End of the year contemplations

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... This year has been completely insane. I can't actually believe it is over. I'm relieved it's over. We have really struggled this year financially, but have been blessed in so many ways it is ridiculous.

Marc has been out of work all year, but has taken this time to be with our daughters and work on projects of his own. It has been so great for Marc to spend quality time with the girls when they are so young. I am confident that Marc and the girls will always have a wonderful relationship and much of that is attributed to the last year. I have also loved having him home when I need him and being able to spend time together.

I also struggled to find work this year, but was able to continue working at the sleep lab until a suitable job came along. My current job at the new Park City Hospital is the most perfect job for my current situation. I love it and can't say enough good about it. I love not having set hours and just being on call. This way I am still keeping up my skills and collecting a paycheck, but I don't have the burden of a traditional job. I also had the opportunity to go back to school and finish my bachelors degree.

The girls are so much fun and are growing so fast. They are small for their age, but they are so smart. They say so many words and sign all the time. They love playing games like peek-a-boo and to be thrown into the air. Every day things get easier.

We have been so blessed to have all the help we could ask for. Marc's mom has been coming to our house 2-3 times per week to watch the girls while I am away at school and to allow Marc time to work on his projects. My mom also comes on Fridays when she is around and loves to take the girls to fun places. She has also bought them memberships to the zoo and the Discovery Gateway so we can get out of the house when we get cabin fever.

When I think back on the year, I have to believe that things happen for a reason. I am so grateful for the opportunities and help I have been given and look forward to next year.

Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday we dropped the girls off at the Inman's for the day while Marc and I took the day off from the girls. We went to lunch at Happy Sumo which is always delicious.

For dessert we ordered the tempura banana split which was delicious.

After lunch we went to a movie and then headed back to pick up the girls. Sandy made me an icecream cake and we had a small party. Overall it was a very nice birthday.

Christmas '09 Part 2 and 3

Christmas was spent with Marc's family this year. We got up early and headed to Melanie's (now officially dubbed Mimi by the girls). We enjoyed opening presents, eating our traditional Christmas breakfast of eggnog french toast and polish sausages.

The girls were completely spoiled with the favorite gift being the rocking giraffe

The haul

After we were finally getting hungry we headed over to Marc's parent's house for Christmas dinner. After dinner we finished the day by making gingerbread cookies.

It was a long day, but the girls did pretty good and we had a really nice time.

Yesterday we ended the Christmas festivities with the Jensen Family Christmas Party. The only kids there were our own and Ryan so it was nice to have a more adult centered party. We decided to forgo the yearly rendition of Must be Santa and the Christmas pinata to everyone's satisfaction. Instead we played Rock Band which was much better.

Zoo Lights

Christmas '09 Part 1

My parents along with Lauren and Janell are going on a Panama Canal cruise for Christmas, so we spent Sunday with them as an early Christmas celebration. Our church is at 1:00 and my parent's church is at 9:00. Since we wanted to spend the day with them, we went to their meetings. We had a good time making dinner and opening presents. It was nice to see my dad as well, since he isn't around too much. Caleb sent us a package with some Korean candy and anime socks that Marc was pretty excited about. My mom got me a crepe pan that will be put to good use and Rachael sent us some super cute magnets with pictures of the girls and their names. We are kicking off a pretty busy week of Christmas. Yeah!

Potica Day

When Marc and I got engaged, he informed me that if I was going to marry him, I had to learn to make potica (po-TEET-sa). Potica is a traditional Slavic nut bread that his family has been making for Christmas for generations. This year, we decided to make more loaves then usual and give mini poticas as neighbor gifts. My mom generously donated (and shelled) the 6 lbs of walnuts needed from the tree in her back yard. She also got up at 4:30 this morning to start the dough. Because of the delicate nature of potica the dough is a much lengthier process then traditional dough, it kneads for 30 minutes in the mixer to work up lots of gluten and make it very elastic. Everyone showed up at my house around 10:30 to start rolling the dough and putting the potica together. It was so fun to have most of the women in my immediate family there (we missed you Rach!). Lauren regaled us with stories of her trip to Australia and Janell got so good at rolling out the dough (it is rolled out paper thin, spread with the nut mixture, rolled like cinnamon rolls, and then twisted to fit into the bread pan). Melanie and Ryan were kind enough to entertain the girls all day. I was on call and got called in at about 1:30, so I missed the Tim Tam Slams that Lauren introduced everyone to. It was a fun day and I love carrying on the tradition in Marc's family. According to Sandy, we are the only ones carrying on potica from her grandma Cieluszak. It is technical, labor intensive, and can be expensive (if you buy the nuts at the store, again, Thanks Mom!) I look forward to Alice and Claire learning the art.

BTW: if you buy a loaf of potica from a bakery, a 1.5 lb loaf can cost around $37, so if you got one, treasure it.

