We survived

Every summer Cheyenne hosts "Frontier Days".  It is a 10 day party with, 3 days of free pancake breakfasts, 4 parades, carnival, nightly concerts with people like Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw, and of course the rodeo.  Lots of Cheyenne natives flee for the week because they say it is too crowded.  The city supposedly triples in size for the 10 days.  Last year we were out of town for a family reunion, but this year Autumn and I experienced a few activities around town.

Autumn and I were suppose to meet up with Evan while they did rounds outside and watch the parade.  We ended up showing up half way threw the parade.  Which ended up being perfect since I found a 1 hour parking spot close to the route and only had to walk a little way to find a shady spot to sit and watch a million horses and tractors.  Autumn loved all the horses.  Then Evan carried my chair to the car and I drove him threw the traffic-less streets to the hospital.  Activity one=successful

Then when it rained our splash pad plans got cancelled so we decided to go with some friends to the Thunder Birds air show.  We ended up missing the shuttle and had to park at the community college where the event was being held.  We showed up a few minutes before the program was to begin, but because it was overcast the jets waited to fly for over an hour.  Good thing we brought lots of snacks.  Autumn thought the show was too noisy.  Then what should have taken us 15 minutes to get home took us 90 minutes!  Later I found out Evan watched the whole show from the roof of the hospital.  So successful event for Evan not so much for us.  

The next day we went with our same friends to the Indian Village and watched the dancing.  It was hot.  And there were only a few dancers because there was a bunch of events they were dancing at that day.  Autumn loved it and the hoop dancing was rather rad.  Luckily a different friend of mine was out of town and lives close so we parked in her driveway.  Autumn loved the dancing so much she asked if we could go back on Saturday.  All the dancers were there that day and Evan even came with us.  All in all we survived the 10 days.

Waiting for the air show.

Too loud!

That weekend I braided and put Autumn's hair in curlers.  She was really excited, until I took them out.  She said, "Mom, too crazy".  She was really nervous about the end result.  so I put it half up for her.

And then she dressed herself for church and even wore her foam slap bracelets she got from a friend's birthday party the day before.

Random bath day.  My dad use to always put our hair in Mohawks when we were little.  Autumn thought it was great!

Getting Closer...

This pregnancy has been much different than with Autumn.  I re-read this post last week about "firsts" in my pregnancy with Autumn and I have still managed to come up with a few more "firsts" with this pregnancy.

First time SEEING my babies move around threw my skin, oppose to just feeling them.  So cool.  So weird.

First time eating Tums.  I had heart burn with Autumn but couldn't bring myself to eat that chalk.  Oh boy do I love my tums this pregnancy and so do Evan and Autumn.  Evan often sneaks one when he is grabbing me one and Autumn often asks for, "mommy lucky (yucky) medicine".

First time with swollen feet and ankles and fingers on a regular basis. (I had swollen ankles ONE day when I was pregnant with Autumn)

First time wearing compression leggings.  I ordered them from HERE and highly recommend them for sore legs or...

First time with varicose veins. Ouch didn't realize they hurt as well as make you look like an old lady. 

First time not being able to fit into Evan's clothes.  One of my favorite things last pregnancy was slipping into his basketball shorts and one of his t-shirts after work. Not so fun the day I wore one of his shirts out and realized the bottom of my belly was hanging out. Oops.

First time sleeping with ice on the top of my belly since it feels like my ribs are bruised.  Plus it cools me off since it is so dang hot in our house which leads to

First time complaining when it is 85 degrees outside (mostly because hardly anywhere we go uses their AC properly, we don't have AC and the sun beats on our front windows all afternoon cooking our house to hotter inside than outside.)

First time wanting Summer to end.  With Autumn (the person) I was content with being pregnant as long as she wanted to hang around in there.  But this time it has been nerve raking knowing that twins usually come early so I've caught myself wishing time would speed up-and that the babies stay put.  I'm just really anxious this time to meet the babies.

