Strengths and Weaknesses

Turns out children are individuals. They are TOTALLY different. Even twins are completely different.

Back Story:
We've had a long last couple of days. Saturday night we went to a friends house and the kids didn't go to bed until almost 10:30 which is way past bed time. Then yesterday we went to my parents house and they played with a bunch of their cousins. We got home about 7 which is pretty much bed time. Needless to say the kids were EXHAUSTED.

All of them needed showers before they went to bed so we were preparing for that. I told Ellie to pick out jammies and get ready to take a shower. She didn't want to pick out jammies. Then she wanted someone to be with her. This turned into a full blown tantrum. Ellie tantrums are exhausting and frustrating (as most of them are.) But this little girl is determined, smart, stubborn, and persistent. She will continue to cry/ask for the same thing over and over during a tantrum. You can ask her a question and she refuses to answer it. She will continue to repeat the same statement over and over. I know this sounds like a regular tantrum, but and Ellie tantrum is worse than a Ben tantrum or a Will tantrum. An Ellie tantrum is a battle of wills. And hers is STRONG. Which is something that I love about her. I want her to always have that determination and strong will. We have had to learn how to deal with it. She needs to know there are boundaries. She needs to know that she is being heard and is allowed to be angry but she has to learn to control it. She needs consistency. She's like a wild mare. She has so much strength and power in her she just needs to know how to reign it in when needed. She needs to know who is in control and how far she is allowed to push things. If you give into her tantrums she is ten times worse the next time. When she learns to control her determination, strong will, persistence and stubbornness she will go far in life. Jim is amazing dealing with her. He is patient and strong. He knows how to calm her down and he's able to help her to control her anger. I learn so much from watching him with her.

Will is totally different than her. He gets overwhelmed easily. He is super sensitive and super smart. He is surprisingly smart. When he gets upset he freaks out. His isn't because he wants to control the situation like his sister. He does want things to go his way but not because he wants to control things. In dealing with Will you have to remove him from the situation. When he gets upset its like his senses have gone on overload. Even if you gave him what he wanted he'd still have a hard time calming down. He needs to completely leave the room. Sometimes you have to sit with him and have him take big deep breaths. We have to help him refocus his frustration.

Ben is very emotional. He is very caring and loving. Trust is very big with him. If you tell him something is going to happen it NEEDS to happen. He has a hard time understanding when you tell him "no" its for a reason it's not just because you don't love him. He takes every "no" personally. With Ben you have to explain to him the reason you are telling him no and let him know that you still love him he just can't do x, y or z. He wants to please everyone. He is very concerned about people liking him - whether its us, his friends, his teachers, etc. With him we need to help him gain more self confidence.

Our kids are so unique. They are all so much fun and we love them each so much. Its quite a learning experience in handling each one of them. What works with one doesn't work with another. In fact sometimes what is the right thing to do with one of them is complete wrong thing to do for the other. I'm so grateful that I have such a wonderful husband who is so patient with them (and me).

10 Things I Love About My Husband

My husband really is an amazing man. I grew up with all the same dreams most little girls have. Marry a prince, have lots of babies, live happily ever after. Thats the way things work isn't it? Well my husband may not be a prince in the technical sense of the word (Unless he is and he's just hiding all those untold riches, which means we need to have a LONG talk ;) ) But he is my Prince Charming.

There is so much that I love about this guy that I figured I would narrow it down to the 10.

1. I love that he loves me in spite of me.

This may sound weird. But if you knew me you'd know I have pretty low self esteem and that in turn can make me somewhat hard to live with. I know its frustrating to him that I don't believe in myself and that I have a hard time understanding why someone would love me but he does.

2. He has amazing patience with our kids.

Kids can be difficult at times. They all have different personalities (Its almost like they are totally unique little people! Crazy huh? :) ) They all require different parenting techniques. One of our children is super sensitive. This child needs help calming down. It's a challenge for me - especially when I am angry or upset with said child. Yelling at this particular child only escalates the situation. Hubby is really great about getting down to eye level with this child and calming the child down. (I specifically am not naming names about said child)

3. He sacrifices so much for our family.

There have been times that he has worked two jobs or worked full time and gone to school full time so he could provide for our family. He works so hard and his work ethic is something that every employer would want.

