Reese turns 7

 I can't believe another year has gone by and this girl is 7! We had a pretty casual birthday celebration this year. Todd had to work and I was so miserably pregnant that we weren't really up for doing a big party. We picked up cousin Brooklyn and spent part of the day in Logan. Reese picked to have lunch at IHOP. We also stopped and picked up a few activities for the girls to do once we got back to Grandma's house for a sleepover. We had things to color, a bead making kit, and stuff to do our nails.

 The girls even picked out matching t-shirts.

That night we had a few of our cousins over for cake, ice cream and to open a few presents.

She got a lot of fun things for her birthday a Monster High Doll (from Ethan and Gavin), a huge jewelry making kit (from Dylan and Remy), Ever After High Doll and cookbook (from Brooklyn and Mason), a new outfit for her American Girl Doll (from Ava), Maxi dress and denim jacket (from Grandma Nan), a bathtub set for her AG Doll (from Grandma and Grandpa), kitchen set for AG doll and Sew Cool machine (from Mom and Dad). On the way back to Pocatello we stopped in Downey and Reese opened her present from Grandma Z and Grandpa, a horse for her AG doll. She was pretty spoiled.

Reese is such a sweet girl. She is a great helper and great big sister. We're so lucky to have her in our family.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve with the Welchs.

Reading the nativity while the kids find the pieces for the felt board.

Reese and Boston opening their presents from each other. Reese picked out a paw patrol car for Boston. Boston picked out a Little Live Pets Bird for Reese.

Santa Came!

Christmas morning wrapping paper mess.

Don't worry about the fact that I look completely ridiculous... here's a belly pic at 32 weeks.

1st Grade Christmas Program

Reese singing in the 1st Grade Christmas program. It was adorable. We were on the very back row and unable to snap a picture of Reese doing her part (and we even arrived 20 minutes early). Luckily she was on the top row for the rest of the program! Grandma Z and Grandpa came and watched the program too.

So this happened...

Oh the joys of parenthood.  Our lovely son thought throwing rocks around the car would be a good idea. He was pretty upset when it broke. Me too! I'm pretty sure we both started crying. This happened the same week our dishwasher quit working and our furnace needed some repairs. When I asked him about it he told me he was just trying to throw rocks on top of the car not break the window (not sure how that is any better).

26 weeks and counting...

Just a little update...
A short clip of my latest ultrasound. The baby you see first is the girl and the baby that's bent in half with his toes up over his head is the boy (pretty flexible little chap). Everything is going great so far. Babies are measuring great and everything looks as it should. The girl is weighing in at approx. 2lbs 2oz and baby boy is weighing in at approx. 2lbs 4oz. 2 months to go!

I think my nesting has already kicked in because I know here shortly I'll be too big and uncomfortable to do anything. Even though I have absolutely no energy I still try to check a few things off my to do list when I can. Most of the time I'm too wiped out to do much of anything though.

Last weekend some great friends of mine threw me a baby shower. I am so grateful for the friends and family that came and helped us prepare a bit more for these babies. 

Spooky Fun All Month Long

 Fun Halloween party with our besties. 

Our kiddos had a lot of fun creating play dough monsters, making magic potions, participating in a  doughnut eating contest, eating yummy food and watching Hotel Transylvania.

 All ready for the Zoo Boo! Luke Skywalker and a black cat.

 Learning about the Great Horned Owl at the Zoo Boo.

 Grandma's Preschool Halloween Party. They made paper plate spider webs, played a bean bag toss, balloon pop and had lots of fun treats.

 Trunk-or-Treat in Downey. Posing with a mad scientist (Grandpa).

Neighborhood preschool trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids had a fun time on the hay ride, going through the corn maze and picking out their very own pumpkin.

A bit of a surprise...

On September 29th I had my 20 week ultrasound. We were very excited to finally know whether it was a girl or boy. We were not prepared for both! As soon as the tech started the scan I said, "Is that two in there?" Holy cow words can not express that feeling! It also explains why my morning sicknesss, exhaustion, aches and pains were extra awful. So after adjusting (slightly) to the news the tech then proceeded with the ultrasound. Baby A is a girl! She was a lively little thing too! Baby B is the boy! Both had all their right parts in the right places just like you hope with any ultrasound. It's always a relief seeing their little hearts beating too. Todd and I kept looking at each other in disbelief. Wow, this is actually happening. It reminds me of the last episode of "Friends" when Monica and Chandler find out they are having twins. "These look like the faces of two people in the know." "Who's coming along in a what now?" Twins do actually run in my family so there's that. Immediately after my ultrasound I had my regular appointment. The nurse took my blood pressure and it was super high! Well wouldn't yours be too after the surprise of a lifetime. Don't worry they checked it again at the end of the appointment and it was back to normal. Our Dr. came in and gave Todd a high five and said some something to the affect of "nice work Dad!"

So it's been a week since we found out the big news and I'm still in a daze. I've started reading all sorts of things online trying to prepare us for what's to come. Let's be honest though how can you really prepare? Oh dear! This is a strange scared/excited feeling! 

