SnyderLee Love

Coronado Beach Exploration

2011-05-16T14:39:00.000-06:00

bla bla bla bla

Meant to be?

2011-04-26T15:32:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning thinking about how utterly fab it would be so be able to attend a CRAVE PHOTOGRAPHY workshop in person. When I clicked on facebook I saw a link-a link to an ALL EXPENSES PAID PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP GIVEAWAY!!! True story I swear! I am already eternal grateful for your goodness God, but maybe just one more little thing? ;) I really have no right to ask, I've been tremendously blessed the past few months...but it would be awesome!
http://cravemyphotography.com/blog/world-wide-giveaway/#comment-8202

At least you get pics

2011-04-26T15:15:00.000-06:00

So...a lot has happened since my last post...like moving across the country! Haha if the Navy does anything for me, it inspires confidence that, as Sheri Dew says it best, YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS! lol When you're faced with no other choice than to just get up out of your seat and do something, you learn a lot about yourself! After telling us we would be in Chicago another year the Navy up and gave us two weeks to move!

Happily we are now located in sunny, serene southern California. Cameron has a month or two more of training, and then he will be in the "real" Navy (i.e. on a BATTLESHIP)! It's kinda scary, huh? But also really really COOL! I will have to take some pics next time we go over the awesome bridge to Coronado so everyone can see the Navy's glory...but for now, these pictures of my babies will have to do :)

Daddy studying for a test while watching two curious little boys

Triscuit loves our new 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home, although I'm sure his favorite parts are the back yard (triscuit size) and the low windows he can look out of.

I made this cutie some yummy fresh apple banana sauce this morning and what does he do with it? He spits it out and then goes outside to eat leaves! Guess I'm lucky he didn't try to grab one of the many snails that frequent our yard!

There are so few pics of them together....because they never hold still! I love Cohie's face

I'm not sure if Cohen agrees with his shirt..I tried to get him to feel a snail this morning and he looked at me like, "you want me to do WHAT NOW?" lol

Every day here has been BEAUTIFUL! We live 15-20 min from base/the coast and I couldn't be happier with our situation! We were incredibly lucky to get into the neighborhood of Navy/Marine housing we did and we're super excited about our new ward full of military members!

Cloth Diapering: Week 3

2011-03-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to try cloth diapering for a while now...but the start up costs for the type of diapers I wanted were just too big for our tiny budget. This past month we were happily surprised to discover the government gives you $1000 for every kid you have, woot! When did the government start paying people to have kids? lol So anyway, I decided this would be the perfect time to start cloth diapering. I mean, there are soo many reasons to use reusable diapers-from saving money to saving the planet!

velcro vs snap closure

I have to admit, once I got right down to it, the thought of giving up my so easy to use disposables seemed a bit scary (would I hate the smell of the diaper pale?, would it be too much laundry? Would they leak? Would people think I was gross? Would I have TIME?).

I'm happy to say that we are in week 3 of cloth diapering and I am IN LOVE! They are easy to use, we found a great product to wash them in and keep the pale smelling good, and I LIKE laundering them (They're just so darn cute and soft)!

Here's what we've started off with:
-10 velcro diapers by Kawaii
-10 snap diapers by Kawaii
-4 Night time "heavy wetter" diapers by Kawaii
-3 Rumparoos (1 snap, 2 velcro)
-3 Fuzzi bunz
-2 diaper pale liners
-1 wet bag for the diaper bag
-diaper pale
-Crunchy Clean diaper formula

My favorite diapers are definitely the Fuzzibunz; I just put in another order at Kelly's Closet for 5 more. They're a bit expenive at $20 a pop, which is why I went for the kawaii at $7ish each.Crunchy Clean is amazing, it smells soooo good! We got samples of about 10 different scents (such as oatmeal, milk & honey, pink sugar, granny's pecan pie, apple butter pie, and other deliciousness) and it was really hard to pick, but we narrowed it down to our two favorites. Special diaper detergent is essential to cloth diapering since the soap builds up on the fabric, making it hard for them to absorb anything, but it's pretty inexpensive at $10ish for 60-80 loads compared to $100 a month we were spending on disposable diapers! The crunchy clean detergent is also great when shaken into the diaper pale (our favorite scent: monkey fart, makes our pale smell like bananas and pineapple)!

All of our diapers are pocket diapers; they have an opening at the back or front in which a fluffy absorbent liner is placed to soak up all the wetness. When changed, you simply shake out the "soaker" into the diaper pale then throw in the dipe itself. All the diapers nowadays are lined with PUL, a waterproof barrier making diaper covers obsolete. On the inside of mine is soft microfleece for baby's bum.

diaper and soaker

These are not your Granny's diapers!

Grandma Snyder's Visit

2011-03-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

Grandma Snyder came to visit for a week in February, fun! We went to the Science Museum downtown, out to eat at the places man vs. food went, and stayed home and played a lot. Here are some pics from the book I'm making "grammy" Snyder of her time here in the windy city.

Grandma hit it off with the boys right away, even though they'd never met before!

