More bedrest.

I have been on bed rest for a while, and I think I have been doing a pretty good job of staying in bed and not doing anything. The reason I have been on bed rest, is that this nice doctor that is in charge of the babies while in utero, doesn’t like what my cervix has been doing the last month. I can say that I warned them for months that this was going to happen and to be prepared to be stunned, I also kept asking for the medicine that I knew could slow to progress. Well they didn’t get what I was saying and they were stunned. The problem is that in the past month my cervix has been shortening or effacing, form 24 weeks to 28 weeks I went from 3.5cm (like 20 something % effaced) to 1.2cm (80 something % effaced). Because of that, I am now in the hospital just in case. They don’t like that I am doing this a month earlier than I did with my boys. They are also concerned that with the extra baby and stuff (I am measuring 37 weeks singleton) I might progress further. Some other factors that are against me are, this is my third pregnancy, I live far away, and I am only 28 weeks. Because of this, they don’t feel that is in the babies’ best interest for me to be at home right now.

So for now, I get to get my meals brought to me in bed at the local Hospital Hotel! I think Tyson, Branson and Jeanette are at this moment celebrating that they don’t have to take care of me anymore!

Some of the memorable moments of the day are when the Perinatologist told me “You are the bane of my existence!” She and another doctor she works with are the only two people that get grants from the government to study the cervix, and my cervix is beyond her understanding. She asked me and my mom to be scanned for her study.  

Christmas

Christmas Eve Tyson's Family came over in the afternoon and hung out all day. We had a nice dinner and a bunch of treats! It was nice to get together and just take it easy. I hope we can do the same thing next year, only maybe start earlier.

 

Christmas morning we slept in, I think this was the first time we haven't  had to wake the boys up! They got a few toys, a sled, blankets Tyson and I made them and some much needed clothes!

Tyson suprized me with the rest of our central vac and he also got me a bed set. I was a slacker this year and didn't get Tyson anything special. He had just bought a TV so I figured that was good with some pants and some softwere he ordered. I also gave him a silverware set...he wasn't amused!

After our house we went down to Dad and Laurie's. They had a wonderful breakfast and all the kids got to open new toys for grandmas house! Tyson just made the boys some beds, so Grandma and Grandpa  are getting us a mattress for one of them!  The boys have slept in the same twin bed forever! Laurie also went all out and had a bunch of little girl matching outfits! It is so strange to see pink and purple baby clothes!  

 

At the end of the day we went to Mom and Jim's for a wonderful dinner and opened more gifts. Grandma and Grandpa Lindshiled and Grandma and Grandpa Smutz send their gifts to moms, so the boys are even more spoiled there! Mom went all out again and caught me by surprise a few times! Rachel and I got new serger's! I think Mom was done with us using hers all the time!

We were very spoiled this year, but the thing I love most about Christmas is spending time with family and remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

2009 was a long year of both blessings and trials. Some I have shared and some were to personal to share.

I thank our Father in Heaven for all he has given us this year, because even with the trials, I have had the blessing of feeling my Savior beside me, stronger than I ever have before.

My mom wrote a paper in college about her exspereance when my sister had childhood cancer. Something she said at the end of the paper has been in the front of my mind all year. She said something along the lines of  " There are moment in life when time stops and nothing of the world matters anymore" I can say I have had those moments this year.

I am so grateful to my Savior that has carried me and comforted me and my loved ones this year. I hope I will remember and feel his peace this coming year

Some reasons we love living in Heber!

People ask me what I love about living in Heber, after looking at these pictures I thought I would write down a few reasons!

I love that Tyson can come home whenever he wants to. Log Craft and Park Engineering are right down the road. Before we moved here, Tyson would have to leave at 6 am and wouldn't get back until 6 pm or later most days. These are pictures of the boys in the shop at Log Craft helping Tyson make their beds. They really love having Daddy near by!

Daddy and the boys had a lot of fun decorating for Christmas this year. Tyson did such a good job, I need to get some pictures of all the decorations he put up. It was rewarding to see the house we worked so hard on decorated for Christmas!

Snow! I love the snow here! It is so pretty when it comes down and we got a ton of it when it did snow. It seems to just stay in the right spot once it is cleared. 

Some other things I love....

not having the inversion, the sky is always so clear up here.

The wonderful ward, I have already learned so much from these wonderful ladies!

Having a house that can handle company, and my kids.

Wonderful neighbors.

The little town that you and drive through in a jiffy!

The nice library (I need to go there more!)