4. He is one of the smartest people I've ever met.

There isn't a question that I've asked him that he doesn't have an answer for. He is a human calculator. He can do huge math problems just in his head. I used to car pool to work with a coworker and we would come up with questions on the ride to work just so we could call him and get the answers.

5. He is FREAKIN HILARIOUS!!!

Anyone who has ever met my hubby knows that he is the funniest guy EVER. He can make just about anyone laugh. Some of my favorite times are just when we sit together laughing. He is so quick on his feet too. He usually has a comeback for everything.

6. He knows how to say I'm sorry.

One thing that I've learned from him over the years is how to say I'm sorry. He is willing to admit when he is wrong and apologize for it. This is rare from what I hear.

7. I'm never stranded

I know that if I get lost I can call him and he will be there to talk me back home.

8. He can fix ANYTHING

If there is a problem with my car - he can fix it.

If there is something broken in the house - he can fix it.

If I am down/sad/depressed - he's usually able to bring me out of it.

If something is wrong with the dog or cat - he knows what to do.

If we were in the middle of the zombie apocalypse - I'd want him next to me because I know I'd be safe.

9. He believes in me

He is my biggest fan. He loves my photography and my sewing projects. He tells me I'm smart and that I can finish school.

10. He sleeps cuddled up next to me.

I know most people don't sleep this way but I love it. I love that he will sleep with his arms around me and his legs tangled up in mine. Even during the winter when my body temperature is below freezing.

To make a long post short, too late I really am the luckiest woman in the world. I know I haven't always appreciated him the way that I should. I know in the past I've forgotten what a great man I have.  I haven't always been the best wife I could have been and I know I've made some horrible mistakes in my life. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such an amazing husband but I'm glad I have him. He is my protector, my comedian, my lover, my best friend, my shoulder to cry on, my rock, my everything.

I love you baby and I hope to have 80 more years together to show you how much I love you.

Expectations

I have found as a parent you have to throw out all your expectations.

Before you have kids (as least this is true for me) I KNEW exactly how things were going to be.
My kids wouldn't be THOSE kids. Mine would listen and never talk back. They would be confident and self assured. They would eat everything I told them to. They would have perfect teeth and sleep all through the night from day one. They would never throw tantrums, especially not in the store. They would always stay near the cart and never whine. They wouldn't have pacifiers after the first year. They would would be potty trained by two.
My girls would be girlie. They would love to dress up in pretty dresses. They would play with barbies and babies, They would love princess movies and all things princess-ey. But they would be tough. They would be able defend themselves as well.
My boys would be tough too. They would love cars and superheros. They would love to build things. They would love bugs and dogs. But they would be sweet. They would bring me flowers and give me kisses.

In addition to all of this I knew that even if they weren't exactly what I expected I could at least control me. I knew that because I had gone through infertility and desperately wanted these precious children, that I would always be loving and patient with them. I wouldn't yell or scream.

Like I said you have to throw out all of your expectations. There are many times that my children really are THOSE children. They do throw tantrums, even in the store. I am routinuely outnumbered so I do lose my patience with them more than I'd like to admit. They are some of the world's pickiest eaters. The twins still have pacifiers (although they know Saturday is the last day for them) They aren't potty trained. (We are slowly working on that.)

Ellie is no where near a girlie girl lol. She hates dresses, princesses, barbies, and baby dolls (most of the time). She loves Captain America, superheros, ninjas, zombies, pirates, swords, guns, and the color pink. She is tougher than tough. She is my daredevil who will usually try anything. She is a spitfire and is my child who loves "potty talk." She thinks the word poop is HILARIOUS.

It used to bother  me a little that Ellie wasn't as girlie as I had expected, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I'd still love to dress her in pretty dresses but I get such a kick out of seeing what she comes up with. She's so much fun. There"s never a dull moment around here.

Life isnt what I expected but I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Vacation part 1 - Camping

I know I've been so horrible about blogging. Coming up, I've got 3 blogs about our vacation, and a couple more about the kids and their achievements. So here is part 1 of our vacation.