Cohen sticks his tongue out when he's curious or thinking hard (like his mommy)

i like this 70's lookin action

Add caption

cameron downtown, woot! we kept getting bad shots since there was so much light and i couldnt seem to find the right shutter speed/f stop ratio...cameron-mr. no camera knowledge-helped me out, lol!

cohen LOVES dinosaurs, not just a little, but a LOT! in fact, i think he wants to BE ONE, lol he growled at all of them, showem who's boss co! we went to a 3d movie on t-rex's i thought would be scary for two 7 month olds...but cohen laughed and growled back the whole time! poor camden WAS scared.

coh bro and the t-rex

cohen

camden

grumpy face!

this is my favorite!

this one makes me laugh!

this one too..haha

daddy's digis

the food on camdens face looks like his fighting a bout of chicken pox!

a love affair

2011-02-25T07:23:00.001-07:00

This past week we bought a digital slr camera and a new imac, THANK YOU TAX REBATE!! My laptop is 6 years old and getting close to retirement, and our crappy point and shoot nikon coolpix just wasn't cutting it, so we figured it was time for an upgrade! We bought a Canon T1i w/a 28mm lens. These shots are all f1/8 except the ones outside which are f2.5. The shutter speed was adjusted separately for all accordingly so I'm not sure what it was without looking.We're definitely still trying to nail focus with such a short depth of field, but here are some first pics for your enjoyment. I couldn't help myself and did a little bit of editing in photoshop ...just to, you know, boost the color :) I LOVE my new camera!!!

Photo Shoot!

2010-10-25T19:22:00.000-06:00

Our friends Heather & Travis took some great pics of the boys, and I thought I would share! Cohen was pretty grumpy the whole time and both were tired, but overall I think it went pretty well, and we got some really cute pics. Heather & Travis were so patient and nice! The cute hats are from my friends etsy shop bebecouture , where the boys are now featured as models for her new line of hats! Camden is in the green, Cohen in the blue.

More Botanical Fun!

2010-10-25T18:40:00.000-06:00

We really love the Chicago Botanic Gardens...which is why we went there again! Also because we didn't see everything the first time we went...and because it's FREE!

Growing Up

2010-10-23T20:42:00.001-06:00

Thought I'd put up summore random pics for everybody (especially the Grandmas) to see how the boys are growing.

Messy and Unpredictable...yet so sweet

2010-10-23T19:42:00.001-06:00

This about sums up our lives right now!

Chicago Botanic Gardens

2010-09-30T21:01:00.001-06:00

It's my goal to do at least 2 "go somewhere" fun things a month (not including the bi-weekly trip to Sams Club and the grocery store) and in that spirit, this past week we decided to visit the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It's not exactly easy finding places to take your 3 month old twins where people won't mind the possibility of a lot of crying, nursing, and where I don't mind showing off my spit-up upon attire. The botanic gardens are the perfect adventure for us for several reasons: outside babies can cry all they want and no one gets mad, there are plenty of secluded benches for nursing, it gives us a chance to get a little exercise, there are lots of pretty colors for the babies to look at, and the best part is....drum roll... it's FREE! woo-hoo! That is, for military anyway. So off we went with sandwiches in hand and babies snug in their blankies.

Camden all snug with his daddy

co in the snap and go. we decided to switch off who rode in the stroller and who was carried. The one getting carried gets a great view and extra snuggling

Sleepy Cohen. Wonder what he's dreaming about...

What a cutie!

I want a vegetable garden just like this! It's fantastic! These boxes let in the sun but can be closed to keep the plants out of the elements. The bottom is open to the soil.

These huge vegetables were all around the vegetable garden, there was one pumpkin as big as 2 men!

beautiful vegetable garden! can't wait to have my own like this one day...

They have a bonsai display with 20 specimens, some over 50 years old. these things are amazing the way they are grown and shaped to look like full grown trees! I wish Trevor could have been there with me to see them.

Forest, or bonsai?

I spy with my little eye...Find Cameron and Camden in these two photos!

cameron decided to take the babies on their first "off-roading" adventure

Don't you love my luscious lips! mwah!

I know this guy does...

Gettin' ready to eat some yummy milks for lunch

I see the boob, I see it!

Is it my turn yet mom?

A really cool cactus in a really warm greenhouse.

Love the eyebrows. Can't wait to see what he can do with them when he's older

Cannabalism?

PEEK-A-BOO! I see you!

There was a cute little water feature in the hallway so I decided to sit a bit with Co before going back out into the cold

There was a flower show going on at the time-the pink one and the white one are my top picks. I would love waking up to a vase of these freshly picked every morning!

Cool prickly brain looking thingie

Public Museum

2010-09-21T16:11:00.002-06:00

A week before we went to the zoo, we tried to go to the zoo but ended up going to the Public Museum of Kenosha instead because of bad weather. We've been there once before when the babies were in my tummy but didn't get to finish seeing all the exhibits so we decided to give it another go. Little did we know that if it was hard to see everything when I was PREGNANT, it is near IMPOSIBBLE to see everything with two hungry babies needing attention!

Daddy loves to make funny faces at the camera!

haha there is a baby under there but I bet you can't tell!

I'm making a weird face...not sure whats going on there. camden is sure a cutie though!

Luckily we found a nice sunny spot upstairs where I could nurse (I think it was a total of 4 times, which occupied more than 50% of our two hours in the museum). As it turned out, the art display they had was kinda weird, so I didn't mind sitting and nursing most of the time; there was such a great view out the windows of the lake and the sailboats on it.

this is what Cameron did while I nursed. Cameron + baby + more than 5 minutes = sleep

I'm so glad I found this car seat carrier on craigslist for $20 bucks, woot! so much easier than getting them out of their car seats and putting them into a stroller when they're sleepy

camden's whats goin' on face

I think there were also exhibits on Renaissance art studios and some stuff on Kenosha in the past, but I just saw lots of babies, go figure!