The wonderful people that Tyson works with being able to stop by!

Not having to pay a ton of money for Tyson to go to work.

Being able to enjoy the canyon drive with my honey!

Ethans Birthday!

We had a little family party for Ethan’s Birthday this year. Tyson decorated Ethan’s cake too, such talent! Branson has been living at our house, so he was there. Grandpa Ed had just stopped by and joined us as well.

Ethan is such a sweet boy, and we are so happy he is a part of our family. He is very shy and quiet, but underneath that he does have a very stubborn and strong personality. He can be quite a brute, but he takes criticism into himself and deals with it eternally. He loves to use his strength when he plays. So unfortunately for Isaac, Ethan wrestles him to the floor all the time! I am always so surprised with the different ways Ethan and Isaac go about doing things. They both love the same things but, Isaac will just use his hands and Ethan has to use his whole body. Isaac loves to be with new people; Isaac would rather be with his family. I love that they have come to an age where they love to be with each other (when they are not fighting!) and find new things to do. Ethan loves his Daddy; he has to be doing everything he does. He loves to cuddle both me and Tyson; he is such a cuddle bug! Ethan still loves his naps and will let you know when he it done and needs rest. Ethan has big growth spurts. He will eat everything in the house for a month when he is on a growth spurt. He also has discovered that he loves sushi this year, and so now I have to contend with him and Isaac when I make a sushi roll! I worry about how we are going to feed these boys when they are teenagers!

I love you Ethan Boy!

October Fun!

Being the wife of Tyson Munford, I can’t finish up a year without pictures of Hunting Season! This year was different for us, because we had the Deer hunt in October and Tyson’s family Elk Hunt is going on right now. Usually it starts after deer season and goes until the end of December. This year Tyson’s family got to choose one month that they wanted to hunt. I am very grateful it was after the holidays!

I didn’t think I was going to be able to go on the deer hunt (being 13 weeks pregnant) but the road on the property was really good this year.  We stayed up at Colton for a week and had lots of fun with the family. Tyson didn’t get anything, but I didn’t have a hard time with that, I don’t like deer meat!

At the end of the week we had a Halloween party at the store. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and have a good time.

We spent New Year’s up at Colton.  Uncle Chuck and Jesse came up and it’s always fun when they show up! There was so much snow all the boys decided to chain up their trucks and see how far out and how stuck they could get the trucks! I think they scared off all the Elk in the mean time! The whole week end they had fun digging each other out of the snow, while Linda and I had fun making candy and sitting in the warm house! We still have into next month the get an Elk and I hope we do, it is nice to have all that meat in the freezer!

Living with my Mama!

This past summer we lived with my Mom for about four months while we were working on our house. It was crazy, and we really put a dent in Allen’s social life, but overall it was a lot of fun! Some of the biggest highlights were. Staying up late, laughing hysterically. Isaac and Ethan cuddling up next to “Grandpa Jim” whether he liked it or not! The backyard was wonderful; the kids were out there as soon as they woke up, until the sun went down! Playing with Sadie. Growing a garden, and making salsa with the stuff we grew. Canning Mom’s peaches. Isaac and Ethan wanting to go home at night to see “Gwama” “Nason” “Awen” ”Sadie” and “Gwampa Jim”. Play dough, Isaac asked Grandma to make this for him every day; I think we went through all the salt in mom’s house! Cramming a family of four and all their stuff into the smallest room in the house!

I love you Mom, Jim, Allen and Nate! Thanks for letting us stay with you for so long!

Isaacs BIrthday!

Daddy decorated Isaacs Birthday Cake this year, Isaac told him what he wanted and Daddy put it on the cake! Such a talented Daddy! 

This is Ethan's set of pictures form Isaac's birthday. It’s my belly, an upside-down self portrait, Isaac on the stove, his foot and Branson. Good job Ethan!

Isaac has grown up so much this year, he still loves to do everything with Daddy, he go to work in his shop at  Log Craft building furniture, he also helped us build the house. If we needed something he could run and bring it to us.  Everyone in the neighborhood knew who Isaac was before they knew who we were.  Everyone that came to the public park behind our house would hear “Oh, do you want to play at my playground?”  He had a lot of friends be the end of the summer!  Isaac loves to learn, he has been doing really well with his reading and math. He is always drawing and making things with his play dough.  He has a very active imagination, you might hear Ethan saying “Dad” this and “Dad” that around the house when Tyson is gone, but he isn’t talking to Tyson, he is participating in the father- son adventure outing Isaac has created for them to go on!  Isaac is very outgoing, he loves to talk to people and will tell a story a mile long, he does have a sweet spirit and it brakes my heart to see his little face when a friend is mean to him. He doesn’t understand cruelty and his feeling's get hurt very easily. Isaac is very excited to be going to school this year, I can’t believe it has come so soon! He has been asking to go to school for the past two years!

