bebes

Last week Chris and I were in charge of our twin nephews. All by ourselves! Chris only worked about 2-3 hours each day so he could spend most of the day helping me. It was so much fun and very tiring. I don't know how Whitney gets anything done outside of the house without extra help. She is super mom. Brandon and Whitney are finally back from a week of vacation in Bermuda, so Monday was my last day of being a fake mommy. I was starting to get used to it. I swear every little noise sounds like a baby crying in the distance now. 

Christian

Connor

Luckily we get to spend the rest of the summer with these cuties! We will most likely be here when they start to crawl and talk. I'm so excited!

Conniferus Pooperus & Cristiano Ronaldo

XOXO
Auntie Hanna and Uncle Foof

mi padre

"my dad says he's a rodbuster, but i know he's just my daddy."

-3 year old Hanna

I can honestly say that there is noone quite like my Dad.  

He's truly one of a kind.  He's the craziest, smartest, funniest person I know.

My Dad will always look for ways to get people to laugh and have a good time.

(And let's be honest...he likes to make people feel uncomfortable)

He knows exactly how to embarrass my mom.
and most other people, for that matter.

Shakin' it down the dance train line

He loves to talk about people, especially his kids.
This picture is proof that there is something sweet in there somewhere
...or is that a mischievous smile?

dad and his brother, sam

Most importantly, my Dad has style.

my dad's so hipster--he was
 a hipster before being a hipster
 was 'hip'

Lucky for me I also have an amazing Father-in-Law.

He is one of the sweetest people I know.  I am so glad that he raised a son who will some day be a great daddy, too.

chris and his dad

This week Chris gets to have a taste of what being a dad will be like.  Brandon and Whitney are leaving for Bermuda for a week and they left us in charge of their 8-month old twin boys.

And on that note, I have to go feed a crying baby. ;)

home is wherever i'm with you

This Sunday we were officially welcomed into our new branch in Virginia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is a tiny little branch and it's a nice fresh change from the same old student wards that we are used to. It's exciting to be a part of such a tightly knit LDS community, I'm sure we will have plenty of opportunities to serve. We already were asked to speak and answer questions at the youth fireside this last Sunday about dating.

Obviously our discussion was geared more toward dating in high school, but it got me thinking about the dating we do now, as a married couple. I believe that dating your spouse is very important, even though you are with them everyday. Chris and I try to do this at least once a week. I'm sure it will get much more difficult once we start having kids, but that is when it is most important--so we want to start the habit early!

Who wouldn't want a date with this hottie?

Dates don't have to be exgtravagant, expensive, or out of the way.  Sometimes on a busy week it can just be a nice walk together outside.  Usually our dates consist of eating, watching movies, college sports, or playing games. Sometimes it will be a temple trip, like last week with b&w. Most of the time it's nothing fancy. We always try to find ways to do fun, cheap things.

One of my favorite dates of late was just a few weeks ago.  s&s called us up wanting us to babysit on a Wednesday night.  Come Wednesday morning they had decided that they were going to stay home and asked if we wanted to take their tickets to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros in the Oakland Fox Theatre.  Umm, yes! Free concert? In the FOX THEATRE?

It gets better.  Wednesday was my day off and so we decided to make it a day date and spend the entire afternoon in Oakland.  We had an amc movie gift card that we couldn't use before because we didn't live near any amc theaters. But there's one in Oakland! So we got there early, saw a movie, ate dinner and then enjoyed a concert.  All for the price of dinner. Seriously. We even parked for free. In Oakland. That doesn't happen.

The concert was a lot of fun.  We had floor tickets so we were out there in the front jumping around with all the crazy people.  We decided that Edward Sharpe (Alex Ebert) looks just like Ryan Gosling with a gross beard and dirty clothes.  Check it out here. If you haven't heard of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, check them out.  Their most popular song is Home.  I also love 40 Day Dream.  Most of there songs are fun and upbeat, it was a fun concert to attend.

California

This is my brother Haydn and his friend Kate.  I spent most of my Spring time with these two.  They were both in kindergarten this year, but Kate had morning class and Haydn had afternoon.  Every morning I would hang out with Haydn and then drop him off at school while picking up Kate.  I was Kate's nanny for 5-6 hours each day.  We had a blast (most of the time...that girl has a solid punch when she's angry.)  I discovered that she was more obedient when she was not at her own house, so we spent a lot of time at Grandma Jane's or at my house.  On Wednesdays all the elementary kids got out at the same time so Kate got to play with Hunter and Haydn.  We would go swimming, make forts in the treehouse, play in the sprinklers, catch frogs, you name it.

Haydn and Kate sittin' in a tree.
No really, they are.

Hunter and Kate running through the sprinklers in the front yard

Since we were living at my Grandma’s house we became in charge of her huge garden in the backyard.  I didn’t mind so much.  This meant I could snack on peas and strawberries just about whenever I wanted to.  Kate loved to pick the strawberries and the radishes with me.  She became quite the little gardener.  We made a mean garden salad with all of the vegetables and lots of treats with the strawberries that we picked.

smoothies, popsicles, strawberry-rhubarb crisp...mmm

After I took Kate home I sometimes tutored kids in math, babysat, or ran errands for random families in our ward.  Anything to make a little extra money while we were home for a few weeks.  Chris worked too, mostly doing manual labor for anybody and everybody who needed him.  Most of the time he was working on retrofitting a fence with my Dad. I like me a good handyman ;)

We took the boys to Six Flags on a couple of the weekends and had a blast. Haley and Heidi were both up at school so I had extra sister time with Heather, she has gotten so old.  We are the same size and most people thought we were twins. I’m six years older than her.

Heather, me & Chris at Cold Stone

It's always good to be home and spend time with family and old friends. Now we get to do that in Virginia.

 :)

Summer time, and the livin' is easy

As soon as school was out we headed back to California for the first time since we have been married. We stayed at my Grandma's house while she traveled the country visiting all of her other grandchildren. Lucky for us Grandma lives down the street from my parents so we were able to spend a lot of time with my family, but also have our own space. We worked hard and played hard for a month. It ended too soon. I already miss my family. There are no words that can describe the feeling of coming back home.

Green Valley: More to come on our California trip soon

After five short weeks in California we headed out East.  We spent five days on vacation in Virginia Beach with Chris's family and then moved in with his brother where we will be for the rest of the summer.

On a ferris wheel with b&w at Virginia Beach

Chris is preparing to work with Brandon for State Farm for the next few months and I am staying home with Whitney helping her with their sweet 8-month-old twin boys.

Christian and Connor

My summer will most likely consist of babies, online classes, volunteering at the local summer camps, girls' nights out, and lots of reading. I'm really excited because this is the first time in awhile that I have had extra time to read.

endless bookshelf

Please tell me what your favorite books are!