Cohen: My sleeping angel of chub

First Trip to the Zoo

2010-09-21T15:51:00.003-06:00

So we were feeling adventurous a few weeks ago and decided to explore Racine, a little city north of here. Ok so we weren't feeling as adventurous as we really just couldn't afford the gas to spend the day in Chicago...but we do love exploring! When I found out there was a zoo OF COURSE we HAD to go! (If you know anything about me you know I LOVE zoos! I even used to work at one & it was the best job of my life...besides being a mom that is! I digress...so we went to the zoo in Racine.

the zoo is right on the beach! guess if the animals escape they better know how to swim!

I guess it's about 35 minutes or so away, but it's such a nice drive through the countryside to get there it doesn't seem like a burden (unless the babies are crying...that was on the way HOME luckily). Once we got inside Cohen started crying to eat, of course! I thought I had found a secluded spot to nurse in a little building but it seems like once I got the cover on and the baby latched everybody in the whole zoo suddenly entered! Talk about awkward! Luckily there was a tank of fish I could stare at and pretend I wasn't nursing my baby under this little cover with 15 complete strangers standing all around me staring in my direction (the fish tank was a good distraction for me, but unfortunately it was pretty much the only thing to look at in the building, and since I was right in front of it, they were all looking at me)!

After that whole ordeal things went a bit more smoothly (if you don't count the 2 other feedings and 2 diaper changes thrown in, lol) and we got to see a few animals.


Cohen in front of the exhibit of his fellow Gorillas

Notice the capacity for complex facial movements


the depressed penguins :(

The "easily ridable cows" (no that is not the scientific name). so dubbed by Cameron, as they have "big horns to grab onto so you don't fall off".

I admit I was pretty disappointed with the selection. It seems they had some cooler ones, but they were rebuilding some of the exhibits. We were, however, very much entertained by the meerkats (all 5 of them). Not natures finest specimens, but very enjoyable to watch in this instance. There was one little meerkitty who was standing watch who decided to be lazy and fell asleep at his post. It was pretty hilarious actually as he started to slide down the hill.

Before he fell asleep, vigilantly standing guard! who knows when some passerby might threaten to destroy his clans peace by throwing a piece of trash in the exhibit!

The main exhibit, however, appeared not the be the animals, but US! I guess the sight of a man carrying two babies in a front pack is unquestionably an interest since EVERY person we passed awwed and oohed and told us how cute it was!

I think we should have started charging people to stop and look at the cuteness!


standing up straight, a fine specimen of manhood!

camden

cohen (and the hairy chest)

US!

Time for more photos

2010-09-08T16:56:00.001-06:00

So I thought I would put a few more photos on here (you can't have too many pics of babies!) to show how these guys are growing!

Aunt Wendy made this fun blanket! We also love a good nightie

I think Cohen was surprised by something? Camden is chill

This is my FAVORITE face Cohen1 You are adorable! I adore you!

What's going on over there?

I don't know why I have so many shots of Cameron sleeping while holding the babies. Maybe because he's always sleeping?

Its almost like he knows how cute he is

Cohen is getting to be a CHUB! I can't believe they have doubled in size already1

Classic Cohen face

Camden hanging out in the swing. He looks like he has a really fat belly in this pic...must have just eaten

Does it say anything in the baby handbook about machine washability?

what I see every day and I love it

My sweet pie guys

These are my favorite outfits. They just barely started fitting into their 0-3 month shorts (now that it's starting to cool off of course!) so they can finally wear them!

Little Miracles

2010-08-31T13:36:00.000-06:00

This is such an amazing story of a baby and mother connection. A little boy born at 27 weeks was pronounced dead, but after being held and loved by his mother came "back to life"! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1306283/Miracle-premature-baby-declared-dead-doctors-revived-mothers-touch.html
It makes me upset that after Cohen was born I didn't get to hold him until I was discharged. After his birth they thought he was having a hard time breathing and whisked him away to the NICU before I even got a look at him and then off to another hospital to be monitored after he was stable without even giving me the chance to hold him. We need to demand as mothers that babies be left in the room with their mothers. I feel he would have done tremendous if he had only had the chance to be with his brother, father, and I before they decided he needed to live in the NICU. There is no reason why babies can't be on monitors in their mothers rooms where they can be held and fed the way nature intended for healing, not by a stranger with a schedule. I'm still looking forward to when I get the chance for a "natural" childbirth experience!

p.s. since Cohen has been home he's gained more weight than when they had tubes down his throat because he wouldn't eat for them. I wouldn't eat for a strange lady with a bottle either if I could have yummy warm milk from my mom!

Achievements Unlocked!

2010-08-27T15:53:00.001-06:00

So since we have been parents for a whole two months now, we wanted to share with you some of the things we are becoming good at as professional parents (woot woot!). Hey wait..I'm the only professional one around here! ;) I asked Cameron to put together a list of what he thought. Of course, Cameron puts things differently than I do...so below you will find Cameron's list of top ten parenting bests, followed by my explanation of what the heck he's talking about (with a picture in the middle for posterity).

Cameron's List
10.Flying
9. Spanking
8.Gettin' naked
7. Triscuitback riding
6. Sleeping in class
5. Speed Changing
4. Pee-dodging failure cleanup
3. Making burritos
2. Scaring mom
1. Break Dancing

Kristie's Explanations

10.Cameron running around the house with the babies pretending they're airplanes (I do not endorse this)
9. Patting their backs when they're gassy
8. Breastfeeding (of course, I am the only one in this house good at that!)
7. Cameron likes to hold them over Triscuit and pretend that they are riding him...poor Triscuit
6. Waking up in the night to take care of the babies.
5. Changing two poopy diapers in under 30 seconds flat!
4. Lots and lots of laundry (done mostly by ME I might add...)
3. Swaddling the bubs in blankets to put them to bed at night (Cameron definitely wins this one)
2. Cameron pretending to throw the babies in the air (also NOT endorsed by me)
1. This one is hard to explain...you have to see it to get the full effect, but basically it's Cameron's signature move...wiggling the babies when they cry. It's like a vibrating chair and they really like it.

