Happy Moments

So lately I've been trying harder to enjoy the happy moments in life and forget about the stressful ones. Roll with the punches, look on the bright side, be grateful, and all that. Obviously happy moments don't seem to come around quite as often as the stressful ones at this point in my life (3 kids under 3, remember?), but they do happen. Every day. And when they do, I can't help but be filled with gratitude for the crazy life I lead. Yes my life has its ups and downs, but at the end of every day (good or bad) I smile, grateful for the happy moments and for the blessing it is to be a mother.

Here is a small list of some of our recent "happy moments":

-The other day we were all loaded in the car on our way to the gym (HUGE gasp!! I know, yes I do workout these days... occasionally). It was the girls' second trip to the Kid's Club and Brooklyn was obviously a little worried about it. Then I hear from the back seat... Kenna: "You don't want to go to Kid's Club Dootie?" Brook: "No. I don't like Kid's Club." Kenna: "It's ok Dootie. I keep you so so safe at Kid's Club. Ok?" Brook: "Ok." My heart melted. That's what Kenna does. She protects. And I LOVE that about her.

-We were driving home at night and I see in my rear view mirror that the girls are waving at something outside. Then I hear... "Hi Donald's. Bye Donald's. Nie-nite Donald's." They were saying good night to their most favorite place/somewhere we spend a lot of time at in the winters... McDonald's! Love it.

-Every night after we say prayers Brooklyn wants to give Tess a good night kiss. So I lift Tessie over the edge of Brook's crib and lower her down to her and they both immediately start giggling. It is so cute and it happens every night! And then of course after they're done giggling at each other, Brooklyn gives Tess the sweetest little sister kiss. Again, melts my heart.

-Mckenna always has to have the last "love" at bedtime. Every night after we've put the girls down and I've finally got Tess settled in her crib, I hear the softest little voice whistpering... "I need a yittle yove mommy. Just a yittle tiny yove." I sneak into her room (Brook is usually sound asleep by this point), scoop her up in my arms, and give her the best "yittle yove" I can. I love this moment at the end of my day. She snuggles her little face into my neck and I whisper that I love her and that she's such a good girl and that I can't wait to see her in the morning. Then we give each other a big squeeze and I lay her back down. That right there is heaven to me.

-Everything about Tess makes me smile. I love this age and every day I wish for a way to freeze her at this size. I truly wish I could keep her little forever! I love the way she smells in the morning, I love how she always finds a way to my lap, I love how she gets excited when she hears music, I love how she lays her head on my chest when she's tired, I love that she lays flat on her stomach with her head down when she hears her sisters coming (it's her defense mechanism), I love watching her get frustrated after falling down and then watching her get right back up to try again, I love the way she snuggles into my neck for a few minutes every night right before I lay her in her crib, and most of all I love that I know she loves me. She doesn't even have to say a word. I just know.

-I LOVE the happiness in my girls' eyes when they realize that daddy is home from work! Sometimes I complain about how they cry and wine for daddy throughout the day, but truthfully I know that their crying for him only means that I picked a keeper. What a guy! What a dad! What an amazing man I chose! (Thank goodness he chose me too!)

And here are a few good pictures just for fun...

Classic Brooklyn... mad that dad won't give her money to make the car go. :-)

First time wearing real shoes... not loving it!

Kenna and daddy taking a Sunday nap :-)

Who doesn't love a huge blue sucker that stains your entire mouth?!?!

A warm winter's day stroll...

Tessie Roo's first high-pone at 10 months old (many more to come in her life, I'm sure)!

Kenna taking care of her quadruplets! Not sure she'd be smiling that big if they were REAL babies!! :-)

Cheeseball Brooklyn at her favorite place... "Donald's"!

Sweet baby...

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas again this year! The girls have really been into the whole Santa thing this time and it's been fun to watch the magic of the season through their young eyes. When asked what they wanted Santa to bring them this year Brooklyn would say "a konkin baby" (a talking baby), and Kenna would say "a black baby". Not sure where the black baby thing came from, but I think it's super cute! Of course Santa came through big time (as usual) and they were both thrilled to see their new babies on Christmas morning. Brooklyn started feeling sick on Christmas Eve, so she was a lot more mellow than usual throughout all of the festivities. But Kenna was having the time of her life! Watching her on Christmas morning with her new babies and baby accessories made every hard moment as a mother so worth it. Man, I love those girls. Tess wasn't quite as spoiled, because let's be honest... she has no idea what's going on. She did get spoiled by cousins and grandmas though, so she was a happy camper!

Along with all the commercial hype of Christmas, we tried again this year to focus on what matters most and did our best to share that feeling with our kids. They were excited that it was Jesus's birthday and that we were celebrating because of Him. During this holiday season, more than ever, I am so grateful for the gospel and for the blessings it brings into my life. I'm so grateful for my little family. Andy and those three cute girls make life worth living.

So, Merry Christmas y'all! Until next year... Oh, and on that sad note... I've been trying to explain to my girls for the past couple days that Santa won't be back to visit again for a very long time, a whole year... and they don't seem to be grasping the concept. Actually, it really seems to be upsetting them. So... uh, oh well. I guess we'll just have to make every day Christmas at our house! :)

Halloween 2011

Just thought I'd share a few cute pictures from our fun Halloween adventures! We hit up the mall, Lee's, downtown shops, Kimber's neighborhood, and ended it all at Grandma Davis' house!! It really was a great day and the girls LOVED every minute of it! Who wouldn't though. Duh, you get to eat all the candy you can handle for one whole day. What's not to love? Actually, I think Kenna had a few candies too many because Andy said she barfed a little on his shirt as we were headed in from our last round of trick-or-treating. Ha ha! Gotta love it.

