Monday, August 25, 2008

Another one....


Told you I have the scrappy bug... :)

A few scrappy pages...

I have got the scrapbooking bug again and so I thought I would post make latest creations. :) I love scrapbooking because not only does it help me document my life but it also gives me a chance to reflect on moments that I hadn't thought about in a while. Who knows...maybe I would forget them over time...sad thought. :( Enjoy!

Friday, July 25, 2008

Summer Fun...

This summer has been CRAZY, but SOOO FUN! From lots of camping to having company stay with us to being in the sunshine 24/7...I thought there is no way I can blog all of it. So I decide to do a random sampling of pics from our Summer-To-The-Max! :) Enjoy!

We started the summer off by ending Morgan's dance class and starting her gymnastics...Here is a pic of her at her Oh-Too-Cute recital with her BFF Addie!Next we went Camping with Rich and Lisa , Heather and Dallan, Megan and Ernesto, and all the kids! We went to this great place Rich found called Maple Grove...it was a perfect site with plenty of room for all of us and it even had a little stream that ran through the middle so the kids could fish. They loved it...although Uncle Rich caught most of the fish! :)

After Maple Grove, we went to Yellowstone National Park with our friends Brian, Julie, and Easton. The kids loved sleeping in our tent...especially since I made Trev buy a tent heater before we left. :) We saw tons of wildlife during the day and played some intense games of Settlers at night in Brian and Julie's tent trailer. The kids loved seeing all the buffalo, elk, deer, and even bears...that's right folks we saw 3 black bears! On our way home we stopped at Bear World in Rexburg and saw probably 20 bears as well. They also had these little kids carnival rides that our kids just LOVED! They still say their favorite part of the Yellowstone trip was Bear World. Expensive place, but definately worth it!
















<---The kids rock-climbing.

-------->
Morgan and Daddy at the outlook to the Lower Falls...gorgeous view but 325 stairs to get there! Not the best idea when you are prego with twins. :)


<----- Jake watching the Upper Falls...much easier access. :)

--------> Back up the stairs and smiling again! :)



After Yellowstone the very next weekend we had our cousins Jordan and Ryan come stay the week with us. We partied NON-STOP!!! We went to the pool, played on our big waterslide, Seven Peaks water park, Girls' Night Out, Boys' Night Out, ran a 10K, went to 2 parades, visited temple square, and even went to the Miley Cyrus-Stadium of Fire Concert complete with an amazing fireworks display! Whew...it makes me tired just thinking about it! But it was sooo fun to have Jordan and Ryan here...we miss and love them soo much! Here are a few pics of that week...










*Just a sidenote: We got this waterslide at the beginning of the summer. I can't tell you how many times we have used it...and it is seriously one of the BEST purchases Trev and I have made! Major props to the Waterslide!!! LOVE IT!

Once Jordan and Ryan left we were off again...this time to Lake Powell!!!! Thanks to Heather and Dallan (especially Dall's parents) we get to go to Lake Powell once a year...play on Dall's parents boats and toys, and even stay at their home and shower regularly. We eat tons of yummy food and the kids have a blast! This year it was Trev and I, Heather and Dall, and Rich and Lisa - plus all our kids of course. The first day we had 2 waverunners and this was by far Jake's favorite part. He want to take a ride on the "boat" all day long! I even braved them as well...and wound up in the emergency room that night! :) No big deal, I just woke up with major cramps in my stomach and so the doctor told me to to go to the emergency room just to make sure everything was okay. I did and they did all sorts of tests and both of our little girls are just fine. They were however, in a big fight when we did the ultrasound. :) I hope this is not a sign of things to come... :) Here are some pics from this super-fun trip...THANKS Heather and Dall!






<---- Trev's new favorite toy....we got a water balloon launcher! He couldn't wait to try it out so we took it to Lake Powell and pelted each other. :)












Whewww...okay so that gets me all caught up! It's hard to believe that we have already done all of this and we only have about a month left of summer! As you can see it has been really crazy but super-duper fun and it's not over yet! We love SUMMER!!!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

They are Girls!!!