Thanksgiving

I am so sad I didn’t get very many pictures taken during Thanksgiving. It was another wonderful time with family and lots of food!  The Sunday before thanksgiving we were at my mom’s house. We ate some wonderful food and played our traditional bingo game. The day of Thanksgiving we went to eat more good food at Tyson’s moms and hang out. Later that night we went to Dad and Laurie’s to more grate food and play nurts. I have learned how to play recently and need to still practice! The pictures are of Tyson’s mom’s house, everyone was laughing in the kitchen. The other pictures are of Tyson practicing holding twins!  Heather and Caitlyn had to join in on the picture taking!  I wasn’t feeling up to par most of  September , October and November so I think these are all the pictures I took those months:(

Babies!

About the end of August we found out we were pregnant! I was sick right away, I thought it had to do with all the work I was doing on the house.  We didn’t want to tell anyone for a while,  because we have always told everyone so early and it makes things drag on and on.  At 5 ½ weeks I started feeling a lot of pain and was worried I had an infection or something .  I went to the doctor and they told me I was fine, but they were concerned that  I could possibly have an ectopic pregnancy because I had the pain in the right spot and I was in the time frame to start feeling pain.  I called my mom sobbing and asked her to take my kids  so I could go to the hospital, she wanted to know what was wrong and I told her I was pregnant and it might be ectopic. Poor mom,  sorry for telling you that way! I went to the hospital and the Tec, that looked like a 12 year old boy,  did the ultrasound.  I couldn’t see the screen  but told him that twins run in the family so he might want to look all over. He had these bug eyes and said “ I don’t see anything in you tubes but I do see two sacs!” He was so happy to have found them, and proceeded to let all the other ultrasound people come see what he found!  I think all of them were surprised by how calm I was,  I think I already knew there were two.  I think I might blame it on Rachel and Dad, they have defiantly proven we can have twins in our family!  Later they found out that I had fluid stuck in my tubes and the pressure form that is what caused the pain. It eventually went away and I was so grateful!

I went back to moms and because the hospital wouldn’t let me have any pictures  (policy that early?) I made a card for Tyson with two little stick figures in bubbles  and under  the bubbles it said “Hi Daddy!” I showed  it to mom and all she said was “Are you kidding me!”.  Tyson finally came home and I gave him the card, it was so funny!  He gave me his blank confused look, than it hit him and all he could do was  laugh and say “Are you serious?!!!”  over and over again!

At 16 weeks we had hoped to find out what they were at the doctor’s office, because they had told us to expect an ultrasound at every visit. Tyson came with me and that was the  first and only time I didn’t have an ultrasound done.  We decided to go have an ultrasound done at the mall in Sandy with mom and Rachel. I was so glad we did, we had the most wonderful  girl from the Ukraine do our ultrasound. Later I was looking at the paper that said what her credentials were, and I guess she has a doctors license in the Ukraine.  I was very impressed, I still think that was the best ultrasound I have ever had!  We had all the little boys with us and she knew we were wondering if there were any girls coming! Isaac was in the back  of the room saying “Beau there are going to be two girls and I’m going to name them Lilly and Grace!” (his friends that are twins names!) Isaac had been saying this from the day we found out that we were having twins, and no one could make him think otherwise!  The girl put the wand on my stomach and right away said “Baby B is a girl!” I had always thought that if one of them was a girl it was going to be Baby B. After looking over the baby and taking measurements, she moved on to Baby A. Right away I knew what it was, and I just watched Tyson’s face. She started with the measurements  first on Baby A and every once in a while you could see that area. The first time Tyson looked confused; the next time his jaw dropped a little and he looked confused; the last time his jaw was on the floor, he was slightly out of his chair and he looked really confused,  than she said “It’s a girl!”. I was laughing so hard at the face Tyson was making,  I have never seen him that surprised!  The whole time Isaac kept saying “I told you they are girls!” I think I took a few days for Tyson to overcome the shock of both of them being girls. Then one day when he was going to work he ran back into the house and grabbed the pictures saying “I want to show everyone at work my baby girls!” I was shocked! He has been so excited, I can’t wait to see him with his girls!

