My Brother, Barry

My brother Barry works in the water department at American Fork City. This past Monday, he along with a few other co-workers were out doing routine daily tasks when they noticed that a house close by was on fire. Barry knew that if he and his partners waited for the cops and firefighters to respond, it might be too late. They rushed into the flaming home and found a mother and her 4 year old daughter trapped inside. They escorted the two out to safety and no one was injured. Along with working for AF City, Barry has trained as a volunteer firefighter and runs as an EMT part-time to make extra money. Because of this training, he was sharp and quick on what to do in a situation like this.

I have not been able to stop bragging about my brother all week. He is such an example and I look up to him in all aspects. I am so proud of him and who he is. The story was all over the news yesterday, so we had fun reading and watching television as they highlighted what happened.

Here is a few links to news stories:

An article here

A video here

How lucky I am to be able to call this guy my brother.
Just a few of the things that come to my mind when thinking of Barry:

-He is humble. He once told me he would rather make a living at a fraction of the money if he is doing something that helps others. He doesn't care about making a million dollars and driving nice cars, he cares more about the relationships he has and feeling like he is making a difference.
-He is Christ-like. It is innately in him, he doesn't even need to try hard like the rest of us. He just is.
-He is so likeable, everyone that meets him falls in looove with him
-He has the most contagious laugh. He is my favorite person to watch a movie with because he laughs harder and longer than anyone else.
-He is the best dad and husband. His kids idolize him and his wife truly adores him, which to Barry is the highest accomplishment.
-He is not the slightest bit selfish or vain. He wears his shoes and jeans until they have holes worn all the way around so he can buy other things for his family.
-He is hilarious and always has everyone in the room rolling.
-He is the hardest worker I know. He works 60, 70, sometimes 80 hours a week to make sure his kids can do everything in this life that they want. He doesn't complain, ever.
-He is brave

A Little Bit of Our Weekend

On Friday I had to go to the post office.
After we finished there I decided since I already had the girls out of the car and in the stroller we would go for a little walk.
On our walk we found a cute little park.
The sun was shining and I had snacks, so we stayed a while.

We had so much fun on Friday, we decided to take Rick there on Saturday.
Both days were beautiful and the girls loved it.
We are beginning to see that Bree is a little adventurous and
Clara is more timid.
Bree crawled off and got her hands messy trying to explore in the dirt and finding ants.
Clara stayed close by and was more apprehensive unless mama and dada were by her side.

We are SO HAPPY spring is here!

Reflection of One Year Ago

Our sweet little miracles are one!
365 days they have been with us.
It seems so long ago.
Reflecting back to that day has been fun.
Today, we looked at pictures and watched the video of the day they were born.
That day seems like a dream. We have the most fond memories of their arrival and hope we will never forget the magic we felt at that time.
Two babies to take care of....
Then, it was surreal and daunting.
Today, it is reality and our every day.
We love it and love them with our whole hearts.
Happy Birthday Bree and Clara!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Here we are, the last of the girl's first holidays. St. Patrick's Day. We scrounged up some green threads and celebrated in style. Please admire their cute green clips. I am beyond excited the girls have upgraded to the bow clips and the headbands are a thing of the past. Clips will actually stay on their head. They have been working hard to grow that hair!
It is so hard to believe we will not be celebrating any more first holidays with our babies. They turn one this week! Ahhh!

A Birthday Trip

30 years old! Yes, Rick is there.
On March 10, Rick will embark on the journey into his thirties.
I had been thinking for months of the best way to celebrate.
I finally decided the best way would be to pack our bags and make some memories on a vacation together, ALONE!
My mom took our little ones(thanks, mom!) and we took off for a little getaway of relaxation in sunny Southern California.

On our first day, we went to the NBC Studios in Burbank and saw a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
It was fun to see how the show is made and also to see a few celebrities.
At the end of the show, Rick was given Jay's cue card that read who his guests were!
Great experience. I highly recommend doing this sometime, the tickets are even free.

We then headed over to Beverly Hills and walked the famous Rodeo Drive to check out
the expensive cars driving on the street and window shop.
It is incredible that people spend as much as they do on their wardrobe at these stores.
One shirt at these places costs as much as our vehicles. Unbelievable!
As we walked to the end of the street, we turned the corner and Rick spotted out a Nike Town.
His eyes lit up, literally. This man loves his Nike apparel and it was much more in his shopping interest. :)
We finished off the night up at Universal Studio's City Walk to do a little more shopping in our price range and have some dinner.

We dedicated the second day to driving the Pacific Coast Highway and spending time on the beaches.
We ended up spending most of the day in the beautiful city of Malibu.
It was picturesque and a dream.
We walked on the beach, looked for starfish in tide pools, took beach naps, laid out, and went and got some delicious red velvet cupcakes at a market in town.
I could easily get used to this lifestyle!
Towards the end of the day, we headed over to Santa Monica Pier and watched the sunset.

We went to a fancy dinner that night at our favorite restaurant Flemings.
It is few and far between that we get to come here, so it is a big treat when we get to go.
Thanks to a gift certificate from Rick's sister, Cari we were able to enjoy a romantic birthday dinner for Rick.

Our last day there was kind of the grand finale of our trip.
The whole reason I had the idea of an LA trip in the first place was to take Rick to a Lakers game.
I knew that he had always wanted to go to a game at the Staples Center, and lucky for us they were playing Miami Heat on the weekend before his birthday!
Heat vs. Lakers, Lebron vs. Kobe. The number one match up Rick said he would want to see.
Rick rooted for Miami, I rooted for the Lakers. The Staples Center was awesome.
All around, great experience. The tickets were pricey but so worth it!




The last thing we had on our checklist of things to do was go visit the Los Angeles Temple.
We walked the temple grounds and enjoyed the peace that always comes with being around the temple. Beautiful!


We had such an amazing time and felt so rejuvenated.
As in love we are with our girls, it was priceless to spend time alone with each other and explore LA.
Happy 30th Birthday to my amazing husband, I hope you had fun.
Love you!

Cuddles

Tonight Clara was having a hard time sleeping.
She has a fever and just feels yucky.
Lucky for me, she loves to cuddle all the time.
When she is sick it is just a little extra.
As much as I would love to think that she will never stop cuddling with me,
I know that there will come a day when it will stop.
So I will take it all in now.
Also, I will snap pictures to prove to her when she is a teenager that there was a day when she didn't find me annoying;)

February Phone Photos

The only photos I have from the past few months are from my phone.
Sorry for the overload, but I need to document somewhere.
Thanks to Instagram, I'm keeping up with picture taking.
If you have an Iphone and haven't joined Instagram, you should. It is wonderful!

1. Thai food date night 2. First PB&J 3. Taking turns turning pages
4. Clara, future piano player 5. Precious 6. Girls karaoke night
7. Watching bball from bleachers 8. Daddy reading 9. Long way down

1. Sweet Bree 2. BBQ date night 3. Clara filling her belly before bed
4. Rick and his mom at UofU bookstore 5. Intently staring at Gpa's beard 6. Cuddling with Gma Cami
7. Me, having some alone time 8. Bree takes over remote 9. Showing off their pearly whites

Playing

Since Bree and Clara were born, I have been asked often how they interact.
People are curious if they have been aware of each other and interacted a lot from the beginning.
It is funny because really they haven't seemed interested in each other at all until recently.

I absolutely love when I catch them playing and talking. It is the best thing yet.
Here is a little glimpse into our lives lately...
Bree even goes in for a kiss at the end. So keep watching:)