We went camping to Bear Creek, UT with my whole family. (Well almost my whole family. We were missing my sister Tarena who had to go and have a baby a couple days before the campout.  - I have a new nephew!! Her husband Dan came up with their 3 other kids) 
Ben "packed" for himself. He packed sunscreen

A change of underwear (so if he had an accident)

A change of pants for the same reason

 

and "60" cars. He kept telling me it was 60 cars but I never counted. LOL

It really was a lot of fun even though it POURED off and on the first day. The first night was HORRIBLE. Imagine being in a tent in the pouring rain, 37 degrees with three freezing kids all on a queen sized air mattress. The babies screamed off and on all night long. We got no sleep because even when they feel asleep we were freezing to the point of shivering. Each kid was wearing two pairs of footy pajamas and they were in bed with us. It SUCKED. At 3 am my dad came over and got both babies and drove them around for two hours so we could get some sleep. (have I mentioned I love my daddy?) It was such a hard night. 

Day two was so much better. We went for a walk down to the lake. This is Ben and his cousin Jane. They have so much fun together. They are like brother and sister.

 We took a family picture with everyone that was there. 

 

Then my parents took one with just the grandkids

 This is all the grandkids except for Nytis. My parents have 18 grandkids now. The oldest is 13 and the youngest is less than a month. 

The second night we stayed in a cabin. We were traumatized by the first night. This is Will trying to find out what's in the sink. He found out later that it was a freezing cold bath and WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. (The cabin didn't have hot water so we heated water on the stove but it didn't stay warm for long. The baths were so cold and all three kids screamed through them)

Ellie exploring the cabin.




More random camping pictures

 

  

  

  

 

Our family

 

Ben, Jane and Grace (They were bug hunting)

I have more camping pictures but they won't load. GRRR

Next up Part 2 The Utah Trip!

 

I Googled Myself

So I did a google search of myself today. Most of the results were things along the lines of "the melody frees my soul" and things like that. But there were a couple that were actually related to me. Some brought back tons of memories.  

When we lived in Phoenix we were interviewed for a newspaper article on infertility. Apparently that article was used in another article as well. If you don't want to read the whole article here is the part about us:

"As long as I can remember, all I've ever wanted was to become a mother and have lots of babies," says 26-year-old Melody Frees of Litchfield Park, in the Phoenix area of Arizona, who learned in 2002 that her fallopian tubes are blocked, leaving her infertile. "I see parents with babies, and I wonder if we will ever know the joy of having a child of our own."  .....

Mixed messages from doctors, misplaced medical files, and numerous go-rounds with insurance companies taught Frees, the Litchfield Park woman who, at 26, should be in the prime of her fertility, and her husband, Jim, to take notes, make copies of their records, ask questions, and find answers.

The Freeses tried to borrow money to pay for in vitro fertilization (IVF), but were denied, so they moved from Southern California to Litchfield Park in August 2003, found new jobs and plan to buy a home. They'll take out a second mortgage to pay for IVF, starting in 2004, and will do no more than two cycles. The cost will be about $20,000.

Finding out his wife couldn't have children without first having a tubal ligation to remove toxic fluid in the tubes that could hurt a fetus was a blow to Jim. "I'm a fixer. I need to fix things that are broken," he says. "But there was nothing I could ever say or do to turn this around and make it better."

It was interesting to read knowing what I know now. Since that time we've done 4 cycles of IVF and now have 3 children.

I also found the article in People magazine that talked about the INCIID program that allowed us to do the first two cycles. (This one only has the article. It doesn't have the pictures of us) Here is the one that has the pictures.

I remember the hopelessness of not knowing if we'd ever have babies. For Christmas one year our families got together and raised money to put into a "baby fund" for us. On the card they put this poem.

Hope  

When roses lose their loveliness  
When rivers cease to flow;  
When sunlight fails to warm the air,   
When stars no longer glow.  

When birds cannot take to flight,  
When a ruby's luster fades;  
When leaves refuse to fall from boughs,  
When trees cannot give shade.  

When fields of flowers wither,  
When clouds cease making rain;  
When mountain ranges cast no shadows,   
When prairies cannot grow grain.  

When these natural wonders end,  
When there's no  dusk or dawn;  
When all life's miracles cease to be....  

...Only then will my hope be gone.   

 

 I'm so grateful to be where I am now. I'm so thankful for everyone who helped us get to the point we are at now. Without them we wouldn't have the beautiful family we have now.

All that reflection because I decided to google myself.

