tell you that they had their kids close too and it was the best thing they ever did. (I really appreciated those ladies, especially after I had heard the phrase "Oh, you've got your hands full!" at least three times that day already.)

3. Prepare yourself to have two in diapers for awhile.

4. Prepare yourself to buy two of every toy that you plan to give to one of the kids.

5. Prepare to referee a few good fights.

6. Prepare to overhear some cute conversations.

7. Prepare yourself to clean up some unbelievable messes (two heads are better than one, right?)

8. Prepare to have two little best friends living in your house.

9. Prepare to be doubly challenged every day!!!

10. Most of all, prepare to have some of the happiest moments of your life be just watching those two little kids playing and laughing together.

I love you Dallin and Thomas, and I will always be glad that I had you so close. Even if I do "have my hands full!"

This is Jack's Newest Trick

Yes. Jack is very adept at crawling up onto the tray of his high chair, and then bouncing around. No amount of strapping him in can counteract his abilities to get up there. He has even climbed out safely. It still scares me, and he is now only allowed to be in the chair under close supervision. I wish he would put as much energy into walking. All in time, I guess.

Does Sunday afternoon look like this at your house?

Typical Sunday afternoon at our house. In case you are wondering, that is a Batman band-aid on Thomas' head. He had a run-in with a door at church that morning. Ouch!

The Tree

I have to admit - I find Taylor to be a rather ugly town. Barren, old, dirty, weed-filled, etc. The view from my front window is a field of weeds with an old rusty car in the middle of it. It has been there for the entire four years that I have lived here. However, out my back window there is a view of an enormous tree. I have had a lot of time to observe this tree, as I have nursed my babies (yes - I have nursed all three babies in this house). I have watched this tree go from bare, to budded, to full of leaves, to autumn leaves, and back to bare again, several times now. I have watched this tree's branches go absolutely wild in the unbearably strong and persistent winds we get here. The other day, as I watched this tree through the snow, I thought about the moments of happiness it has brought me through the years and I just had to snap this picture. Whenever we end up leaving this house, I think the only things I will miss are the memories of our kids early years, our good neighbors and the tree.

Thomas is 3!!

Thomas is officially 3! He had a great day, as he received numerous train sets and Superman items. He was so busy playing, he didn't even want any birthday cake. Wow! Those are some good gifts.

Thomas is a great kid and he makes our lives so much happier. We love him!!

Happy 1st Jack!

Jack is officially one year old today. He is sweet, fun, and happy! We love him and are so grateful to have him in our family.

Happy Holidays!

We just got back from our Christmas Trip to Utah. It was so nice to see family and be in my favorite place again, but -oh - the drive. It seems to get longer every time. The kids were good little travelers, thanks to our neighbors for loaning us their DVD system. We are definitely investing in one of those before the next trip. I am posting a few pictures from the trip.

Arizona
Utah

Jack ended up with a bad case of croup and spent Christmas Eve in the hospital. Poor little guy. It took the nurses three attempts to get his IV in. I think it was the most traumatic part of the whole experience.

On the plus side. Santa visited Jack personally in the hospital and showered him with all sorts of gifts.

Jack got to come home (to grandma's) on Christmas morning.

Thomas

Dallin

The boys built this snowman with Jeremy in my parent's backyard. Dallin had never experienced snow and cold quite like in Utah. As we were getting into the car one day, he said to me, "Mom, I think this is the North Pole!"

On The trip home. We were packed in pretty tight.