Three sets of twins

Bet you didn't know I had six children, huh?

Just kidding. We were having some mirror fun today.

Not much has been happening at our house lately that has seemed "post-worthy". That's why things have been a bit stagnant. Lots has been happening for us personally and financially, but it's not stuff one usually shares with the world. We've been struggling (still) with our children attaching to us as their parents, but we've been doing some research and are finding that most adopted children-even those adopted as newborns have a hard time fully accepting their adoptive parents because they are trying to grieve over the loss of a mother. Anyway, Timothy and I are taking a 10 week class on attachment and are hoping to learn ways to strengthen our relationships with each of our children.

Hyrum's gotee

Guess who has been playing in the sandbox?

Christmas Back-log #7: Jessica's Family

We were able to get my mom, all her children, and grandchildren into her tiny little house. There are 17 of us now. This family has really exploded. When Katherine came home form her mission was the last time we had family pictures taken and there were 7 of us. 4 years later there are 17!
My mom went from having no grandchildren two years ago to having 7. (3 adopted, 2 brought in by marriage, and 2 biological.)

Christmas Back-log #6: Christmas Again

(I just love this picture)

We traveled from Timothy's parents to my Mom's the day after Christmas. We were able to visit with all of our family there also!4 Cousins in Christmas clothes


Grandma with 2 grand-daughters

Poor Emma

On Monday, the 27th we had Christmas again with my family.

My sister, Katherine, crocheted stuffed animals for the children. They are so cute and the children really like them. Hyrum got a lion

Rebekah got an elephant

Brigham got a snake

My niece, Mikayla, got a baby and she just loved it!

Christmas Back-log #5: Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning we woke bright and early...so bright we could hardly open our eyes Mom was flashing the camera so bright in the darkness.

Then, we went up stairs at Gram-Gram's house to see what Santa brought the children.Hyrum a wooden bus with a pull string. Brigham a set of "Ring-a-majigs". And Rebekah a little baby plus accessories.

I think Bekah was the most excited!

Hyrum's favorite present was ball-pit balls that we dumped into a storage bin. He played in there for two hours on Christmas morning.

Of course cuddling with Daddy was a highlight of Christmas morning too.

While Bekah and Hyrum ate their stocking candy, Brigham found it fun to check out his cousins' presents.Brigham with Sierra

We had a good Christmas at Timothy's parents.

Christmas Back-log #4: Timothy's Family

Our first stop was to see Timothy's family. The children were really looking forward to seeing their cousins again. WE all had a great time visiting and playing games and trying to keep too many hands out of trouble. :) (The kids only managed to knock over three of Gram-Gram's plants this time and they all seemed to have survived!)

On Christmas we actually had all of the family together so we took advantage of that and got family a family picture. The family is definitely multiplying. When I joined the family in 2001 there were 11 of us, just two years ago there were 15 of us, now there are 20.



More on Christmas day next time...

Christmas Back-log #3: Traveling in Snow

We wanted to be with our extended family for Christmas this year so we decided to brave the snowy roads to do so. We were going along just fine when we hit a patch of packed snow on the freeway. We slowed down, as did most people around us. When we started seeing vehilces off the side of the road we slowed down even more. When we started to slide we started to worry and slowed down to about 30 mph. Even going that speed was too much with the slick road for our rear wheel drive mini van and we fish tailed a bit and then spun out and landed with our rear tires in the median. (Doing almost a 180 in the process.) Luckily there weren't any vehicles too close to us so we didn't hit anything, but I (Jessica) was driving and was shaking after we slid to a stop . A nice man and his son had also slid into the median from the other side of the road, only they were very deep in and were quite stuck. So, they trudged through the snow and pushed us out of the median, and we were able to continue on our way. We only went a few miles before we decided to put chains on even though not many others were, but we were still sliding and only going 25 mph. So, Timothy put the chains on and we were able to make it through the rest of the slick roads safely.

We did run into other patches of slick roads, but they weren't nearly so bad and we didn't slide again. For which we were very grateful.

Christmas Back-log #2: Broken Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas decorations set up during the first week of December, but between rambunctious preschoolers and a two-year old who's phase is pushing, the tree didn't last very long. It was only up two days before it was broken beyond Mommy's ability to repair. So, it went to the garage to await the fate of Daddy. After a few weeks Daddy devised a tree stand that was preschooler proof and toddler proof. And the tree was back up for the last few days before we left on our vacation to visit family. (more on that to come.)

Christmas Back-log #1: Graham Cracker Houses

Brigham's preschool hosted a "Sugar Plumb Cottage" night. Where the whole family got to go and make a Graham Cracker House. So Mommy and Bekah made one and Brigham and Daddy made one, and Hyrum just ate the crackers and candy.

Bekah and Mommy made a traditional house and had fun decorating it. Bekah also found a hole in the roof support piece and stuffed larger pieces of candy inside. So,when she ate her house, there was a surprise when she took off the roof-more candy!Brigham and Daddy made a non-traditional house (note the inverted roof) They piled a bunch of candy and coconut in the crevice.
We had a good time and it was good to spend some time working as a family.