My Big Girls

You know that day that comes all too quickly when all of a sudden you realize that your babies aren't babies anymore? Well that day has sadly come and gone for me. It seems like just in the past few months alone my girls have grown up SO much. I guess it's not ALL bad though. Growing up (especially with twins, I think) is a bitter/sweet thing. I definitely miss my tiny sweet babies, but I love that they are becoming more and more independent every day. It makes life a lot easier on me. :)

It all started with potty training (which they rocked at by the way). I only remember one or two days of frustration and then they had it down. I was actually going to wait until they were closer to three years old, but they were showing major signs of readiness... such as finding a quiet corner, squatting, AND even pulling their own pants down when they had to go. So I figured if they are already doing most of the work, we might as well just learn to let it loose in a toilet instead of a diaper, right? And can I just say how much I am LOVING the fact that I have decreased my diaper changing moments by two thirds?! Yay for us! I'm so proud of my smart little girlies. :)


Shortly after switching from diapers to undies, we realized that it was time to say goodbye to the binkies as well. I knew that the transition would go much smoother if my girls knew where their binkies were going. So I came up with a brilliant plan! We wrapped them up all nice and took them to my friend's brand new baby girl. It was so sweet to see my girls give up something they love so much to somebody who needed it more than they did. That's how we explained it to them anyway, and they were so brave. Now when we put them in bed every night they remind us, "I don't need my binkie anymore, cuz I'm a big girl. Baby London has my binkie now and she is so happy." So cute!



Other than these two big transitions, they have also started picking out what they want to wear (mostly Brooklyn), looking forward to going to nursery, talking a LOT more, having full on conversations on the phone, singing along to almost any song they've heard more than once, and helping me with Tess. Their new favorite thing to do is to copy everything I'm doing with Tess, with their babies. It is so cute! I love that they enjoy being little mommies. My favorite is when I catch them trying to get their babies to sleep. They rock/bounce them, sing soft songs, and say "shh shh". It melts my heart.



Yes, some days are stressful as I try my best to raise these beautiful little girls, but the good moments definitely outweigh the bad ones and I thank my Heavenly Father every night for blessing me with this sweet little family of mine. Oh! And by the way... my "baby" Tess is CRAWLING!!! Ahh! Make time stop please!! She is one that I would keep a baby FOREVER if I could. Tess is the sweetest, most perfect little munchkin and I can't believe that she is getting so big already too. Oh well. I guess that's just life, right? :)

I miss old people...

Andy and I were finally able to make it to the temple the other night (thanks mom for watching our girls) and it was much needed. A peaceful couple of hours where I can relax, clear my head, ponder, reflect, and gain perspective. I always leave the temple with a new outlook on life and a new determination to be better. This time, though, along with all those things, I left the temple with an aching hole in my heart.

I miss my grandparents.

Today marks the one year anniversary of my Grandma Larsen's passing. I guess I hadn't realized it, but for the past year I haven't had any real conversation with anyone older than about 50. Seeing those cute little temple workers really brought back the pains I felt when I lost my grandma. I miss her and my grandpa so so much.

I miss their wisdom.
I miss their love.
I miss their guidance.
I miss hearing about and learning from their life experiences.
I miss their support.
I miss their praise and encouragement.

Basically, I feel as though they've left two tiny holes in my heart that can never and will never be filled in this life.

Maybe I should find a nursing home to visit every week to try to fill the void. I truly never thought life would be much different, let alone hard without any grandparents. But it is. I hope they both know how much I love and miss them. And how much I appreciate all that I've gained just by knowing them.

Love you to the sky and back, Grams & Gramps. 123.

Another fun summer!

Here is a short recap of our summer activities this year...

We did a whole LOT of this.


A little bit of this.



And of course some of this.



A few days of this.


A semi-successful attempt at this.
(A family nature walk/hike with 2 two-year-old drama queens!)




And plenty of this.



And this!!!



And this.



And at the end of almost every day, we all pretty much felt like this.



What a FUN summer!!! We couldn't have asked for anything better!

Funny things they say...

Yesterday afternoon I was asking Mckenna if she was having a good day.

She said, "Ya!"

I asked, "What have we been doing today?"

And this is how she explained her day... "Brookie hit me. Brookie time out. Brookie hit my back. Brookie time out. Brookie hit my belly. Brookie time out. Go to Nursery. Sing songs, play with toys, play with friends, have a snack. Grandma's house. Brookie hit me. Brookie time out. Brookie hit me again. Brookie time out."

No lie. These were her exact words! I was holding in the burst of laughter as tears were spilling out of my eyeballs! Apparently Brooklyn is not learning her lesson about hitting. But props to us for sticking to our "time out" routine, right?! Our little Kenna is going to be one tough cookie by the time we break Brooklyn of her hitting habit. Brookie better watch her back though, because as soon as Kenna discovers that she is bigger and stronger... things could get ugly!


And here's a cheesy one for all you Tess lovers out there...