And they came two by two

2010-08-01T16:42:00.002-06:00

As all of you probably already know, the babies have arrived! Or rather...were born (since they were here the whole time...just in my tummy!! :) Here is a brief story of what happened on their birthday (sorry there aren't many hospital pics since it was an emergency delivery):

I woke up around 2:30 am Monday the 21st to go to the bathroom and as I stood up it felt like a geyser shooting from between my legs (sorry-this part is not for those who don't want to hear about gross stuff!)! I was 35 weeks, 1 day, and my water had broke-against everything my birth class had told me! ;) Anyway it wasn't clear like it was supposed to be but bright red so the dr. told me to get to the emergency room asap. Surprisingly I was incredibly calm throughout the whole thing. I called a few friends, woke one up, and she was over in 20 minutes. By then the bathroom floor was soaked and there was a nasty trail from the couch to the bathroom and a very confused triscuit. In the mean time I was able to gather a few things together for the hospital, mop up the bathroom floor and stuff several towels between my legs. I called Cameron and in a haze he said he would find a way to get to the hospital from the base (where he lives-he sleeps at home on the weekends only). When my friend and I arrived at the hospital (only 1 contraction by this time) she had to find a wheelchair and wheel me in-from there they took me upstairs to labor and delivery and my very sleepy dr. arrived to do an ultrasound. He didn't tell me why there was so much blood but that Camden (A) was breech and we were doing a C-section in 45 MINUTES! I frantically tried to get a hold of Cameron, and luckily he arrived literally FIVE MINUTES before they cut me open.

Almost time! Waiting to go to surgery. Don't we look so nice at 5am!

The whole thing happened extremely fast. I walked into the room and sat on the table-they had me lean over and gave me the epidural and before I knew it I felt like I was paralyzed from the waist down. The funny thing is that I could wiggle my big toe on the right foot the whole time, but couldn't feel anything else! I wiggled that toe the whole time to keep myself from freaking out about not feeling my bottom half! lol It seemed like only 5 minutes or so until Camden came out squealing like a little piggy.

Camden's first pic

Cohen came out one minute later and only made one little yelp. In the recovery room they noticed he wasn't breathing right and he was rushed upstairs to the NICU.

Cohen's first pic before they took him upstairs

Cameron was great the whole time-he couldn't look at anything that was happening, just told me everything was going great and we would all be fine (love you Cameron!). After another few minutes stitching me back up they took me to the recovery room where I shook violently for about an hour and threw up a couple times (isn't birth beautiful! ;) I never even got to see Cohen until they let me see him in his isolet before sending him downtown to the Children's specialty hospital for testing and observatin (they thought he might have sleep apnea or seizures). The next few days in the hospital are a blur. Cameron had to be on base doing paperwork to get time off, and all I really remember is that they had T.V. and a great menu to order from! lol

Cameron and Camden asleep on the couch/cameron's bed

Camden AKA "cherry tomato" in his wheelie bed.

He was so small and red with a round face, he looked just like a little tomato!

I have several great friends that took care of the mess at my apt and watched Triscuit for me during my stay at the hospital, I don't know what I would do without them! They arranged the babies room and set everything up, even sorting the clothes into separate age groups and putting them in my dresser. YOU GIRLS ARE AWESOME! Cameron, Camden, and I came home 5 days after the delivery. My mom and Gretchen arrived the day before I was discharged.

Cameron and Camden snuggling (Cam looks pretty tired). Camden always finds a way to stick his feet out of anything!

Sleepy Camden

Unfortunately Cohen had to stay in the hospital for 3 weeks for all sorts of tests including an MRI and a couple EEGs to determine whether or not he was having seizures. So far all they can see is that he has a cyst in his brain that occured in utero and is clearing up on it's own. It shouldn't do him much damage since babies don't start using that part of their brain until they are around 6 months old and he can store that info in another part of his noggin'. We will just monitor him and do a couple more tests as he gets a little older. As of now, BOTH MY BUBS ARE HOME!

34 weeks & 3 days.

2010-06-17T08:09:00.000-06:00

So they say most twins come around 35 weeks, but I'm not so sure. I mean, mine are definitely BIG enough to come soon (nearly 7 lbs each), but I just have a feeling they won't. I haven't been having contractions or any of the pre-labor symptoms I they told me about in the labor class, and my cervix hasn't been doing anything. Even though we don't have all their stuff yet, I am READY for them to come! Well...I guess I should say I'm ready to sleep in my bed again, actually...I'm ready to SLEEP (I know you don't get much sleep after having babies cause you get woken up to take care of them, but by golly you can at least get some good sleep in between, and on your stomach for that matter)! I take little naps throughout the day and night on the couch, but I haven't slept regularly for more than 45 minutes at a time for over a month. Plus I have to get up and stretch my legs to keep them from cramping, pee every hour and eat during the night or else my stomach feels sick.
I can't wait 'till Cameron gets to come home every night! He has all the paperwork filled out and approved by the first tier, now he has to get it approved by two other people and then wait for it to be sent back to him. He better get it before I go into labor, cause I ain't drivin' myself to the hospital in the middle of the night! lol (actually, I have several friends on the alert that would drive me, but I'd rather have Cameron be there of course). My mom and little sis' Gretchen will be coming up as soon as I call and tell them I'm in the Hospital, or a few days before I have a C-section if they have to schedule one of those. We should be ok, at least unless "B" (cohen) gets more than 15% bigger than "A" (Camden) since "A" dialates the cervix and if "B" is bigger he won't fit through. My dr. has been doing non stress tests every week, and the babies are doing great-very strong-in fact they kick off the monitors so often the nurse has to come in and adjust them constantly, lol.