32.5 weeks pregnant with Autumn and 32 weeks pregnant with the twinners.  Not too shabby.  I went to the doctor today (32 weeks 4 days) and had another ultra sound.  They measured the babies each at 4 lbs 5 oz and me at 37 weeks.

The weather this summer has been crazy.  We have had 2 severe hail storms.  The second one was pretty bad.  The hail isn't all that big but it hits so hard and there is so much!

It looked like it snowed.  We have also had two tornado warnings.  The first one Evan called and told me he could SEE the funnel cloud.  So I hesitantly woke Autumn up from her nap and drove to where Evan's dad works in the basement.  Once I saw the funnel cloud myself I started to panic.  Luckily it didn't touch down.  One thing I learned is I need a new backpack for my 72 hour kit since the strap broke as I rushed us to the car.

As the babies get closer to coming I'm SLOWLY trying to prepare the house for their arrivals.  I finally finished up our bedroom-after months of saying I was going to clean it up..here are the before pictures.  After 6 years of marriage I finally bought a real bed spread.  I love the grey curtains, however after getting the bedspread the curtains kinda look blue.

Time line of our family and maps of the different states we've lived in.

I didn't take a picture of our closet.  I've reorganized it a few times, but it still just looks like an overstuffed closet.  Oh well it closes now ;)

More cousin fun

Evan's niece and a couple of nephews came up to spend a week with grandma and grandpa.  Most of their fun was had while Autumn and I were napping, but we did tag along to a few outings.  For weeks Autumn talked about going on a green boat with Kallie.  Luckily when we went to ride the paddle boats a green one was available and Kallie was really great at appeasing Autumn and her desires.

Lots of guitar/harmonica/drum/piano lessons from grandma and grandpa.  Autumn wanted to keep her cow make-up on to show dad when he got home from work.  She liked to strum along with her ukulele. 

One night I was reading bedtime stories to Autumn and there was a rainbow pictured in the book.  She asked, "what is that?" So I explained (to the best of my knowledge) about rainbows.  Then we read from the Old Testament scripture reader about Noah and the ark and of course a rainbow.  Well then Evan came home from work and as we are putting her to sleep she points out the window that there is a rainbow.  I think to myself "no way, what are the odds?."  But I look out the window to find the brightest, prettiest, most vivid rainbow I've ever seen.  Not to mention it was a full rainbow and a "double" rainbow.  So that called for a late bedtime and we all went out and admired it for awhile.

The pictures however do not do it justice.

The first day the kids were here I hosted our ward's playgroup.  I made some "washable" paint and let the kids paint the fence.  That was a hit...with everyone except my mother-in-law who has since "banned" me from every painting again. (It didn't quite come off the fence;)  I conceded until the next day when I painted the kids' faces for the Chic-Fil-A event ;)

I also set up a slip-n-slide.  It would have worked great if it wasn't for the horrid Cheyenne wind that totally torn it up before we could even use it...despite the 11 stakes I put in the tarp.

I guess there aren't too many slip-n-slide pictures since I mostly took video.  We also went to the state museum and rode a horse drawn carriage around downtown.  Which ended up taking FOREVER because we got stuck behind the trolley that refused to move for over 30 minutes.  Poor Autumn was so excited to ride the "horsee" but by the time we actually started moving it was her nap time and almost fell asleep on me.  Autumn and Evan went bowling with the gang while I went grocery shopping and they also tie-dyed a pretty rad t-shirt.

My second favorite Non-holiday

I love dressing up.  I just do.  So naturally I love any excuse to do so, especially if it involves free food.  Each year Chic-Fil-A sponsors a "Cow Appreciation Day" where if you dress up as cow you get a free meal.

I found this costume on 90% off clearance after Halloween at Target for like 2$.  Also Autumn loves her glasses and I have a hard time convincing her to keep them in the car.  She says, "Stun in my EYES!"

Our buddies met us at the mall for lunch.

I convinced the family to join me again this year.  It just so happens my niece and nephews were visiting for the week.  (those are suppose to be my utters...)

Autumn loves the cow and always asks about him/her when we got to the mall, yet she is afraid of getting too close.  She took her costume off when she had to go potty.