The House

August and September we were working on the house again. All the finish work had to be done and it was a lot of work. I can admit that I am grateful for the skills I learned, but I’m not so sure I ever want to use them again!

These are some of the pictures of Tyson finishing the stairs. If you notice, he had to carve his name and the year into the beam going across the loft. So if anyone ever takes it down they will know he built the stairs (I guess?)!!! He is so funny!

He also finished the fireplace, I was so glad to see that done! I was still painting, and had to hurry because carpet finally came at the end of August!

Grandpa Finch

 

About a week after we returned home from Hawaii Tyson’s Grandpa Finch went back into the hospital. He had been suffering with fluid on his lungs longer than I have known him. It is a disease that is difficult and painful.  We were able to be there when he went home to our Heavenly Father.  We were sad, but I was relieved to know that he wasn’t in pain anymore.

One thing that has intrigued me about the passing of Clayson and Grandpa, is Isaac's understanding and desire to understand what is going on.  He has expressed so much love for his uncle and grandpa and misses them terribly, but he has such a pure understanding about where they are and what they are doing.  He talks about them often and his comments take my breath away. I am so grateful for his sweet  and pure spirit that gives me so much understanding and clarity.

 

 

I love these pictures of Tyson and Grandma Finch. I didn’t see a resemblance between them until I took these. I love the face they are giving to the kids, that is Tyson’s  “don’t make me tell you again” face. I now know where he got it!  I also love the one of them smiling at the camera, it’s so cute! Tyson sure does love his grandma!

 

 

 

All Tyson’s family came back into town and we had fun telling stories again and having a good time!  It can get a little wild and crazy! We have a clip of story time here.

Hawaii

At the end of July we finally took our trip to Hawaii. Mom and Jim had gotten tickets almost a year before and it was a long wait! We went to Kona, on the big Island because Mom and Jim love to scuba dive there. Tyson, Allen, Nathan, Branson and I took scuba lessons before we went. I learned that I am a nose breather and it made going under water with a mask on really difficult!  Of course, Tyson is a fish and the top of our class.....one day I will do something better than him!

This was my second trip ever on an airplane, I don't get out much! It was a lot of fun to fly over the islands and then get out of the plane at this tiny little air port.

We stayed at mom and Jim's time share. It was really nice and right across the street from the water. It was so pretty. I loved the color of all the wonderful flowers.  

Our first dive was next to the City of the Kings. It was exciting but I was so nervous, and breathing so fast, I went through my air like crazy! After that we went to look at the Kings City. It was really pretty. We all took pictures of our beautiful whiteness on the rock that the King sat on to look across the ocean. 

The next day we went on another dive. This one wasn't as good, but we went further down and it was good practice. The next dive we went on (no pictures) was off the boat harbor. When we got there a couple told the guys that if the scrunched a bottle under water next to the buoy, tiger sharks would come up to us. I wasn't paying attention to what was going on, I was just trying to get my stuff ready to make the walk to the water with really heavy equipment. We started swimming out and it was so pretty, all the fish and corral were so colorful, but we kept swimming and swimming out to the buoy and finally decided to go under. When we got under water I noticed that we were past the corral and out to the blank sand and it was a long drop! We kept going down and down......in my mind I was freaking out! I reached the bottom and my computer read 95 feet, but Jim's read 110 feet! (His is more accurate) I was thinking " What the heck are we doing down here!?!" Nathan started scrunching a bottle and I was clueless as to what was going on. I only cared about the fact that my air was going fast!We decided nothing was going to show up and started back up to the top. If you know anything about scuba, you are not supposed to ascend fast. I was following Allen and Nate when they went up. I sat there forever thinking "wow they went up fast!" Then mom and Tyson came along and wanted me to slow down because I was slowly going up. I got to the top, then mom and Tyson came up. Tyson's nose was bleeding everywhere(he has bad sinuses for scuba). I didn't know why at the time, but he and the boys started racing for the shore.

I didn't realize what exactly we were looking for until we got back home and shark week was on. They were talking about tiger sharks and I was horrified to see a ten foot shark! These are the thoughts that went racing through my head. "I thought we would be seeing something small!" "Who takes new divers (especially me) down 110 feet to see that!!" "No wonder Tyson and the boys went racing for the shore when he had a really bad bloody nose, and left me and Jim behind!!!!" Yes, next time I go scuba diving with a bunch of nuts, I will be sure to get a full report of what we are doing FIRST!!!  