2010-05-28T20:10:00.001-06:00

Cameron, I love your face!

Belly Update

2010-05-27T11:35:00.000-06:00

I keep receiving requests for belly pics, so here are 2.

30 weeks

31 weeks

Here are some thoughts on being pregnant:

1. I don't have a lot of clothes that fit

2. My stomach is in my chest-along with half my intestines

3. Always know where the bathroom is

4. Flip flops with lots of padding are a life saver

5. Sleeping for more than 45 minutes at a time is nearly impossible

6. If you have twins, they do not like it when you sleep on your side. One of them is always getting squished

7. I think Cohen has ADD-he is ALWAYS moving! He was a good little baby and WAS head down, but then decided to squiggle into a transverse position that is more uncomfortable than you can possibly imagine.

8. Simple tasks like loading the dish washer, mopping the floor, and walking up stairs are HARD.

9. Always make sure there is air conditioning in the building or you are going to die

10. Have a husband who gets to come home at night and that you get to see more than 4 days a week, it would make things a lot easier (love you babe!)

Beach!

2010-05-27T11:25:00.000-06:00

I have been trying to find the beach state park for a couple weeks now with no avail. It was not until my friend Tina told me she would escort that I was finally able to dig my feet into some real sand!

Tina is on the right, Emily is on the left. The cute pup on the bottom is Triscuit ;) Even though it was cloudy and windy it was still nice to walk along the water. I'm kind of amazed at how nice the sand is for a lake beach!

Triscuit really enjoyed the trip. I think he thought it was one big treasure box in which to dig up things for us, including the following: sticks, rocks, used tissues, beer bottles, and a pair of pretty nice sun glasses!

Emily modeling the sun glasses.

Apparently Emily and Tina like to snuggle. I was taking the picture so I couldn't get in too well. Tina is shorter than the rest of us so she was actually standing on a sand bank lol.

Another of Triscuit for cute measure. He's smiling because he gets to get out of the house. You are a good stinky boy B!

Trip to the Land of Cows

2010-05-27T11:17:00.000-06:00

Cameron & I went on a trip to Kenosha Wisconsin a few weekends ago and it was really great! It's only about 30 minutes away, and we got to go to the jelly belly factory on the way (yummy!!)! Why Kenosha, Wisconsin you ask? What could be up there besides lots of cows (and nasty ice cream-there is NO good ice cream here!) Well, not only does it have a cute name, but the city boasts 3 museums, 2 of which are FREE.

I am so FAT in this picture...but anyway...It is only about 15-20 minutes to the jelly belly factory (home to not only jelly beans, but a wide variety of candies as the tour says) and we were in Wisconsin 10 minutes in, surprisingly. Cameron had a half day of school Saturday so I picked him up and after we had lunch at home we headed off. The factory isn't as big as I thought it would be, but they do have a fun little train thing that pulls you around the big warehouse and stops every 2 minutes for a historical video (did you know it was Ronald Reagan's love of jelly belly beans that made them famous? He even sent them into space on the shuttles)! The best part is at the end when they hand you a free assortment of 60 delicious flavors....yuummmmm!! I forgot how much I absolutely love jelly belly! I don't think I've eaten them for years, but let me tell you, they are FAR better than the average jelly bean (they paid me to say that ;) )! Anyway they had a bagillion (yes that is an official amount) flavors but since they were all $9 a pound (which is like 2 kristie or 1 Cameron handfuls of beans) we opted to purchase the "belly flops": beans that had been deemed unfit for the jelly belly name because of some kind of defect and were being sold in bulk at the back of the store. LOL They taste the same, you just don't get to pick the flavors you like (and unfortunately we got a TON of coffee and licorice flavored beans-yuck!)

Our next stop was the Dinosaur Museum in Kenosha...that is, if you really want to call it a museum. Really it is one big room full of carnivorous therapods (meat eating dino's that walked on two legs). It was full of some quite nice specimens despite it's size. Besides being a kind-of museum, it is also the laboratory for an archaeologist and his team who have made some neat discoveries. I found out while here that Disney didn't completely lie in the movie "Dinosaur"...there were in fact Carnatores, though not as big as Disney made them out to be. I had tried doing research after seeing the movie years ago and came up with nothing, probably because only one specimen has ever been found.

Sorry this pic is so bad...my camera is kind of crappy. Anyway...this is the history museum in Kenosha. It's a neat little museum right on the waterfront surrounded by cute condos. We only got to see about half of what they had due to time constraints (they closed on us), but what we did see was pretty neat. They have a reproduction of a mammoth skeleton found in the area nearly a hundred years ago, as well as an impressive collection of local Native American artifacts (you would have loved all the types of arrow heads dad!).

