and then they turned one

Can You Believe It?

February 15- the twins turned

ONE

What a huge blessing these little boys are in our lives.

It's absolutely amazing.

I never even thought/considered any of my grandchildren would be twins?

It just never crossed my mind- and

WOW

Twins have been so great & so unusual for our family & so fun.

Can you tell, I am not the one who carried, delivered, or got up all night with them?

Per Brian's request the boys had a 

Cowboy Birthday party

Twins- brought to you by Brian & Laura

I made these Cowboy cupcakes.

There are no cowboy cupcake picks out there- so I just made these up after finding the images on free google images. fewww! Everything for boys these days are super hero.

I even found this little red head cowboy!

Laura's brother & sister made these FANTASTIC DECORATIONS!

It's a little western store front scene.

The cousins, Ruby, Charlie & Joey had so much fun.

\

Trent was thrilled with the IBC Root beer.

A sandwich buffet

 Then they opened presents!

The cousins were so much help getting the presents opened.

We sang a big Happy Birthday to you!

and had cupcakes

Crew

Finn

Stay tuned as these two grow up and this week....

Megan is expecting

GRANDSON #5

we love- love- love these boys!

Valentine's Day 2014

 We celebrated Valentine's Day a bit early this year at our monthly family dinner.

I LOVE Valentine's Day

I made Manicotti for Brett when we were dating on Valentine's Day, so I always make that or some type of Italian dish. This year it was Lasagna & the whole family was together to enjoy it.

We are so thrilled that Aimee & Sean have moved back to Utah as of January so they will be here for our monthly family dinner too! We are so blessed- really.

Our other Valentine's Day tradition is to have Chocolate Fondue.

I'm not sure how this started- but let me tell you--

Don't ever underestimate the power of dessert.

Everyone was so excited about this. I was surprised how much the anticipation of the dessert permeated the group. I will not forget this anytime soon! I asked all the couples to bring something to dip into the fondue and they did NOT disappoint. Brian took this extra serious & googled fondue ideas. Nothing like googling to figure out what is up?!  

(Laura's plate)

(Brian's plate)

There was strawberries, bananas, donuts, rice crispy treats, cheesecake pieces, pretzels, twinkies... shoot I know I'm forgetting something. It was fun- and really good.

The kids got into it- Here is Charlie & Lola 

It's hard to get a picture of a kid who is serious about eating chocolate.

  

The twinners & a chocolate faced- Joey. 

I love how he kind of looks guilty in this picture.

On the real Valentine's Day

I woke up to find this in the kitchen:

It's been a rough 12 months to say the least but through it all-

we have each other. 

(we spent the next few days critiquing the chocolates)

Family & Chocolate Fondue

What else can you ask for?

an unofficial spokeswoman

Sometimes I wonder if I am going to turn into the neighborhood/area authority on Mental Illness. I've thought about it for years now. It even weighs on me at times- kind of silly right?
Not to me.

I feel this need to keep private
but on the other hand--
The world is full of different people.
Different struggles & challenges.
I see my limited view of those people and how a majority of them have loved ones in their lives with Mental Illness.
An Aunt, Cousin, Sister, Brother, their own child or even..... themselves!
I wonder if I starting talking about it- would help or just hurt?
Actually to be honest-
I wonder if I will hurt myself?

Putting what I have learned out into the blogging universe is scary.

Today I have decided that
I must.
I've certainly never been a, "quiet" person.

So- intermingled between family history there will be posts on real life.
Life - a good life lived with Mental Illness swirling around me.

Mental Illness- it's not a swear word-
It's so hard to say though.

step one: it's okay- it's going to be okay.
Yes- it sucks.
But you are not alone
NEVER are you alone in your struggles.

There are others who have come before you & live - even thrive!
It's true.