Furnace Troubles

Today we got about 2 feet of snow at our house. The photo was taken around noon, and we got about 6 more inches. That was pretty crazy in itself, but the rest of the state was hit pretty hard as well. Because of the widespread storm, our main road was never plowed. At about 11 o'clock Marc noticed that the house was a little cold. He started inspecting the furnace and the code the furnace was putting out said that either the vent was blocked or the motor was out. We kind of assumed it was blocked ventilation due to the crazy amount of snow we got today. Marc called around to a few different furnace places trying to get someone to come out and look at it. Of all the different places he called, only one called back and was willing to come out and look at it (due to the weather), he said he could get here around 6 o'clock. Luckily we have a nice gas fireplace that does a great job of heating the main living area and one downstairs that we turned on so it wouldn't get too cold down there. The furnace guy showed up around 6:30 and after looking at it he told us it was the inducer motor and needed to be replaced. Thankfully he had a motor in the car and no one had to get on the roof (a very dangerous business). But of course a regular maintenance thing has to happen on the snowiest day of the year and a Sunday. Whatever! The repair was pretty expensive, but Marc was able to talk him down about $150, so that was good. I felt really bad for the guy when Marc was talking to him and he said he still had 2 more jobs to do tonight. I had made some chicken and dumpling in the crockpot for dinner and sent him with some. I think he was pretty excited. I'm just glad we were able to get the furnace fixed tonight so we didn't have to stress about freezing pipes and such.

Discovery Gateway

We went to the Discovery Gateway on Friday with my mom. The girls had so much fun and we decided to get a year pass. This is perfect for days that are too hot, too cold, or inclimate weather.

A crazy Sunday

Sunday was my first day/night of taking call at my new job. I haven't started taking an entire week yet, I was just filling in over the holiday. Starting in a couple of weeks I will be on call every other week (nights and weekends). I was assured that call was easy and that I probably wouldn't be called in, so I was planning of going to church and doing my normal Sunday activities. Around 11:00 I was called in and hurried up there thinking that if I was quick, I could make it back for Sacrament Meeting. I got home and was called in again at about 3:00, so no church. As I was driving up, I got another page for another patient, so I had 2 exams waiting for me when I got there. While I was there 2 additional exams were added on for me. It seemed like every patient who came into the ER that day needed an ultrasound. I finally left around 7:00 relieved that the crazy day of call would soon be over, but no. I was called in once more at 3:30am. So much for my peaceful Sunday of call. Hopefully it won't be this crazy every Sunday.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Marc's family and had dinner at his parent's house. We all contributed our part to the dinner and it turned out great. After dinner we left the girls with the grandparents and went to see New Moon. I have to say, I was entertained. It wasn't the most amazing movie ever, but both Marc and I got some laughs from it and had a good time. The girls loved being at Rara and Papa's and playing with all their fun toys.

Another video

OK, so blogger was weird about uploading, but youtube was better, so click here to view the other video.

Boxes

My mom bought the girls new car seats because they are outgrowing the infant seats. The girls were endlessly entertained with the boxes they came in. I have a funnier, but longer clip that Blogger doesn't want to upload because it's too big, but you get the idea.

1 year appointment (sort of)

It's been awhile since I posted. We have been very busy lately. My semester is wrapping up and I am excited for it to be over. My new job is going good and I am going to start taking call in December. Today we finally went to the Pediatrician for the 1 year appointment. We have had insurance troubles, but that is finally straightened out so we could go to the doctor. The girls are as tiny as ever, but developing fine. The Dr. was very impressed with their mental development, particularly with how many words they know (speaking and signing). Here are the stats:

Alice:

17 lbs 7 oz (2%)

28" (5%)

Claire:

18 lbs 11 oz (2%)

29.5" (37%)

We were hoping to be able to move the car seats to forward facing, but that is not likely any time soon.

The Subaru Saga

About a week ago my dad bought us a 1998 Subaru off of Ebay. The trick was that it was in St. Louis. On Tuesday Marc flew out to St. Louis to pick it up. Marc was picked up at the airport by a mechanic/salesman who was dressed as a mechanic. He was then taken to a small used car lot in an industrial part of town. The plan was to drive to my sister Rachael's house in Omaha, spend the night, and come home. Everything appeared fine until the first stop for gas, apparently the car had not been driven for awhile and started smoking. The check engine came on about 2.5 hours away from Omaha. A cop had pulled Marc over for a headlight being out. At this time it was very obvious that there was a problem due to the smoke pouring out of the hood. Marc decided to stop and spend the night at a motel instead of risking getting stranded. In the morning Marc took the car to AutoZone where they read the check engine light. This wasn't too informative, so Marc took the car to Midas where they were sympathetic toward his story. They looked over the car, gave him a list of problems, topped off his fluids and told him he would probably make it. (This was all free, very nice people at the Midas in St. Joseph, Missouri). The car did fine again until he was almost at Rachael's when it began to smoke once more. He finally made it to Omaha where he switched cars for Janell's Christmas present. This leg of the journey was much smoother. Janell's car is almost new and pretty nice. Marc didn't like driving such a feminine car, but whatever. He spent the night in Cheyenne. While driving across Wyoming the winds were really bad and the licence plate was ripped from the back of the car. It ripped right off of the bolts. This was a plate from our Pathfinder, so we will need a replacement. He lost the plate around 11:00 and got home around 6:30, he wasn't bothered at all by police until the turnoff to Pinecrest Canyon (2 miles from home). The cop took some time getting the story straight and called Rachael (the car is in her name), he finally let Marc go without a ticket. Whew! It was a long few days for both of us. I'm glad he is home and we'll see when we finally get the Subaru.

