THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS!!!!

So Wednesday at our ultrasound appointment, we found out we're having twin girls!! We had been told at a previous appointment that they were almost for sure fraternal, but this time the doctor said there is a chance they are identical. I still think they are fraternal, that's what is most likely, but we'll see! Although our appointment was not as enjoyable as it could have been (due to an EXTREMELY rude ultrasound tech), it was still so fun to see them and to find out they are girls!! Richard seems really excited about it, even though he was hoping for a little boy. He says our next set of twins will be boys. :) I am going to wait until our next ultrasound to truly confirm the genders before I start buying a bunch of pink things (although our tech has "never been wrong, and has been doing this for a long time"), but I can't wait to dress them up in pretty dresses and hair bows!! Now the naming game fun can really begin! I am so excited for my two little princesses!!!!

Doppler = Fun!!!

So I was at work tonight and thought...maybe that doppler we use for people's feet will work on my tummy to hear my babies?! So as soon as I finished that enema I ran out to find the doppler and sure enough...there they were!! A priveleged few of my co-workers also heard the precious sounds, it was so much fun. After I got done with all my annoying charting/paperwork I headed to the breakroom to spend some time with just me, the doppler, and the babies. :) I sat there listening for awhile, and counted one heart beat at 142 and the other at 146. Hopefully I got both of them and wasn't just hearing the same one twice. At one point I somehow caught my own heartbeat, and I heard a bunch of other sounds that could have either been my insides or the babies moving. I like to think it was the babies. :) So...now I can listen three nights a week and check up on my little babes! And...I have my 2nd trimester ultrasound the day before Thanksgiving, so if these babies are cooperative, I will have a fantastic Thanksgiving Day announcement!!

1+1=4?!?

Well, it's finally time to post the big news...I am FINALLY pregnant!!! And as you can maybe guess from the title of this post...we're having TWINS!!! It still amazes me to think that, and I have known for about a month now! I am 10 1/2 weeks, and both babies are doing great. We had an ultrasound last week and both of them were just going to town, dancing and kicking all over the place (can't wait til I can feel it!). We obviously won't know for a little while longer what their genders are...we're both kind of hoping it's a boy and a girl (they're definitely fraternal, and that would be fun!) but I have had a sneaking suspicion ever since I found out I was pregnant that it's two boys. So we'll see!! No matter what we will be SOOO excited!! I am feeling OK, I have been pretty sick since just before 6 weeks until now, and it seems to be getting a TINY bit better. All right, here are a couple ultrasound pictures for your enjoyment! I'll keep updates coming!!

This was my 6-week ultrasound, when the doctor and Richard were shocked to find out there were two in there (I seriously thought I might be pregnant with twins, I had been saying that to Richard days before my appointment)!! This is what the doctor said after a long minute of looking at the screen: "Well, I am sure you learned how to count in kindergarten. There are definitely two in there!" We were so excited! I called my mom when we left to tell her, and these were her exact words: "No flippin way!" :D

This is a 3D of both of them at 10 weeks. I honestly can't tell much from this picture, other than that there are two, but she wanted to give me a picture with both of them inside. :) Hearing their heartbeats and seeing them dance around was so amazing!!! I am so grateful for this opportunity and can't wait for these babies to come!!

Happy birthday babe!!!

Well I haven't written much lately, because I felt like there hasn't been much to blog about! But I think my husband's birthday is a worthy cause. :) Even though I know he NEVER reads "our blog," I want to write him a little message about how much he means to me!! So here's a top 15 list of why I love him. :)

15. He gives me foot rubs.
14. He takes care of me when I'm sick.
13. He is so talented at building/fixing things! For example, he built a full closet under our stairs, complete with drywall, paint, light fixtures, and tile!!
12. He surprises me at work, driving the 65 mile round trip to bring me pizza or just visit, just to make me feel better.
11. He makes me breakfast when I get home from work.
10. Sometimes he buys me roses for no reason. Or sometimes tulips. Or daisies.
9. He willingly helps clean the house all the time!
8. He is athletic and loves to hike/play sports together.
7. He insists that the ice cream flavor I want is the one he wants too.
6. He is one of the hardest working people I know, and is so willing to drop whatever he is doing to help others!
5. He is 100% supportive of me in everything!
4. He is extremely smart and works hard to get great grades (Congrats on the Dean's List!).
3. He LOVES kids and can't wait to be a dad.
2. He honors his Priesthood completely and uses it to bless our home.
1. He LOVES me and tells me so all the time (and kisses me whenever I want :D)!!