We purchased some magic gender revealing spray (silly string) for the kids. We told them if it sprayed blue then it was a boy and if it sprayed pink it was a girl. As you can tell Reese was a little excited with the results. The funny thing is Reese has been saying it was twins all along. She would always ask me "what if it's a boy and a girl?" So we've got a couple months to try and get a few things figured out before their arrival. Initially my due date was February 16th, but since twins are full term at 36-37 weeks it will most likely be sometime in January. We hope everything continues to progress well and the babies stay healthy and incubated for a nice long time. Feel free to pray for us these next few months, heck the next few years! This is going to be interesting!

Pre-school

A cute little four year old started Pre-school this week. He's actually attending two different classes. One day a week he attends a little neighborhood joy school with a few moms in our ward and on another day we take him down to Grandma Z's class. We're only going to Grandma's once a week to save on gas money. Boston is a smart guy and has pretty much learned all there is to learn in Pre-school, since he learned it right along with Reese while she was in Pre-school. However, we figured Boston could definitely benefit from some social interaction and classroom experience. He loves both classes. He loves that he gets to see his friends from church and has already made a bunch of new friends in Grandma's class.

First Grade

Can you believe this cutie is in First Grade! She loved kindergarten and was so excited to be starting first grade. It is kind of weird not having her home all day, Boston and mom don't know quite what to do with themselves.

 When she got home she told us first grade is way better than kindergarten and apparently playing tag in first grade is harder. She's a funny kid.

An after first day of school trip to the zoo.

Our Little Announcement

Baby Makes Five! That's right a new addition will be joining our family in February! We're very excited. The kids weren't exactly at first but they've come around. The reason they were disappointed...I told them I had a surprise for them to open that came in the mail. They were so excited to open the surprise because they thought it was a toy. Well they started crying when they saw that it was a book. The announcement didn't go quite as we had planned. In a perfect world they were supposed to be ok with getting a book and then we were going to sit down and read it together and see if they could figure out why we were reading this book. Well they didn't catch on to the hint. We practically had to spell it out for them. Reese was eventually excited, she's been wanting a new baby at our house for a while. Boston on the other hand not so much, poor middle child. We're so excited about this addition even though this pregnancy has been the worst one yet.

Rodeo Weekend

 It's that time of year again! That "Famous Preston Night Rodeo" Weekend. However, this is the first year we didn't make it to the actual rodeo and only enjoyed the other festivities the weekend has to offer. The kids always have a blast because they are able to get together with all of their cousins.

The fun kids carnival at the hospital. There are lots of fun booths for the kids, horse rides, bounce house, and even a train ride.

Reese and Addie riding the train (I may have stole a couple pictures off another blog because for some reason I didn't take very many).

 Riding double on the horse. Boston also rode but I didn't get a picture in time.

 Boston riding the train.

Cousins anxiously awaiting the parade's arrival! Boston, Dylan, Reese, Brooklynn, Remy and Gavin.

Ready for the carnival. Reese below: bummed the caterpillar ride was over.

Video: Boston, Brooklynn, and Reese riding the big yellow slide (Boston's favorite).

Swim Lessons

 Reese and Boston were excited to start swim lessons again with Aunt Kari. We even had a few of our favorite friends in our same swim class. Brody and Boston above.

 Boston practicing his float.

 Diving for rings.

 Reese jumping off the diving board with such enthusiasm.

The kids advanced so much in such a short time, especially compared to last year (when all they did was cry for the first week). Reese began learning strokes and does pretty great in the deep end. Boston overcame a lot of fear and improved a lot too.

July Fun

Enjoying the 4th of July fireworks from our backyard. It's so nice to not have to go out and fight the traffic.

We were able to meet up with some old friends of ours one day at the park. It was so nice seeing some faces we hadn't seen before and ones that we haven't seen for a long time. Brigham, Nelly, Sadie, Elsie, Ben, Lucy, Boston, Reese and Addie. We miss them and wish they could be around all the time.

We made it out camping once this summer with Grandma Debbie and Grandma Nan and Willow Flat. Reese and Brooklynn played for hours in the trailer. They built with blocks, colored and played house. It was about 1000 degrees inside the trailer I don't know how they could stand to be in there.

Splashing in the river that ran right through our campground.

Brooklynn watching out for fish to catch and Reese and Boston posing for a pic.

Good Morning! On our last night there all the kids were able to spend the night in the trailer with the grandma's. That wasn't the original plan but Boston had a really bad fever that night and the girls didn't want to sleep out in the the tent.

Salt Lake City Day 2

Day 2 we visited the new Living Planet Aquarium. It was pretty cool.

The penguins were pretty cute and fun to watch.

After the aquarium on our way home we made an impromptu trip to the Children's Tree house Museum in Ogden. The kids were in heaven. They loved it. Two floors on tons of fun things for kids to do. We watched a play, drew pictures, built a castle and a million other things. Reese said we definitely need to go back there again. Above: President Welch in the oval office.

Trying to pull the sword from the stone.