The trip was pretty fun and we plan on going back to the history museum. When we have some money we'll visit the neighboring Civil War museum (it costs to get in). On the way home we found a drive-in movie theater, making the end to a near perfect day. :)

Itchin' to Sew

2010-05-20T06:25:00.000-06:00

So I have had a desire, no, more like a craving (worse than my craving for taco bell chicken burritos during my first trimester) to get a sewing machine and start some baby projects. Actually, it started before I even knew I was pregnant-when I found etsy. Etsy is pretty much the best thing that ever happened to crafts/the internet/cuteness! The only thing is...almost a year later and STILL no sewing machine...sigh... If only we weren't so poor (stupid bills!)....If only I were better at hand sewing...and if only it didn't take so long...double sigh. I feel like I have all this pent up creativity inside of me-pressing against my seams and making it impossible not to think about it! (or that could just be the two babies inside my tummy pressing at the seams?) Here are a few of the types of projects I would like to try my hand at:

Ragdoll bunnies

Fruit Bibs

(girly but super cute! One day I'll have a girl, right?)

Onesies with appliques

Infant car seat covers

Burp Cloths

Cute Purse/diaperbag

Will my dream of owning a sewing machine ever come true? Will I ever get to make my own personalized baby things? Tune in to "The girl who would like a sewing machine but all she gets is this dumb radio program" next time for more exciting stories! Oh, and donations excepted! ;)

Chicago Temple & Other Such Things

2010-05-14T08:20:00.000-06:00

We finally got to take a trip to the Chicago temple a few Saturdays ago on Cam's duty free day and had a lovely time. The temple here is much different than we're use too...it is pretty small even compared to Houston and the layout is really weird inside. Not to say we don't look forward to going back, it's just different. When we asked to rent a dress for my pregnant belly the ladies looked at us kinda funny and said, "we don't take money for things like that here". Well OK! Free is great too!

I practically ran down a passerby in the parking lot and asked her to take this picture. She was probably like "what the...? Who are these people?" Cameron still has to wear his "peanut butters" everywhere until he earns "phase 2".

Later on at the base we stopped to check out the RV campground on the lake and found that you could see the Chicago skyline across the lake!

It's pretty faint in the pic (and fuzzy-sorry!) But isn't it neat!? I can't wait to actually go to the city.

A pretty view of the lake.

Triscuit

2010-05-14T08:03:00.000-06:00

I thought I would put a few pics of Triscuit up seeing as he was our first baby and he's not going to get much attention after the twinses are born. Since we've moved he's really missed all his puppy friends back in Houston :(

Triscuit LOVES Emily. Maybe because she was the first person he met in his new home state...or maybe because she pays attention to his ego (which says you must throw balls for me to chase at all times, then give me a tummy rub in coencentric clockwise circles for 5 minutes, followed by scratching behind the ears for 4...).

Did I mention he loves to swing? There is a little kiddy park not too far from my apartment that has a dog park connected to it. Triscuit really likes to feel the wind blowing in his face as the swing swishes back and forth.

Here he is peeking through a hole in the fence. He is always alert to any mobsters that may be near by-so don't even try to get close you mobsters!

"This is what I do to mobsters who get too close!"

A First Attempt

2010-05-14T07:49:00.001-06:00

So Emily & I decided to try our hand at sushi rolling last Wednesday... and here are the (not so pretty) results. At least we tried, right? I'm sure we'll get better with practice.

We also had edamame courtesty of the local Sam's Club. Each Wednesday our own group of new Navy wives gets together for lunch, chatting, and other such fun things. Unfortunately this past week only Emily and I were able to make it (which might have been a good thing judging by how floppy our rolls look...). Next week is Chinese!
*Disclaimer: Sushi is harder to make than it looks! Now I know why they charge buckoo bucks at the sushi restaurants-it's hard to get everything to stick together and turn out round-ish! Hopefully we will be able to get good enough soon to try the rice on the outside kind! (fingers crossed!)*

A "Clean" Start

2010-04-28T19:19:00.000-06:00

I finally unpacked my camera cable so I can start blogging! The title of this post is a "clean" start because Cameron now is a clean shaven man for the first time since his mission (not counting a little hiatus for a week last summer)! LOL I actually miss the fuzz...but the Navy is pretty strict about facial hair. It's ok to have ugly mustaches but gotees are apparently not stylish enough for them... Good thing the military doesn't dictate anyone's fashion but their enlisted! I do have to say that I love the uniforms. It's so weird that he has gone from $5 commercial-sold-by-the-thousands shirts to custom tailored dry clean only everyday! lol

So I guess I really ought to start at the beginning...as of 3/16/2010 Cameron is an official sailor in the U.S. Navy! woo-hoo! That is the day he graduated from bootcamp and got to move to the "other side" where the real base is. With the help of my two friends Kate and David (sorry no pics for the trip-my Camera was packed) who so graciously packed and drove me up here, I was able to move to the north Chicago area about a week before graduation. Since my apartment wasn't ready yet, my friend Emily Periseau and her husband Jake let me stay with them for a few days until I could get into my place (more on this in a later post).

Ahh graduation day. I looked forward to you for 2 months! Emily & I arrived at 6:45 am (ceremony started at 9) and got great seats 3 rows in! Unfortunately...my camera had run out of batteries without my knowledge (and I must say against my will!) so there aren't many pics...and all the one's I have are fuzzy/yucky.

Cameron is actually at the back in the middle of this group. They later turned and he was on the side near the front-we got to see each other the whole time! lol it was great but he they had to stand at attention like that the for the entire thing so he couldn't acknowledge me but I knew by the twinkle in his eyes he saw me ;) Sadly my camera died right after this so these are the only two pics I have of the blessed event which signaled our time together again (for 2 days at least!). The graduation itself was pretty boring...the best part was definitely the end when everyone got to hug and kiss! That weekend Cameron was allowed to stay with me overnight until Sunday when he had to return to his "ship" (they call the buildings ships on the bases) and report. Here are a few pics we took. *disclaimer: I am sorry I am so bad at taking pictures. I either forget or leave my camera at home. I promise to try to do better in the future!*

Kissing in the living room of the new apt (he was really scared to dip me cause of my big belly-which had expanded exponentially since the time he left for boot camp-aka-the last time he had seen me)

This is the Waukegan harbor we went to check out the sailboats. It was really windy and cold so we didn't stay long.