The post with no name

I started this post a week or so ago and just haven't been able to finish it. So I figured I would try to finish it and get it posted. Here goes:

It's been too long since I posted. For some reason I can't seem to find anything to post about. Actually that's not true, There's been stuff to blog about. But I get writers block every time I try to start. Here's our life in bullet points:

• 
  
  Will has 6 teeth now.
• 
  
  Ellie has 4 teeth.
• 
  
  Will can pull himself up on furniture and cruise around.
• 
  
  Will can also crawl on his hands and knees. Up until today he would just do the army crawl.
• 
  
  We've all been sick. Jim got it first, then Ben, Will and me. Ellie barely got sick at all. Jim got it the worst.
• 
  
  Jim almost lost his job but it seems pretty ok now.
• 
  
  Will bit me three or four times while nursing and my right breast was so painful that you can barely touch it. It made me almost cry to nurse on that side. There were two little holes where he bit me. It looked like I was nursing Reneseme (LOL that's for Twilight fans. - I just reread Breaking Dawn) The pediatrician (I mentioned it during an appointment for Ben and the ped knew we were in between primary care doctors so he checked me out. AWESOME DR! ) gave me an antibiotic to cure the infection which took away the pain. Will hasn't bit me in over a week thank goodness! I would cringe every time I'd go to nurse him because I was so scared of being bit again. It was REALLY Painful!
• 
  
  Ellie knows how to clap when you say "Yeah!"
• 
  
  Ellie will copy me and Ben when we shake our head and say "No! No! No!"
• 
  
  Ben had a horrible rash. On his front and his back. I took him to the doctor and it turns out his excema has returned. He gave me a prescription for a cream and told me to coat him in lotion. ( should have remembered that's what we had to do when he was little)
• 
  
  Ellie can pull herself up to standing. We had to lower her crib on Monday. She was still at the highest setting until then.
• 
  
  Ellie can't resist a laundry basket. If there is a full one near her she has to empty it. There's one next to her crib and today when I went in to get her up from her "nap" (she didn't sleep) There were two towels and two sleeper jammies in her crib.
• Will said "Mama" today. (I can't say for certain that he knew what he was saying but I was down the hall and he saw me and started crawling to me and he said "MaMa"
• We went on a  tour of a preschool the other day. Ben will be going in Sept. I think he's pretty excited about it. (Not that I think he's really aware of what preschool is. He knows preschool is learning and fun but he doesn't understand this preschool isn't at our house and Mommy isn't going to be there. )

I think that is our updated life. Now for the part you are really here for - PICTURES:

Standing in their crib (no he's really not THAT much taller than her. I think he's on his toes)

Ellie's stink face

Will trying to watch tv over the table

Ben's monster face

Will's First mohawk

Ben

Ben's rash

My Boys

Ben painting a volcano

Jim and Ben ( I LOVE THIS PICTURE)

Ellie with her crazy smile in the laundry

Way back when

I met Jim in either 1992 or 1993 (neither of us can remember) My friend Carolyn moved to Moreno Valley and started dating his friend Chris. They were going to go to a "Midnight Bowling" night at the local bowling alley. Carolyn invited me so I could meet Chris' friend Jim. I was only 13 or 14 at the time and wasn't allowed to date yet (I wasn't the most obedient child) I asked my parents if I could go to the Midnight Bowling (The bowling alley would lock everyone in from midnight until about 7 in the morning - if I remember correctly. I didn't do alot of bowling back then - or now for that matter) My parents said No way. So a couple days later I asked if I could spend the night at Carolyn's house. They said I could if we didn't go to the Midnight Bowling thing. So I spent the night at Carolyn's and of course we went to the Midnight Bowling. There I met Jim. He was hilarious. He was the class clown and always made everyone laugh. We "dated" (as much as you can at 13 or 14, living in two different cities, with neither of you having a drivers license) off an on through our sophmore and junior years.

We went to my junior prom together. I can't say I had a good time. We were on the verge of breaking up at that point. I had low self esteem and needed constant attention. He had a sense of humor I didn't appreciate at the time. The combination of those made for a pretty crappy night for me.

We broke up very soon after. Our senior year we didn't have much contact I don't think. He went into the Navy right after High School and I moved to Utah. He wrote me a couple of letters during that time. But I don't think we talked for more than a handful of times from High School through 2000.

