In Memorium

I suppose that everyone (pretty much) who reads this blog knows that President Hinckley (President and Prophet of the LDS church) passed away yesterday. I insisted that Nick sit and watch the news with me last night, so we didn't get our post up. Sometimes, I have to say, it is nice to live in Utah. All the news channels had a special edition honoring President Hinckley, and it was lovely to feel a part of a community, grieving the loss of someone truly amazing.

I remember that there was a bit, probably about eight years ago, when my co-workers at BYU where thinking that perhaps his conference talk of that year had been his farewell talk. I remember thinking at the time that I wasn't ready to let go of Pres. Hinckley. I think now though that while I will miss him, and his humor and love, he seemed ready to be with his wife again. I am so grateful the Lord blessed him to be with us for these intervening years. I can't think of another example of someone who loved and served so well.

It occured to me last night, as I watched pictures from his life flash across the screen, that President Hinckley wasn't a man of great stature in what the world often counts as important; he wasn't particularly handsome, athletic or rich. Yet, of all the people I can think of, he is one I would most like to be like. More than anything else, this speaks to me of his Christ-like character. You never thought of the way he looked or dressed. You never dwelt on the worldly things about him at all. Instead, he radiated discipleship. I never personally met President Hinckley, but as impossible as it sounds, I am as sure of his love for me as if he were my own grandfather. I can only pray that someday I might be blessed with a portion of that same kind of love for others.

As for my life, little happened this week. The boys will fold their arms for a moment (literally a moment) when we pray--it is cute and pretty exciting. Nick got all the vents in the house secured so I no longer have to fish my keys out of the air ducts. It is snowing like crazy outside again.

I will post a few videos and pictures of this week. Enjoy!

Playing on the microwave stand:
Saturday morning cartoons with Daddy

Spaceman Reid

Soldier Boy Gage

Falling Asleep During Lunch

Dancing, Cheering, and Hugging

For those of you who use this site to link to other people's blogs, I've added some new links to the sidebar. Additionally, I switched Cody's link from pointing to his website to his new blog. If for some reason I have missed adding somebody's link, please post a comment or email me so I can get it up there.

Nothing major happened this week. We took the boys to a pet store yesterday and discovered why we could never own a cat. Reid had the kitten huddling in the back of its cage for fear of bodily injury. Gage enjoyed petting the dalmatian puppy; however, he made sure it was nice first by staying just out of hitting distance for a minute. No, we are not getting a pet. It would be nice to have a dog eat all the food the boys throw on the floor, but pets make other kinds of messes. I just don't have the patience for that right now.

I've posted a couple of movies from this week. They are pretty cute twin moments. Hope you like them.

Christmas Card

We finally got the Christmas Card to upload. Enjoy. :)

If you want to see the little pictures on the side, you can click on the card to get a larger view of the image. Hope you are all well.

Don't Be Rash...

This week was pretty eventful, if you are a mom of twins and your whole world revoloves around seemingly small milestones and occurances in your child's life. Gage developed a rash last weekend, and we assumed that it was related to the antibiotic for his ear infection. So, we called the Doctor and got a new perscription. Problem solved? Ah, no. A few days later I gave him a smoothie made with some soy milk--viola! Rash-city. So, it was apparently the soy milk, which we had bought for Reid because he's been having so much trouble with constipation, and I was thinking it might be related to dairy. The soy doesn't seem to be affecting Reid at all...but, Gage won't drink it in a bottle so they don't switch bottles anymore. Sippy cups, pacifiers...those all get traded back and forth. But bottles now remain with their owner.
The other "big" event this week was the death of the morning nap. One day, Gage just wouldn't go down. Reid was asleep...but Gage would not nap, until he fell asleep in the middle of his dinner. Then, the next day neither one would nap. I tried starting at 11:00am to get them to nap, and didn't have a successful attempt until 2:00pm. So now, they only take one nap in the afternoon. I think I'm going to like the new schedule. We've also had a string of really good nights with them, and that's been exciting. That's all the big news this week. I tried to upload our Christmas card picture, but for some reason blogger is being strange. Then again, it could be our computer. Oh well! Hope everyone has a great week.

Post Christmas Return To Reality

Well, we made the trip to Ohio. It went better than I anticipated. The boys were decent for much of the flight there, and very respectable most of the way home. Janine and I also discovered we are a highly efficient crew at getting through airport security with two toddlers. Roughly comparable to a pit crew.

We had a really good time seeing everyone in Ohio. The break went way too fast, but it was nice to rest from work, and spend time with family. I've put up a brief slide show of our time there.

Gage has had an ear infection, which gave him a high fever. So, we took him to the doctor to get an antibiotic. Unfortunately he broke out in a rash soon after taking the antibiotic--most likely an allergic reaction. The long and short of it is that he has been very sad for days now. We have only had a few bright moments of Tylenol induced happiness. On the upside, he has never snuggled us (Janine or me) so thoroughly in our lives as he has this past several days. He will lay on the couch and let me snuggle him until he falls asleep. It is sweet.

Reid has been really good while Gage has demanded all the attention. He is super cheerful, and makes sure to say goodbye to me every time I go downstairs for anything. He even said "love you" back to me when I was leaving to work one morning. I'll grant you that it sounded about as clear as scooby-doo speaking, but Reid definitely understood the meaning.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas, and that you enjoy the pics/videos I've posted.



The boys love vacuums for some reason.


I have never seen Gage dance before this time.