Christmas!

Way fun Christmas!!! The anticipation up until the big day nearly killed Tate! He was soo excited and a lot of fun! The best part was having the babies this year! We didn't even get to see them last year on Christmas because of a nasty snow storm! Whit could even say HO HO Ho this year, and he knew right when to use it! It really was an awesome day. I have a million pics, but here are just a few!



I love it everybody under the same Christmas tree!

Whit never got off his horse, he loved it!!

Tate was like the Tasmanian devil going from one thing to the next!

Reese..she thought she was big stuff walking with her stroller!

I told you, he never got off this thing!

Sea toys, when Tate opened this he said."OH He got this at Toys R US!!!!"

This is just how I felt after all the festivities!

I LOVE this Wrangler butt!

Once Whit did get off his horse, I looked over and he was eating the leftovers of Santa's cookies!!!

Christmas Cheer!

I have to say, I have never really been a Christmas girl, I like Halloween, but kids make the magic of Christmas so fun!!!! I have kept my word about going all out, and doing a lot of fun stuff this year to make up for last year, and it has been a blast. We had our annual cookie party with Heath and Steph, and the boys, and my parents, we had the Hopes family Christmas party, a few parties with friends, a party with santa at Garwee's......we went to breakfast with Santa, and out to Thanksgiving point to see the Reindeer and the lights, and have a little dinner! FEEEW!!! And the best part of it all is that we were all there together, no running back and forth between 3 kids! The twinkle that is in Tate's eyes this year is awsome.... I am really starting to LOVE Christmas!!!!




Tate checking out the reindeer! Riding the trolley to see the lights!

Hopes and Whit at the party!

Reese thoroughly enjoying a gooey sugar cookie at the cookie party!

They were really good!

Happy Birthday Babies!

Today is the babies birthday, and I cannot believe that they are 1 !!!!! What a year it has been...an up and down roller coaster of emotions in the beginning, and pure fun chaos since then. I have gotten choked up more than once this week. On the 1st of Dec, I kept thinking back to the panic that struck when we realized that they were coming sooner than we thought.

These two are tough, there have been very few days that I haven't thought back to the NICU days. And not one day that I don't thank heaven for being able to leave there as lucky and as healthy as we did. My heart drops when I see a baby with a helmet on...that totally could have been Whit, and every time I get Reese dressed and see her scar, I have a moment!

So today was celebration! We had a party tonight with all our family, A far cry from the whirlwind we had going on this time last year! I felt so lucky to be in the situation that we are in! Happy Birthday babies, WE LOVE YOU!!

Opening presents!(at6:00 in the morning!!! Nobody sleeps in around here!)

Double Trouble!

Reese and GG, Reese loving on her baby, and carrying her new horse purse!

Dads Boy!

Opening presents x two is a little crazy!

My twiners!

Double Love It!!!!

Really I couldn't do it without Tate, he is so much help in the mornings, when I am getting ready for work! He wanted to feed Reese, so I got the bottle jumpd in the shower way fast and this is what I found!.....Double love it!

Christmas Kick-Off!!

We officially kicked off the Christmas season! I was actually excited for Thanksgiving to be over so we could start doing all this fun stuff. It has been almost 4 years since we have had a stress free Christmas. 3 1/2 years ago was when Judy ( Chad's mom) was diagnosed with Cancer, and for those 2 years that she went through everything, the worst times were always Christmas and she ended up back in the hospital. We miss her! And then last year it was the babies coming so early and having to be in the NICU. SOOOOOO.. this year we are celebrating! I told myself last year, that next year we are going all out! It was all I could do, to not start buying red and green M&M's! So we put our tree up last night, and this morning GG, and Grandpa took us to Breakfast with Santa! It was so fun! Steph and the boys came, and it was YUMMY! Tate is so into it this year. It will be so awsome to have the babies with us this year, and have us all be in one place!


The final product! Tate and my mom made me these CUTE snowman ornaments! I LOVE THEM!

Reese and Whit were right in on the action!

Breakfast with Santa

Reese had to have a little nap on Grandpa's cheek before she saw the big guy!

Tate knew EXACTLY what he wanted!

Mrs. Claus ...she gave us food for the reindeer!

The whole grand kid gang!

Tate waiting for Santa

Thanks GG, and Grandpa, we had such a fun time!

Love It!

This is what I found this morning when I got home from the gym! ( at 6:00 in the morning mind you, and they had been up since I left!!) Hanging out, watching a little cartoons! I love it!