Then June 17, 2000 I was driving in Moreno Valley on my way to a friends house. I had my mom's cell phone with me and I was thinking about Jim. Just wondering what happened to him. I called information and gave them his last name. I had no idea if he even still lived in Moreno Valley. I didn't know what his parents names were or anything like that. They said there was one listing for his last name so I went ahead and called it. Of course I got the answering machine and it didn't say any names it just said "You have reached XXX-XXXX please leave a message" Well crap. That didn't help. So I left a message "Hi, I'm looking for Jimmy... My name is Melody... I knew him in high school..." and he picked up the phone. We talked for a few minutes and he invited me to house. (Unknown to me he was actually getting ready to go to his girlfriend's house. Needless to say he got there late) I went over there and we hung out for a couple hours. Then he went to his girlfriends house and I went to my friend's house.

We went out a couple times after that but I wasn't really interested in him. He was awesome to hang out with and we had so much fun but I was dating three other guys at the time and wasn't interested in settling down. At the end of our second date he we to kiss me and I turned my head so he kissed my cheek. He decided if I didn't kiss him by the third date he was gonna find someone else. Thankfully for me, I kissed him on the third date :)

On my 23rd birthday (July 20th) I was still dating Jim and the other 3 guys. (I was mainly dating Jim but I refused to commit lol) I got roses delived to my work from the other three guys. A dozen from one, 23 from another and 24 from the third. I got home and Jim had a bouquet of sun flowers and wild flowers for me. He said "I thought you'd be sick of roses by now" (AWWWW)

In August we went to an amusment park with my brother and his girlfriend. We were still just friends but we were constantly together. He was my best friend and we were pretty much inseperable.

While we were there we were standing in line for the laser tag and I was talking to my brother's girlfriend. The subject of kids came up and I turned to Jim and said "How many kids did we decide we were having? was it 4 or 6?" He said "I believe it was 4" and I went back to talking to her without even batting an eye. Then I stopped and said "Wait, when did we go from just being friends to deciding on kids?" He laughed and said "I don't know, it just happened" and from then on we knew we were getting married.

On August 11th we were going to my friend's mom's house to pick up the engagement ring, (We bought my ring from a pawn shop and her mom had picked it up for us) we were almost there when we rear ended the car in front of us. We totalled the car and Jim broke his arm. Someone called 911 and they had the ambulance come and take us to the hospital. Not before her mom came to the accident site, climbed in the ambulance and handed Jim the ring. He proposed to me there in the ambulance. Both our parent came to the emergency room and thats where they met.

On January 20, 2001 we were married.

We've had our ups and downs since but we are so happy together. I love him so much and I'm so happy that I went to the Midnight Bowling and that I called him. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is a wonderful husband and father.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

I've been trying to write this post for a couple days now. I wrote this post yesterday but then our power went out and I lost the whole thing.

We had a really wonderful Christmas this year. We spent it sourrounded by family and friends. This was the first year that Ben really knew what was going on. He was so excited about Santa. It was soawesome to be able to experience the magic of Christmas through his eyes.

He had so much fun making cookies for Santa. He left them out with a note. Daddy wrote the note and he signed his own name (except it turned out Bem)

He woke up at 5:00am so excited because "Santa had come!" We convinced him to stay in bed until 6:00. (by convinced I mean we refused to get up.) I was cuddling with him for awhile and he rolled over to Jim. I pulled him back to my side and he said "I want to cuddle with Daddy. You hug yourself" nice huh?

So we finally let him get up at 6:00. He came out and saw that Santa had responded to his letter.

Then he saw his stocking.

and the tree

He opened his presents from Santa

Then the babies woke up

They opened their stockings (ok, I opened their stockings)

And they played with (ate) their toys

After we opened presents at our house. Then we went to my parents house to open presents up there. At 1:30 we went over to our friend Scott and Bridgette's house. We visited with them for a while. The whole day it was raining really hard so we had to keep running to and from the car. Then at 3:00 we went to Jim's brother's house and had Christmas dinner with Jim's family. We finally got home at 7:00pm and put the babies to bed. Ben went down at 8. Our house looks like ToysRus barfed all over it. but it was a wonderful day. It was so nice to spend Christmas with our families. It was a really busy day but it was wonderful.

We are so blessed to have great families that we live close to. I couldn't imagine a better life. I'm surrounded by the best family and friends a girl could ask for.

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Road Trip!

