The Haumpson Family Reunion

Every year we go on what we now refer to as the Haumpson Family Reunion. The Haub Family and the Thompson Family go to California and have a whole bunch of fun. This year was a little bit more interesting...since we had these two cute things to worry about. This is how the trip went. First, I packed up a whole bunch of milk and took the babies up to Granny Smith's house. Thanks again mom for watching them. Next, I picked up Darren, Kelli, and their 1 year old Damon and we were on our way.

The following story involves breast milk. If that makes you uncomfortable, please skip. On our way back through Cedar City, I decided to pump since we were waiting for Curtis anyways. I really wasn't used to the idea of throwing away liquid gold yet. 10 oz later we were on the road. We stopped at a super scary burger place in Vegas and then went on to Primm where we stayed at Buffalo Bills for $16. Yay! As we were unpacking our things, I realized that I had left my pump attachments at home. Out of habit, I kept them out to dry. It didn't take me long to wonder if the 10 oz. I got were worth it. I decided it would just have to wait until the morning.

I got up really early because I couldn't sleep, but since Damon wasn't tired...no one else was asleep either. We just got on the road. We went to or called 3 Wal-Marts and 2 Targets. None of them sold the attachments separately from the pump. It was on to Babies-R-Us. By this point, I am really worried that I might explode and Babies-R-Us doesn't open for another hour though, so we decided to buy the full pump and sell it later (anyone need a breast pump?)

I ended up pumping for the next hour and got 26 oz. By the end of the trip I threw out 190 oz. Pretty crazy.

After pump accessories, our first stop was 6 Flags! I LOVE ROLLER COASTERS! For the first half of the day we didn't have to wait in lines at all. We were worried about having Damon with us, but he was a champ. He took his naps in his stroller and was pretty happy all day long.

Day 2 was LA. We did some shopping, walked down to the pier, ate yummy food, and just had fun. Everyone told me I was going to miss my babies way too much to enjoy myself. I feel a little bit guilty, but I didn't. I love my babies and I was so excited to kiss their little faces, but I really did enjoy sleeping at night, being able to eat at meal times instead of feeding, and only having to buckle one seat belt when getting in and out of the car.

Day 3 was Saturday. In my half-marathon training schedule I was supposed to run 9 miles so I took off with my GPS watch and found out that we were only 2.5 miles away from the beach. I got to run 4 miles along the beach. It was wonderful. Running at sea level is awesome too. I felt like I could have gone another 10 miles after I got back to the hotel. After I got back, the plan was to spend the day on the beach. The first thing I did when we got there was take a nap (it was great), then we met up with one of Kelli's friends from high school. It was really cold so we didn't really get in the water, but had the beach experience none the less.

Day 4 we went to church and then went to take family pictures on the beach. We got some REALLY good ones of the Haub family. We sortof wished we had brought our babies for that hour. Oh well, guess we'll have to take some mountain pictures with them. This was really the last thing we wanted to do before leaving town. The car was all packed up and ready to go. On our way back we had a small accident though. I tried to avoid a trench that some kids must have dug in the sand, but the sand gave way. I stepped out to catch my balance and jammed my foot into Kelli's leg. It hurt and when I looked down my toe was no longer pointing forward. My response: "I broke my toe." I really would have just come home, but my toe was pointing the wrong direction. Darren volunteered to put it back where it was supposed to be. He pulled really hard and we both felt a pop, but it was still pointing in the wrong direction. So we went to instacare, they took x-rays, it was broken, the doctor put it back, and we were on our way yet again. We made it back to Primm in pretty good time, ate breakfast for dinner, and then went to bed. It had been a long day. The most upsetting part...now I have a broken toe and don't know if I should run the half in 3 weeks. Grrrr!

From Primm it was back home. I went back to Grandma Jojo's and Grandpa Genie Bugs to get the little ones this time. Thanks for everyone who helped out so that we could go enjoy ourselves, eat too much food, and spend too much money. Thanks Kelli and Darren for planning such a fun trip and letting us come with you.

Quotes:

Andi: "Oh crap! Will you steer"

Curtis: "JACK IN THE BOX!"

Kelli: "We could call you BK for broken foot."