I feel so lucky every day to have him. So happy 24th birthday babe, thanks for EVERYTHING you do, I cannot imagine life without you!!!

California!

I am over at my parents' house, where all the California pictures

are, so I figured I'd post a few. We spent a week at Newport Beach, and it was so much fun! The pictures are all out of order because of my ineptitude at posting pictures. Enjoy!

These dolphins were swimming SO close, it was so cool to see them!!

Couldn't resist this adorable picture of my nephew, "Baby Michael," (yes, those are his feet!)
Richard and I took a walk on the beach the first night, and we turned around and saw this! How pretty!
My dad took some awesome sunset pictures of our family


Me and my love :)
Our whole family, plus a few friends that came along. I love our family!!!
My brothers took turns burying each other, Richard chose to be a crab. :)

I took advantage of his inability to move to steal a kiss
We were able to attend the Newport Beach Temple, which is so beautiful!

We had a wonderful time, Richard spent most of his time in the ocean boogie boarding and body surfing. I know I got some pictures, I just can't find them. I was sick :( and never got in the water, though I did play a fair amount of sand volleyball! Our family has so much fun together!!

A reminder

It's always good to have these little reminders to brighten our day and remind us we are so loved. What an amazing quote:

"The answers to our prayers come in the Lord’s due time. Sometimes we may become frustrated that the Lord has delayed answering our prayers. In such times we need to understand that He knows what we do not know. He sees what we do not see. Trust in Him. He knows what is best for His child, and being a perfect God, He will answer our prayers perfectly and in the perfect time."

--President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

What's new?

Not a lot, unfortunately! Or fortunately? Depending on how you look at it I guess. Here's the scoop:

--We're both still healthy and happy, and we're still working on the only other thing we want. :)
--I'm still working, Richard's still job hunting (although something looks promising!) and we enjoy our time together in between.
--We'll be going to a family reunion in California this summer which should be fun, a nice break!
--My brother just got married and that was very fun, I got a cute new sister-in-law!

OK, so I just can't resist posting pictures of our garden. It has EXPLODED. Seriously, I can't believe how much it has grown. We didn't exactly know or think about the fact that cucumbers and squash are vine-like, or something like that, anyway they grow and spread all over the ground, and they have successfully smothered our lone onion, one pea plant, and are working on the tomatoes. Yikes! But we'll have lots of squash and cucumber! Here are the pics:


West side (potatoes and 2 carrots)

East side (peas, onion, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions)

The giganto cucumber that suddenly sprouted

Tiny baby cucumber!

Giganto squash - there are SO many squash(es?)

Tiny baby squash!

This onion gave a good fight (the only one of six to survive!) but it was not destined to live - it had started dying from being smothered by the squash leaves, so we pulled it to see what was going on, and here it is. Who knows, maybe it would have kept growing. Oh well.

The blackberry plants renewed themselves! Of the eight we planted, all of them died, and then six resprouted new plants! Sweet! In a few years we'll have ourselves some yummy berries! :)

This tomato plant somehow found its way next to the orange tree (it probably happened after I planted the seeds in their starter pots - I left the bags of seeds on the porch, the wind blew, and scattered the seeds. This only survived because it was in the circle surrounding the fruit tree so it got lots of water!)

I picked one pea pod to try. We each had two peas out of it, and they weren't quite ripe yet.

This whole garden thing is amazingly exciting. I was talking to my mom about how cool it is to have started from a tiny seed, and seeing what it has become in just a couple of months! She said it was like Elder Uchtdorf's talk about our desire to create. It's so true! We are loving it. The first time I saw a pea pod a few weeks ago I started jumping up and down and screaming, I almost tripped and fell on the plants. :) So there's a quick update and some pictures of the veggies! Can't wait to eat em!