Cameron is wearing his "peanut butters" in this pic. He's really cold (hence the rubbing his hands together to stay warm). There are actually 4 different uniforms he wears at different times, but more on that later.

Here is a pic of us squinting in the sun. You might be asking yourself why the funny hats. Well the answer is that the navy seems to like funny hats, except they call them "covers" to try and sound cooler and more military-ish. There is a hat for every uniform. (I'm wearing Cameron's Navy Blues hat cause it matched my stripey outfit-don't tell!)

That about sums up the pics. We enjoyed a pretty quiet weekend at home for the most part just enjoying being around each other again and sharing stories of what had happened while we were apart. Basically, despite the lack of activity, getting to be with my hubby again made it the best weekend ever!

Last Day as the Sunbeam Teachers :(

2008-12-07T21:12:00.003-07:00

Today was our last day as the sunbeam teachers in the Idaho Falls 4th ward. I'm graduating this Friday, then it's home for Christmas with my family and then back up here to pack and move to Las Vegas on the 3rd of January. Cameron's brother is graduating this week as well and his parents, aunt, uncle, and sister are all coming. Unfortunately none of my family will be able to make it...I asked for plane tickets home for Christmas as my graduation present (and birthday and Christmas and Easter...)

Canadian Thanksgiving

2008-12-07T21:08:00.003-07:00

My friend Erin is from Canada and her family came down for Canadian Thanksgiving. Did you know that the Canadian's were the first one's to celebrate the holiday? They made a whole slew of food for all of Erin's friends (including me and Cameron!)

First Snow!

2008-12-07T21:04:00.002-07:00

The first snow of the season came 2 weeks before Halloween. Cameron was so excited we had to run outside and take some pics to capture the moment. Unfortunately (for him) the snow didn't stick (don't tell him but I was glad-I'm the one who has to drive in it!)

Boo at the Zoo

2008-12-07T20:56:00.004-07:00

Sorry, not a lot of pics from Halloween...what can I say, it was dark outside! Cameron, Julie and I went to Boo at the Zoo; a fun night put on by the city where kids can safely trick or treat at the not so spooky zoo exhibits. I know we're a little older than the normal crowd, but hey! you're always a kid at heart, right?

p.s. Cameron went as Steve Jobs. Me? I went as...a cold Texan in Idaho! The mouse is a spiny mouse from Africa. It was so cute in it's spookily decorated exhibit with all the jack-o-lanturns I couldn't help but take a pic.

Posts that should have been put up a long time ago but weren't because I couldn't find the camera cord and then we didn't have any internet!

2008-12-07T20:46:00.002-07:00

A long title for a short post :) Here are some pics from way back in August when Cameron and I along with our friend Julie went to the Idaho State Fair! Julie was my room mate my first 2 years at BYU-Idaho. Can you tell I love animals just about as much as I love my husband? (tee hee just kidding Cam...I'd pick you over a draft horse any day!)

Can life exist without the internet?

2008-10-22T12:39:00.003-06:00

Hello there just wanted to post to say that we no longer have the internet which is why I haven't been able to post anything lately! I guess our old landlord forgot to mention to the new owners that internet was part of our rent so the new ones don't want to provide it for us anymore. Since we live in their basement and the hookups run from the upstairs it's not like we can just get our own. :(
I have a whole slew of pictures just itchin' to get up here but alas they will have to be patient and wait (next to no one really looks at my blog anyway but it gives me some personal satisfaction to put pieces of my life on the internet :).
Here are some events that have happened since my last post:

We've had our first snow storm this year
Cameron lost his job (economy stuff)
Midterms
Primary program!

More info coming soon...hopefully!

1/3 of the way through!

2008-10-09T09:44:00.002-06:00

Woo hoo! One of the nice things about having shorter (12 week) semesters now is that after 4 weeks you're 1/3 of the way through :) I gets to gradeeate on December 12th (i think? hope I pass all my classes!) then it's off to student teach in Las Vegas. wish me luck!

Life is Hard

2008-09-26T16:31:00.003-06:00

I think I've had one of the worst days of my LIFE today...maybe a worst week. First thing waking up I remembered I had totally SPACED a lab yesterday. How embarrassing! I rushed to my laptop to let my teacher know that I hadn't been skipping but before I could hit the "send" button I noticed a peculiar email from my teacher. She had actually emailed me last night to yell at me for not being in class! Now not only am I extremely embarrassed but my teacher is yelling at me! Who's teacher cares if they miss class? Anyway she said I was irresponsible and "tying to avoid my problems". What problems? Didn't know I had any in that class till you emailed me saying I did! I mean who's teacher DOES that?

Right after that email I get another one: this time from the Student Records office saying I am to be suspended for living in "unauthorized housing for a single student". It said it was the 2nd and final email requesting If married to get them a copy of my marriage license (plus an arm and a leg it seems like) but i'd never heard of this policy before!

