Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas everyone! As you can tell by the earlier post, our precious little baby girls arrived on December 22 and have been the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for. Things have been absolutely crazy, but I just wanted to post a couple of pictures and introduce you to our newsest additions. Labor went well and I was able to deliver both girls without a C-Section! Yeah! There were a few minor complications, but all in all, I could not have expected it to go any better. I know that I was being watched over and protected throughout the whole process. They are the sweetest, tinest little things and we are loving them so much already. Their big sisters love them and are so eager to help. I could write about it all forever, but I am quickly learning that there really is NEVER a dull moment in our home anymore. (As if there ever was). I have hungry babies calling and so off I go. But first . . .
Introducing:

Annie Caroline Allred

Born 8:39 PM
Weight 5 lbs 11 oz
18.75 inches long

She is perfectly beautiful and doing really well. She was the first baby born and surprised us with a healthy cry and a very high Apgar score. She is doing great. She just seems so teeny when we are used to almost 9 lb babies!

Born 8 minutes after her sister came our precious

Aubrey Jane Allred.

Born 8:47 PM
Weight6 lbs 2 oz
19.5 inches long

She impressed us with an equally high Apgar and insured their spot in the regular nursery- no NICU! Aubrey has a sweet disposition and loves to look around. We can tell her apart from her sis by the shape of her head and her perma -scrunchy face! She is sweet.




We just love these girls and could hold them and kiss them all day! They truly are a miracle and an amazing blessing that we are so grateful for. Wish us luck as we figure out how to make this all work in our family! We are excited and up for the challenge!

The Real Meaning of Christmas

A friend sent this link to me and I loved it.

(Click on the title of this post to connect). It helped me remember the real meaning of this season and to slow down and celebrate for the right reasons. Merry Christmas!

Still here!

Is it really possible to be 35 weeks and have NOTHING happening?

Let it Snow!

We woke up to this . . .

So we spent alot of time like this . . .

And then finally they talked us in to this . . .

And Aaron finally made it look like this . . .

What a crazy blizzard we had. They have called it an "Epic Storm". We knew it was coming, but it was pretty crazy. We had about 13 inches of snow and some crazy wind, so it blew the drifts so high. The kids loved it and wanted to be out in it every minute, but it was BITTER cold. (can't say I felt the cold as much, I am like a walking heater!) But the temp was -6 with a windchill of -20 t0 -30 below! It was fun to be snowed in and to spend the day in our jammies watching movies, playing games, doing puzzles and eating treats. Now is the bummer part, back to real life in the freezing aftermath!

Thanksgiving

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. Nana and Papa came out to visit and my bro Mark and his wife Kody. We had a great time. we packed it full, celebrating the season with festive activities and good times. The girls filled up their warm fuzzy jar, so we took them bowling at "The Fish Bowl". It is a fun bowling alley at the Bass Pro Shop where everyting looks like it is underwater. The girls were so excited. We went to Disney on Ice, saw Santa, went to Jolly Holiday Lights and of course did a little Black friday Shopping. It was a great time. Thanks everyone for making the effort to come and see us and for all of your help!

The Fish Bowl

Disney On Ice

Decorating the Tree

Lainey trying to wear the stockings.

Daddy got the girls a train to go around the tree. Needless to say, they LOVE it!

Visit with Santa

Papa and Lainey at the Mall.

Gingerbread Houses

Christmas Around the World

Here is just a quick little shout out to all of my folk dance friends from my BYU dancing days. It is killing me to know that you are all together today, dancing and hanging out and eating ( I am sure of it!). I just wanted to say to all of you that I am thinking of you and wish I could be with you. Dance a little for me and let me know how the weekend was! I miss you all!

What's the deal?

Does anyone have any idea why I can't connect to any of my friends blogs anymore? I am so bummed, but the links don't work, unless I type in the address individually. Is anyone else having this problem?

Visitors

Lucky us, we had some visitors this last week. My cousins came to visit for a fun girls weekend. We went to the Apple Orchard with the fam and then out for pedicures and manicures and dinner --- just the girls! It was a great time and I am so glad that they made the trip! My mom came out for a visit, too. It is always a treat to have Grandma here and we are so thankful for all that she did for us!

In the famous Iowa Corn!

They had this awesome slide! We probably went down at least 15 times. (Not me, don't worry!)

Here is me trying to rope Aaron. What is funny is that the rope got away from me and I actually roped Lainey!
They have this awesome Jumping Pillow.

Hal and Mag getting some air.

With the cute--stinky pigs!

My Girls.

And finally an updated picture of me. This is me at about 30 1/2 weeks. Getting huge and FEELING it!