The wait is over! We found out on Monday that we are going to be welcoming two beautiful, identical baby girls into our family. :) We are very excited and I have already begun scouring the pottery barn kids catalog for the cutest baby girl nursery ever! Too fun!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Changes....


Okay, for those of you who don't already know...Yes I cut my hair off!!! Just kidding, that's not the BIG news but fun news nonetheless. :) So here's our latest BIG NEWS: Yes, we are expecting...but this time there are TWO of them!!! That's right all....TWINS!!! Can you believe it???

Here is what we know so far...I am 14 weeks along, we don't know the sexes yet (and of course, we will find out as soon as possible), and the doctors' say it looks like they will be identical (so either two boys or two girls). We are INCREDIBLY excited and feel INCREDIBLY blessed to have two of Heavenly Father's precious little ones to come and join our family. Everything has gone great with the pregnancy...I don't get sick, which is WONDERFUL and both babies seem to be growing healthy and strong. We are a little blown away that the number of our children is doubling in one shot but we are all really excited and trying to stock up on diapers and wipes. :) I am trying to focus my efforts and resources on that right now because I know once we find out the sexes I will automatically switch into "matching clothes buying mode." :) I also recently found out that most childrens' clothing stores offer a "mulitiples" discount - of which, I plan on taking FULL advantage of! :)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Why I love being a mother...

I just want to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am to be a mother. I am convinced that Heavenly Father has blessed Trev and I with some of his most precious and choice spirits. Our children bring such joy into our lives and our world revolves around them. I just hope that I enjoy these tender moments in my life so that I don't look back and regret that I didn't. Morgan is the sweetest, most tender-hearted little girl. She is beautiful, intelligent, super-duper sweet, loving, and funny too. She melts my heart and I just think that Heavenly Father knew how perfectly she would fit into our lives. I am grateful for her thoughtful spirit and her example to me of Christ-like love. If only I can learn to be more like her. And my sweet boy, Jake. What can I say...he is ALL boy and I LOVE it! He is such an active, rowdy little guy that when he takes the time to just sit and snuggle (not often) I just melt. From day one he has always been a daddy's boy, but lately I have definately made up some ground! He is also sooo funny! He knows when he has an audience and he works the crowd like mad. We have people telling us all the time what a cool kid he is. From what I understand, he pretty much runs the nursery every Sunday and keeps the Nursery leaders in stitches. The other side of him I absolutely adore is that he has a loving heart as well. He ADORES his "sissy." If and when, he gets hurt he always wants to cuddle and won't be satisfied until we kiss his "ouchies" better. He is constantly showing me that I need to enjoy life. He is just the happiest, fun, out-going little guy and I just LOVE that about him. As you can see, I am a very blessed woman and that's not even mentioning how wonderful my sweet husband is. I could go on and on about him too. I just love my life and am so grateful that Heavenly Father provides us so much happiness in a life that is supposed to be difficult. I have learned a lot more about my Heavenly parents by becoming a parent myself. I love my family and I LOVE my Heavenly Father for bringing them into my life and creating so much joy for me.

Friday, April 25, 2008

No good reason....just haven't blogged lately. :)





Hey everyone (or atleast those of you who are still actually looking at my blog since I have posted in like 2 months!),


Sorry for the delay...I just haven't gotten around to blogging lately. No good reason, just haven't done it. :) But I am still here and I am going to try to keep up in the future. :)


Things have been pretty much the same in the Lighten home; Trev works, I raise our babies, and the kids make messes. Ya know, the usual. :) So I decided to post just a few little snapshots of life. One is of Morgan getting her first set of braids in her hair (which she loved, she called it her Silly Hair). The other is of Jake just lounging on the couch during the braiding, watching his favorite movie Cars, with one of his Vrooms, Vrooms (Jake's word for cars) strategically placed next to him. He is all boy and just LOVES his Vroom, Vrooms. :)