Next thing I do is get the mail in which I find a letter from my bank saying my account has been over-drafted. Funny thing is I checked with the store that I gave the check to last week and they said they had already cashed it! So now I'm in the minus and all our gas money is gone. I don't even have a way to get to school on Monday...let alone the projects I was supposed to work on tomorrow. :( It continues... My mom is sending me money via paypal to finish up the B-day present for my Dad which we all went in on but it's destined to an account in the minus. So it will go in and still be in the hole and my Dad won't get a birthday present. My life SUCKS right now (and I don't use that word often!)

No gas money also means I can't go with my friend on the school trip we've been planning on attending. She's already mad at me for not having enough gas money to go on a trip last week with her (she thought I was bailing out) and now when I have a redeeming change it is washed away and she'll once again think I'm bailing.

So then I go to school, cringing at my gas meter which is running dangerously low...

As soon as I get in who do I run into but my grouchy teacher who sarcastically says, "Glad you could make it". I don't even have class with her today! Unfortunately I had a group project working on stuff near her office and she would periodically walk by, sneer, and ask me when I was going to turn stuff in that wasn't even due. I mean give me a break!

so here I am...sitting at my laptop deciding if I would rather die by drowning or strangulation...hmmm...tough choice. I guess I should look at the bright side:

1. I still have all my appendiges

2. I'm not married to my teacher

3. I'm not annoying like the Ms. Idaho in my class

4. I get to eat chocolate doughnuts whenever I want (that is, if I have 59 cents to spare)

5. I'm a natural blonde

New Do'

2008-09-03T09:46:00.002-06:00

So I guess I technically should have posted this BEFORE the trip pics, but I was just so excited to get them up...ya' know? So yeah, I got my hair cut. SHORT. The shortest in my whole long life of 23 years. Well...maybe that's not long compared to some peoples lives...oh I digress. Anywhoo I got it cut! I decided that I wanted something new, exciting, fun, and more...summery? Well now it's 44 degrees here in Idaho so I guess the summery part is negate. How do you like it?

The Name Game

2008-09-03T09:09:00.006-06:00

So finally after 5 months of puking and nausea and missing work I finally decided to quit my birth control. I don't know if any of you out there have had the same problem but I'm just not good with meds I guess. bleh! The good thing is that we were planning on going off in a month of two anyway, I just couldn't take it any longer. Our original plan flows like this: go off birth control in the fall, get pregnant in the winter, and have a baby in the summer! nice, huh? It will be so perfect if it all works out. I've always wanted a baby right off but since I only had one year left of school until my bachelors I thought it silly to quit so close to being done. Since I can't have a baby in the middle of student teaching (wouldn't you feel awkward giving birth in front of a classroom full of pre-teens?) and I get done in April-summer is the perfect time. Hopefully everything goes according to plan....we'll see. The tricky part is that Cameron's 2 married older brothers haven't been able to get pregnant so far (you know what I mean!) so we're a little worried. We've been thinking about going and getting his little swimmers checked out-I say give me a microscope and I can do it myself! (What's the point of taking all those bio lab classes if I never get to use my skills for anything cool?)

oh, so back to the topic of this blog-BABY NAMES. These are my favorites :)

GIRLS

-*Lethe (always been and always will be my favorite)

-Ashlynn

-Mikalynn

-Madelynn-Maddie (know this has been used but I still love it)

-Kaylee (yeah this has been used too...)

-Avery

-Lorelei

-Isabella (nothing to do with Twilight i swear)

-Elyse

-Amelia

-Celeste

BOYS

-*Camden

-Conrad

-Avery

-Tristynn

-Caden

As you can see I have quite a few more girl names than boy names...maybe subconsciously I'm hoping for alot of girls? I'll put down more when I think of them. If anyone has a cute name I would love to hear it!

The Great Salt Lake Trip!

2008-09-02T09:38:00.014-06:00

Well we saved up all summer and finally scrounged up enough mula to visit Tyson and Ramona(Cameron's brother and sister-in-law) in Salt Lake City. We stayed 4 nights (labor day weekend) and visited Hogle Zoo (duh!), the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, Boondocks Fun Center (Cameron just HAD to get into a go-kart), and Temple Square.They say pictures are worth a thousand words, but I think the one's below are worth 1,099. Can you guess where each pic was taken?

Our trip started out nice and sun-shiny but come Sunday it was 44 degrees and raining like cats and dogs. Luckily we were able to go to most of our outside places while it was still nice. I highly recommend the Dinosaur Museum-it was freakin' awesome! It goes through time from the Pre-Cambrian period to present and shows fossils, diaramas, and models of things from each period. They even have a 3-D movie theatre with movies on the stuff you'll find inside (hence the funky glasses in the pic). Unfortunately Cameron wasn't feeling the best during most of the trip but he managed to still have some fun (especially at Boondocks where we drove the go-karts 6 times, played 2 games of lazer tag, and shot miniature golf to our hearts content). I was surprised when we went by the mall and Cameron announced he'd like to 'build-a-bear'! Hence the birth of Kirby Koala.

Assistant Education Director at the Zoo

2008-04-29T11:27:00.002-06:00

Hey Y'all! I have a new job at the zoo here in Idaho Falls, and I'm Soo exited! So to prepare I went on an african safari, here is the proof! I had many wonderful adventures, with many more to come at the zoo! I start Monday!!

Engagement Pics!

2008-04-29T09:20:00.005-06:00

Engagement pics! Since I don't have wedding pics yet, I figured I could post some engagement pics so that my blog isn't so boring :)

Woo-hoo we have a blog!!

2008-04-23T09:23:00.000-06:00

Hey y'all! Well I know I said it would never happen, but I have a blog! I've been sucked over into the dark side of cyberspace communication, *sigh*, isn't life great?!