David and Erik "help" cook dinner

I guess we're having sea food. :)

Pictures from our trip to Utah

We had a chance to visit my family in Utah a few weeks ago. We had a great time. We went to the aquarium, made cookies, had homemade pizza, played with our cousins, met our Uncle Jimmy, visited the zoo, went fishing, met our baby cousin Gracie, and so much more. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

All tuckered out after church.

Erik didn't even make it through lunch.

Erik enjoying some homemade chocolate chip cookies. :)


David saying "yum" with a mouthful of cookie.

Erik (blue), David (green), and Grandma (red) at the aquarium.

Erik playing on the giant frog.

David posing for a picture near the "deck." They spent a good amount of time just climbing in and out of it.

David smiling with some flowers.

Erik with some flowers.

Seriously, I don't know why they love flowers so much, but they do.

David and Grandpa

Erik slowing down just long enough to take a picture.


Grandpa and David fishing.

Erik stealing the fishing pole from brother.

A baby elephant. So cute!

A giraffe.

A tortoise.

Erik and David exhausted from a day at the zoo.

A family of geese we saw in the zoo parking lot.

New Neighbors

Our wonderful neighbor Silvia (who we are really going to miss) moved and gave us this hanging plant. She didn't want to take it with her because a bird had built a nest in it. So we hung it up thinking that the bird wasn't going to find her nest after it was moved. We were wrong.

Meet our new neighbors: The Billingsleys. Charlotte and Reginald Billingsley moved in about a month ago just a day or two after we hung up the plant by our porch. I did a little research and found out that they are house finches. And now they are the proud parents of twins: Royce and Abigail!

Yes, we named the birds living outside our window. We're weird like that. The birds grew up fast and flew away, but we sure loved having them for a few weeks.

Here's a picture of Charlotte. She's a little shy. Reginald wouldn't pose for pictures.

Here are the eggs. It made me so happy to see new life growing.

Here is Royce. Abigail took her time and was born the next day.




Here they are together. Don't they look like little rat birds? But somehow, they're still cute.




All grown up. I was so sad when they flew away. We'll miss you guys!

Big boys

Our boys are growing up way too fast.

Here is David sitting at the table. He can climb into the chair all by himself now.

I don't know why, but Erik loves to wear my sweaters. Quite the look with only one shoe and boogers all over his face. Somehow he is still super cute. :)

Chocolate Bunnies

We bought the boys chocolate bunnies for their Easter baskets. Then we forgot all about them. We pulled them out a few weeks ago and let the boys enjoy. Apparently, they like chocolate.

Erik eating his bunny. He got the ears I think.

Eventually he stuck the whole chunk in his mouth. Yum.

He clearly enjoyed himself. :)



David's smile is just darling in this picture.

And in it goes.

When he was finished, David started signing more. Sorry baby. You've had enough.

No Words

This post is hard to write. There are so many things I want to say, and I have no way of saying them. No words can express all my feelings. But I have found writing, even if the words are imperfect, to be healing, and so I write.

We were expecting a baby this November. We were overjoyed. I bought the boys "Big Brother" t-shirts and taught them to say "baby" and "sesame seed" (our nickname for our baby). We were planning on spreading the news when I was 10 weeks along, and we enjoyed having our little secret surprise. We loved being a family of five.

But on April 11th, we lost our baby. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I know it doesn't sound like a very long time to grow to love someone, but I spent over 1000 hours carrying our little baby, and I felt her spirit in our home from almost the moment she was conceived. We love her, and we will always love her.

The hardest part of losing our baby has been not knowing how to grieve. We had no body to bury, no cheek to kiss good-bye. The people we loved most didn't even know there was a baby to be lost.

I know she is safe, but I have so many questions, and my heart just aches to hold my baby. I have found that writing my thoughts and feelings has helped to heal my heart a little, so I created a blog for my little lost baby. I also hope that it will help her to be remembered. I don't want her to be forgotten.

Naming her has also helped. We named her Cecily. If you'd like to read the story of how we named her, please feel free to read her blog: RememberingOurCecily.blogspot.com

I want to apologize for telling so many of you this on our family blog instead of in person. I know that it is impersonal, and I wish I had the strength to say these things out loud. I'm so sorry. I just couldn't find the words.

Easter 2010

Here are some pictures from our Easter this year. We visited the Easter bunny, dyed eggs, and had an egg hunt. The boys really enjoyed themselves. We're grateful for holiday traditions that can build family memories like these.

But even as I post all these darling pictures of my boys and reflect on all the fun we had, I know that this is not the best part of Easter. Bunnies and eggs and candy are wonderful, but there are much more powerful symbols -- the cross, the bread and water, the empty tomb -- that give us hope of better todays and better tomorrows.

I want my family and friends to know, that I know Jesus Christ lives. He is the Son of God. He is risen, and because of His power over death, we will all live again. As a wife and a mother, that brings me such comfort. I know that not even death can separate me from the ones I love. Happy Easter! :)

Erik and David didn't really enjoy the Easter bunny. Maybe next year...

Erik helping Mommy decorate Easter eggs.

David helping too!

The finished products. :)

David having a fun time collecting eggs.

Erik wondering why this egg doesn't open.

Off to find some more.

One of the blessings of being a twin. Sometimes you get two Easter baskets, if only for a while.

What? We eat ground food at home. Why can't we have a little ground candy?

Erik shoved three whole whopper eggs in his mouth. He couldn't even close it, so the colored drool just kept coming. Gross! Of course I didn't have any baby wipes either, so he just had to be sticky until we got home.

It took them a bit, but they got the idea that eggs go in the basket.

They never figured out that the green basket was David's and the blue basket was Erik's. They both put eggs in both pretty equally. :)

And of course, baskets are good for more than just eggs. Other treasures (like blankets) can go in there too.

Basket-head David! :)