Curtis: "They're just going to have to wait...while...I...do...this."

Curtis: "There's so much crime in LA, they don't care about me. Really, they don't."

Andi: "Look, a plane is taking off and a helicopter is taking down"

Date Ball Recipe

1 C cut up dates
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter
1 egg, beaten
1/2 C nuts
1 t vanilla
2 C rice krispies
flaked coconut or powdered sugar

Mix together dates, sugar, butter, and egg on the stove over med-high heat. Cook 5 minutes after it starts to boil. Remove from heat. Let cool 1-2 minutes. Add nuts, vanilla, and rice krispies. Form into balls and roll in coconut or powdered sugar. Eat. Yummm!

Date Balls

When I was a little girl, my grandma used to make date balls. I LOVED them. I remember one time I was at her house and she had a kitchen full of date balls. She the proceded to put them in boxes and send to all of her grandkids who were on missions. When I was a missionary I never got one of those boxeds, but I wished many times that I were one of the earlier missionaries in the family when my grandma was healthy and able to cook.

I hadn't had them in ages and decided to make them a few weeks ago. I was so excited to share them with my husband and the conversation we had went something like this. Silly husband.

Me: Want a date ball?
Curtis: No.
Me: Why not?
Curtis: I don't like dates?
Me: I bet you've never even tried a date before?
Curtis: No, I haven't.
Me: Then how do you know you don't like them?
Curtis: I just know.

A Few Cute Pictures...

Cooper is so chubby he makes his dad look skinny!

Happy Birthday Addison!

I guess it's tradition now that we let balloons go at Addie's grave on her birthday. We thought Cooper and Kennedy would enjoy the experience as well.

After leaving flours, we had pink and purple cupcakes and icecream. I love birthday parties!

It is so hard to believe that we would have a 2 year old running around if we hadn't lost Addie so early. I can't believe it's been that long. In the same breath, so much has happened since that day. Nothing will ever replace what we lost, but I am so glad we felt emotionally and physically healthy enough to continue growing our family. Our arms were empty and now they are full. We are grateful for eternal families.

Dad was out of town, so the babies told me they wanted to visit their cousin Damon. We did lots of fun stuff. We even went to a splash park and showed off our swimming suits.

When dad flew in, we went on to see our other cousins. These are all the babies born in 2010. We kinda like being the big kids.

Pioneer Day

We went to the Pioneer Day Parade on the 24th. The babies didn't like the fire trucks, but they love being outside. They even fell asleep while we were watching the parade and ended up sleeping on the blanket for a while after the parade was over. We were okay with letting them sleep.

6 Months Old

Granny Smith came to visit and here we are celebrating the babies' half birthday.
I'm not sure why this picture flipped, but it's cute enough that I'm going to keep it here.

I didn't realize that 6 months was such a magical age. In the weeks surrounding the babies' 6 month birthday they just seemed to explode. All of the sudden they have so much more personality. They started rolling over (Cooper first and more proficiently). I used to put them on a blanket and that's where they'd be when I came back. Now, I usually come to the rescue. Either because Kennedy is being attacked by Cooper or because Cooper has rolled up against the couch and can't figure out how to keep moving. They learned how to put their own binkies in their mouths (Kennedy mastered that one first). Cooper laughs like crazy. Kennedy love to grab your face. They've gotten super possessive of their toys. Kennedy has this favorite Lion. When she sees that Cooper has it she dives for it. Both of them LOVE my water bottle. They start kicking with excitement every time I even lift it up. They also thing that anything on my plate should go in their mouth. I don't know why because I don't like to share, but I guess I've done it enough that they think that what's mine is theirs. And they LOVE water mellon.

These are the kind of situations I rescue my babies from.

4th of July

Me and Kenners in our 4th attire. Since they had lots of 4th outfits thanks to grandma's and aunt's they got to wear them over the whole weekend, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. They were very festiv this year. The Thompsons and the Endsleys

We really do owe our marriage to our friends Adam and Ashley. Adam was Curtis' roommate and Ashley was my mission companion. We met at their wedding luncheon. It's crazy that less than 4 years later we were able to get together with our combined 4 kids. We really have missed them since they moved.