I guess we weren't done adventuring. We went up to the top of the island and found a rain forest to walk through. At the end of our hike there was a really pretty water fall. Mom and Jim have done this stuff so much I guess they know all the good adventuring spots!

After the water falls we went all the way up to the top of the island were the road ends. I guess this is were they filmed some of the Jurassic Park movies. It was really pretty!

The next day we decided to go see a black sand beach. Most of the well known black sand beaches are on the other side of the Big Island, but if you are mom and Jim you know of the one next to Kona! All you do is go down to the National Park by the Air port and take your nice rental cars over the old black bumpy lava for a long time, once you get to the little sign that says "4 wheel drive only" park the small car and pile 8 people into the Jeep (some might have to sit on the hood, but don't put the guys that are 6'4" up there or they might dent it!). Then drive over the really bumpy lava until everyone is sick and has hit their heads on the ceiling of the Jeep. Then they will decide to get out of the Jeep and walk over the nice lava! Next, look for the road marked with the nice coral rocks taking you down to the beach. Vala, you are there!

Wow, that was an adventure, but well worth it! We had the whole beach to ourselves ( maybe because we were the only family nuts enough to go out there!) It was amazing some Tyson, Jim, Mom, Allen and Nathan went snorkeling. Caitlyn and I had fun dinging through the lave rocks that meet the ocean to look for shells. the rocks caught a lot of shells and if you were willing to look you could find a lot of really neat ones!

We did a lot more while we were in Hawaii. I think all together we went scuba diving five times. We went to the other side of the Island and saw the most beautiful Kings Valley. I guess you typically are not allowed to go in, but the nice park guy let us in! We discovered that Jeeps can do a lot, like going up and down really steep roads with 8 people piled into them!

We met the mom and family of Tyson's half brother Greg and saw how to live completely off the grid! They were really nice and took us to the lava flow. Jim was disappointed we didn't get to go right up to the lava, but I guess the park and recreation people started getting really strict when quite a few people had fallen in the month before. I was fine with seeing it from a distance! We could see the lava flowing down to the ocean and exploding when it fell in, it was amazing!

We had wonderful pancakes at the local pancake house, they had the most amazing syrups like mango, papaya, guava and coconut. I loved the coconut so much, I asked the lady if I could buy some, she laughed and said "nope!". My mom said it was because they had to kill a lot of coconuts to make that syrup!

At the end of our adventuring days it was nice to just hang out around the pool. I loved the pool!

July and back to work!

July was all about getting back to work for us. Tyson went back to work, we moved into my moms house, Ethan started potty training and everything was packed and put into storage at our old place.
A few weeks after we put the carpet in the old place we started showing it again. In the first week we had two people really interested in buying it. After several years of trying to sell off and on, we finally had it under contract!
We didn't make anything from selling it, but I am so grateful we didn't lose anymore than we did, especially at the worst time to sell. We are grateful our prayers were answered and in his mercy, Heavenly Father blessed everything to happen when it needed to happen. We will always love Pemberley, the ward and people taught us so much. I feel like we were meant to have some wonderful people come into our lives and be the examples we needed. I will always cherish the time spent there!

We started painting the new house in July, it was a lot of work! Tyson again decided to learn a new skill. The problem with that is...if he learns a skill, I will probably have to learn it too! He sprayed the walls with paint and I did the ceilings (with some help.....thanks Alan, Mama Vickie, Jeanette and anyone else that helped!)

My Birthday

We had a pick nick at the park that Branson takes care of for me and Grandma Vickie. It was so pretty and the kids loved the little stream. Isaac and Ethan are such adventurers, these pictures are the epitome of their summer. Tan skin, read cheeks, sticks to explore with and water. It doesn't get better than that when you are a little boy!

That morning some of our friends from Pemberley took us to Maceys to get ice cream cones! I love the pictures of Isaac and Lexie holding hands, he was telling her his grand stories and she was saying "Oh, wow!" and 'Uh ha!" to everything he said! Isaac loves a good audience!
We miss these friends so much, we spent most mornings with them in the summer.
We love you Pemberley friends!

In June we also went to Tyson's dad's house. You can only imagine what happens when you have a long slide, water and boys! I think my heart stopped a few times!

The Lake

We went to Deer Creek to just hang out. I think that is all we did in June, time stopped and we had fun with family. 

Birthday

  

 In June for my birthday we went camping at the Gravel Pits, the camp site up by Tyson's Grandpas. Everyone was still in town and it was a lot of fun to get to hang out and relax after a hard month. I wish we could all get together more!