CAUGHT!!!

There is nothing like having a baby around to clean the floor for you! Whit and Reese find the tiniest of morsels and they go right in there mouth! Well Reese hit the jackpot the other day, she crawls like a monkey and I could see her scooting really fast, her back was turned away from me, and when she turned around she had chocolate EVERYWHERE! She had found one lonely chocolate chip that Tate had been eating, and savored every bite! When I said Reese she turned around with this face and just started to giggle! Gotta love a girl who loves her chocolate!

That's My Aunt!

Most of you who know me, know the story about my Aunt Lauri going to Africa the first of this year. She is a nurse, decided that she had a bucket list and on it was go to Africa on a Humanitarian mission, and to hike Mt. Kilamajario, and SHE DID....BY HERSELF!!! The whole story is so cool, and amazing... I don't know another person who would have went by themselves, and did what she did. So Friday, we got to go here her speak about her "Life Changing Journey" in Layton at a medical conference. She said she was so nervous, but after hearing her speak, I don't think she could have been, she stood up there and acted like she had been doing it for years! Her speech was at the end of a seminar that these medical professionals had been sitting in all day, and there was not one person in that room that wanted to even leave to go to the bathroom...they were glued! Hell I was glued and I knew what was coming next. Her whole goal for this was to encourage and inspire others, that no matter what challenges you face, to keep pushing on and tell yourself YOU CAN DO IT! There was not a dry eye in the house when she finished. Laur... I am so proud of you, you make me want to do more, and you have inspired me, and made me push myself through some rough situations(nothing like that damn mountain though!! I just want you to know that the whole time I was listening my heart was pounding with pride, and just like Gramps would have said.....That my Aunt Lauri! I love you!

360 Degrees

I'm so happy to say that Whit is a new baby! The tubes were heaven sent. The poor guy, I feel terrible that he felt so bad for so long. His ears were pretty gross, he cried like crazy when they handed him to me after surgery, and they said he would be screaming for most of they day. He slept on the way home and after about an hour nap, he woke with a smile on his face! It is really like night and day difference, a total 360! Thank goodness, Now we just need to get him a helmet....he is standing up to EVERYTHING, and bonking his head. (Tate said maybe Santa could bring him one!)

Halloween!

Mr. Whit! Grandpa and his girl!

Grandma Hopes and her ladies...We should have taken her clubbin after!

Me and my little ghouls!

GG, and Grandma Hopes, two generations of CRAZY!!!!
Grandma GG, and her gang

Reese and Whit, the bat and the witch!

Pot Pie, and her Pieces!

Tate the Vampire!

What a fun night! Halloween is awsome, I LOVE IT!!! Last night was like the 5th time we had been in our costumes because we have done so many fun thing this month! But last night was the funnest by far. We started with a few trick or treat stops! Thanks Banana Bonnie, Garwie, Loni. K-dub, and Robyn! Then we headed to my moms for the party, she goes all out.....decorations, food, AWSOME TRICK OR TREAT BAGS!!!! It was way fun...so fun I am blogging all by myself this morning, everyone is still asleep! And at this house that is a miracle!!LOL!! So glad you came Shawn, Nok, and Toni! And thanks for all the treats for my kiddo's everyone! And Mom, THANK YOU for making it such a fun night, all the work you put into it pays off, everyone had a blast! ( oh and McKell, how about my post!!!:))) Thank You!

Poor Little Guy!

Poor Mr. Whit has had a rough month in a half! It started with him and Reese both having an ear infection in the middle of September...Reese mended, but Whit has had four ear infections in a month. Between the two of them their hasn't been very much sleep around here, but after the second visit to the after hours clinic in a week, and three rounds of different antibiotics, we were referred to the ENT, and are getting tubes..... FEEEWW! The office we went to was great and they got him in on Tuesday next week, so hopefully we can get it done and get some SLEEP! The poor little guy wants to be happy.. everyone tells me you have a new kid the day after, so I am looking forward to next Wednesday!!!LOL.

Witchapalooza!

Our annual ghouls night out was last weekend. I love Gardner Village this time of year, I'm sure everybody had been but if you haven't get your butt up there, it is so much fun, and make sure that you wear witch costume. I couldn't beleive how many cool costume there were this year, people are really getting into it, and I love it. Thanks Steph for getting the awsome tickets, and to my hubby, and my dad for watching the kiddo's so we could go!