Happy Halloween

New Job

I started a new job today. It is at the new Park City hospital doing ultrasound on call. I will have no set hours but instead take call every other week. I have been told the call isn't too bad and I won't get called in too often. I am excited to get a job that works with my school schedule and gets my foot in the door somewhere. I am also glad to refresh/keep up on my skills. Yeah! The hospital itself is pretty funny. They are going for a "resort feel." This means the exterior and lobby look like a ski lodge and the cafeteria has mostly gourmet selections. (The special today was prime rib). The biggest downside is to go along with the "resort" theme, all departments have a uniform color. Imaging's color in red. Ick!

Pumpkinland

We went down to my parent's house today so my Dad could help Marc replace our brakes on the Trooper. While the boys were working hard on the car, my mom, Janell, the girls and I went to Pumpkinland in Vineyard. They have a funny little corn maze, some animals (goats, chickens, bunnies, etc), and lots of pumpkins. It was fun and I think the girls had a good time.

Family Portaits

A couple of weeks ago we had some family portraits done with Marc's family. They turned out really cute! Click here to view them.

Alice's First Haircut

Alice has very little hair, so this post may surprise some. But Alice has the most ridiculous tufts of hair over her ears and on her forehead. These are the only spots on her head where he hair has actually grown and it looks really funny. Today Marc decided it was time to take care of things, so I wacked off her little tufts. She really does look better now. I tried to capture the tufts, but they wouldn't photograph correctly. Oh, well.

Alice Finally Crawls!!!

Alice has been so close to crawling that we have been expecting her to figure out any day and yesterday it happened. She is 1 year and 3 days old.

Happy Birthday Babies

Today is Alice and Claire's 1st birthday. I can't believe how much they have grown and how smart they are. This year has been difficult, challenging, and rewarding. I never knew how much fun my girls would be, or how I would enjoy their discoveries and milestones. Having twins is an amazing experience and is so different from having one baby. The most interesting thing about twins is having the side-by-side comparison to realize how different they are. There are so many thing they do that could be dismissed as a "baby thing," but seeing the other one, I realize it is just their personality. Since we are at a critical birthday, I thought I would document a few things they are doing right now.

CLAIRE

Claire knows her mind. She knows what she likes and doesn't like and wants things her own way. She is ready to be a big girl and has little interest in baby things. She hates drinking from a bottle or being fed. If we want her to drink her milk it is out of a straw or sippy cup. I can feed her from a spoon if she is in the right mood, but mostly she wants to feed herself. Her favorite toys are the things Mom and Dad play with (i.e. the TV remote or magazines). She crawls everywhere and cruises the furniture. Claire hates to be left alone and gets very upset if you leave the room without her. Claire loves signing and loves it when you understand what she is conveying. The signs she has mastered are milk, eat, all done, more, outside, dance, bath, Jesus and book. Book is her favorite sign and reading her favorite activity. She does the book sign all day and wants to be read to constantly. Most kids want to eat when they wake up, but Claire wants to read. We will see if that translates to a love of reading when she is older. She likes to make animal noises and can do a chicken, elephant, fish, dog and lion. She is very smart and it is so fun to see the cogs of her mind turning.

ALICE

Alice is very silly. She giggles all the time and is constantly cracking herself up. Because of her feet problems, she is not crawling or walking, but she can get herself sitting from laying down. Even though she doesn't crawl she somehow manages to get where she wants to go. She is very close to crawling and any day now we expect her to take off. Alice knows all of the signs we do, but won't do them unless she has to. She assumes you know what she wants, and we usually do. If you ask her if she is all done, she gives you a look like "of course I'm all done, get me out of here." She doesn't perform tricks for anyone, what she does has a purpose. She will do the outside, bath and Jesus signs pretty regularly. She also likes to make chicken and elephant noises. Alice is a great sleeper and very easy to put down for a nap. If you disrupt her while she is trying to go to sleep she get upset with you until you leave her alone. Alice loves balls and is pretty good at tossing a ball back and forth. Alice is still wary of strangers, although she is improving. She will smile at people if she is being held by someone she trusts (me, Marc, or Marc's mom). Alice is a Daddy's girls. She loves her dad more then anyone. When she doesn't feel well, she only wants Marc and even I'm not a good substitute.

We love our girls and feel so lucky to have them!