Sorry I haven't updated. We took a road trip to Utah last week. Jim had a week of vacation and my grandpa isn't doing so well so we decided to take a drive up there. We wanted him to be able to meet the twins and I wanted to see him again.

I was really dreading the drive up there and back. It was an 11 hour drive with 6 month old twins and a two year old. You can imagine my apprehension. It went surprisingly well. We decided to leave here Monday night and come back Friday night. We prefer to drive through the night because the babies sleep. It doesn't always work but it's great in theory. The reason we went during the week was Jim wanted time before and after the vacation to relax. So we didn't get home and he had to go right back to work.

We packed during the day ( I tried a new way to pack the kids clothes. I took each outfit - pants, shirt, socks, [bracelet and hairbow for Ellie] and put them in a gallon sized ziploc bag. I labeled each bag with the child's name [even though Ellie's was easy to identify - All pink lol] That way each day I could just grab the ziploc bags and have everything right there. It worked GREAT! when I unpacked I just left the ziploc bags in the suitcase for next time)  and Jim took a nap, then he went to school and I put the babies to bed. I let Ben stay up while I made sure everything was ready. When Jim got home he loaded the car while I nursed the babies (I woke them up and nursed them just to "top them off") At about 9"30 we were all settled into the car ready to go.

All the kids were asleep within 10-15 mins of being in the car. No crying! Will woke up in Vegas when we stopped for gas. I nursed him and put him back in his car seat. Ben woke up then too. Will went right back to sleep. Ben took a little longer and couldn't seem to get comfortable. He kept getting upset because he couldn't turn over. Poor guy.

Ellie slept through until Nephi (about 6:00am) We stopped for gas in Nephi and everyone woke up. I nursed both babies (in the front seat of the car!!) They all stayed awake until we got to Layton. But no crying no screaming or anything!!

We had a blast on our trip. We stayed with our friends Alisha and Tony. They have a son named Cooper. He is a month younger than Ben. Ben and Cooper have been friends since they were about 6 months old. They have so much fun together. We met Alisha and Tony at church in California right after we moved back from Phoenix. Alisha and I instantly became really good friends. Our boys got along really well and our husband's did too. They moved to Utah about a year ago.  :(

 We went to a children's museum called the Treehouse. Ben and his friend Cooper had so much fun!! Here's some pics.

Ben and Cooper "painting" on the wall.

Putting together a fossil puzzle

Ben in the Oval Office.

Playing Chess

Playing with the castle

Fireman Ben

Riding a Zebra

Will "enjoying" the museum. (He slept through most of it)

Doctor Ben

Fireman Ben and Firewoman Ellie

Ellie and Mommy

Ellie and a Doll in the "baby hospital"

close up of Ellie in the bassinet

Ellie in a pink chair because we had to take a picture of her in the pink chair. I mean, come on, it was PINK.

Then we went to Cabela's. It's this AWESOME camping store. It has a huge aquarium and these amazing scenes with wildlife. (It's hard to explain. But you can see photos of the store here. Here's some of our photos

In front of the aquarium

looking at the animals.

riding a quad

One of the exhibits.

Then we went to see my grandpa.

This is my grandpa Earl J, me, Will, Ellie, Ben and Grandma Alice.

I really hope this wasn't the last time I will get to see him.

The last day we were in Utah we visited my sister. She has three kids Catherine, Megan and Jonah. Ben had so much fun with them. They were so silly together.

Jonah, Catherine, Megan and Ben

Jim feeding Will

We left that night at about 7. Will woke up when we stopped for gas in Mesquite. I nursed him and put him back in the car seat. Ben woke up then too. We let him get out of his car seat while I was nursing Will. Unfortunately I bribed him back into his carseat with a dingdong, which helped to keep him up from 12 - 3. Will went back to sleep right away and slept until we were about 10 minutes away from home. Ellie slept the whole time and woke up about 10 minutes away from home. When Ben finally went back to sleep at 3 he slept until we were just about home.

Overall it was a really great trip. We had so much fun with Alisha and Tony. Thank you for letting us stay with you!!! It was so nice to see my sister. Next time I'd like to be able to spend more time with her. I still need to get her awesome potato soup recipe from her. I'm really glad I got to see my grandpa. I'm glad the twins got to meet him (not that they will ever remember it. But at least I have pictures) I really hope I get to see him again. I'm so glad we went.