P.S in case you were wondering my favorite non-holiday is the first day of Spring!

The Fourth

Evan worked on Independence Day (of course), but the cool thing about that is he gets an extra day off another month of his choice.  Autumn and I went to our ward's pancake breakfast, which was surprisingly really fun.  I realized the day before, Autumn didn't have any festive outfits.  *Gasp* In fact, she doesn't own a red or blue shirt!  So we went with her star shorts and a pink and blue star shirt.  I tied some dinner napkins in her hair so we could be matchy.

 Taking a bathroom selfie with my huge camera is not easy....and the split mirror makes me look way huge!

 Teaching Autumn to be a thug.  Me 29.5 weeks (each baby now weighs almost 3 pounds)

 Autumn and I went to dinner at a friends house and after Evan got off work we went to a fellow resident friend's house.  

 Dr. North and Dr. Norby making marshmellow skewers.

 The kiddos watching some little fireworks

Daddy teaching Autumn how to roast a 'mallow.  Autumn loved the fireworks and had lots of commentary.  "GREEN! RED! GREEN! PURPLE! I want green again.  RED! WHITE! I want green.  I want green. GREEN! GREEN!!"  

Its Seven! Its Seven!

Autumn was in the habit of waking up very early.  I decided to bribe reward Autumn out of that habit.  I told Evan we didn't bribe her to potty train, but this was totally bribe worthy.  He totally agreed.  So Autumn and I took a trip to Target and I let her pick out a toy...really I asked her if she wanted the Ariel with the long dress or short dress.  She chose long.  Then she picked out a clock.  She picked a pink one of course.  Then I told her the rules.  She couldn't come out of her room until 7:00.  I drew "7:00" on a Post-it and put it by the clock.  The next morning she got out of bed at 6:30 and pooped (you can't really tell a 2.5 year old to hold it for 30 minutes), but went back in her room until 7.  So she got a sticker on her oh so fancy sticker chart (I ripped a page out of a calendar I don't use.)  We missed a few days of getting stickers, but soon enough she got her Ariel.

 Ariel sat on top of the fridge as a constant reminder.  Autumn loved to tell all our visitors about her and explain her bunny stickers to them.

Too busy playing to look up.  I'm excited to be greeted ever morning with, "Its steven! Its Steven!!"  And she is excited to have her Ariel doll.

For Eternity

Evan flew to Arizona for a day and a half for his sister's sealing.  All the kiddos were with their other parent so it was an adult trip.  They dinned at Cafe Rio and Sara provided her famous creme Brulee.  

They went bowling and played arcade games.

The next morning Justin and Meagan were sealed for time and all eternity!  YAY!!! I couldn't be more happy for them, even if they didn't get sealed in a pink temple ;)

Justin's parents

These are my favorite kind of poses..."oh is the man out of focus? Eh, how cares."

Evan, Justin and Evan's sisters.

The only shot Evan got of the temple...Meagan helping a photographer out.

Another one of my favorites....I think Evan did a great job as photographer.

While Evan was gone I got a call from Evan.  

Evan: "are you going to be home this afternoon"
Me: "No Autumn and I are going over to a friend's house. Why?"
Evan: "Oh, a big package is being delivered today. Can you leave a note on the door?"
Me: "Is it a big bouquet of flowers?"
Evan:.....

I knew it wasn't flowers.  I knew Evan bought himself another toy.  The deal was no sub woofer until I got a car.  Evan got right on researching and purchasing his toy right away.  Luckily I wasn't home when he had time to open it so that I wouldn't spoil his fun.  I don't know if I'll ever appreciate his toys as much as he does.  My reaction is always just a bunch of eye rolling.  I can't help it!

Evan is so giddy about his new toy.  So despite the fact that there is no practical space for such a large item in our tiny apartment, and despite the fact that we live in such close proximity to other people who would be annoyed at such a toy...Evan is as happy as a little kid on Christmas.

Showing off the sub woofer to his family, while Autumn and I were at a Mom's of Multiples BBQ.