While they were here visiting, we invited the old game night crew over(minus Josh, Megan, and JP--you were missed) and had a BBQ for the 4th. We have a group picture, but my camera battery was dead so I don't have one yet.

It was the first time we hosted a BBQ because it was the first time we had a grill of our very own. Curtis' parents gave us money to put towards one when Curtis got his masters degree...we spent it on our cruise instead. Then I read a book by Dave Ramsey, The Total Money Makeover. It's one I would really reccomend and it's changed our spending habits. The new joke is asking "is that Dave Ramsey approved" before any purchase. The grill we aquired (complete with hornet's nest and a hole in the bottom that allows black gew to drip out) IS Dave Ramsely approved. We are super excited for many memories to be made with our grill.

Our Babies

It's hard for us to believe that our babies aren't always going to be small enough to fit in the same crib or that they will one day crawl away when we put them on a blanket and try to take a picture of them. We are enjoying (almost) every minute.

Cooper is getting so much more personality every day. He loves to eat his toes, be tickled, get tossed in the air, swing, he gets excited about every new toy, he reexplores the exerssaucer every time he gets in it, and he LOVES his mommy.

Kennedy is still super calm. She has a few favorite stuffed animals, she loves to cuddle, her smile is killer, and she's got eyes that could melt anybodys heart.

5 Months Old

Yes, this is being posted a little bit late, but I took this picture of them on their 5 month birthday. I love the outfits and I love their faces.

Youth Conference

Curtis went to youth conference so the babies and I decided it would be a great time to visit some friends and family. I'm terrible about taking pictures, but here's a couple highlights.

I got super lucky! Curtis' brother and his wife had their baby while I was up there. It was fun to hold such a tiny baby and even harder to believe that our babies were even a few pounds smaller when they were born.

We had a BBQ German style at my dad's house for his birthday. There's nothing like a brat w/mustard on a summer day. Cooper loved the experience too. His favorite part was the swing though.

Some people think you can't fit 3 car seats in a car. We did! I fear we might have been part of the statistic that __% of car seats are installed incorrectly, but we got to our destination and only had to take one car to do it. It worked, I just hope we don't have another baby before we can afford a bigger car because this could be a pain.

Addison May

It blows me away to think that next month our little Addie would have been 2! We still miss her and what could have been, but the emptyness of losing our baby has been filled. We have been so blessed with Cooper and Kennedy. For memorial day we took them to her grave. I guess this makes our first official complete family photo. We love you Addison.

Best Job Ever

I can't think of a job I've ever had that I've done exceptionally well at. Just ask my brother-in-law. He was my supervisor when I worked at a call center in college. Speaking of college, I was just an average student. I've had a bunch of callings too and I'm pretty sure I could have done a LOT better with all of them. I served a mission, but did nothing out of the ordinary. The list could go on and on.

Sometimes I feel bad about all of the above, but lets not dwell on the past because somehow I've tricked myself into thinking that I am an awesome mom. Some might say I set my expectations way too low. For example, most weeks, I don't make it out of the house more than 3 times (that's changing now that it's warmer and the babies are older), but here are a few things I do do. I exercise... probably 4 times a week. I make dinner pretty much every day and it's usually ready when Curtis gets home. I go grocery shopping and usually even look online to find out where the sales are. I am still nursing 2 babies after 5 months!!! They get bathed regularly. We play, we laugh, we go on walks. On any given day, the house is usually cleaned up at some point in time. I change a few diapers each day. I do lots of laundry! I might even start cleaning the bathrooms regularly again.

There is, however, one thing I feel really bad about. I am not documenting this perfect life very well. I could blame it on being so busy with two new babies, but that's not true. They've been sleeping through the night for a while now. I put them down between 7:30 and 8:00 and they'll usually sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 in the morning. I do have some time to do it if I really wanted to. The truth is, I still don't have a wedding book put together or mission pictures for that matter. For some reason, it's just a job I never want to tackle. So for now, I guess this blog is all we have. I will try to make updates more regular.

[Note to grandmas: please don't get your hopes up. I said I will try.]

Firsts

While we were enjoying the sun in St. George, we (I) decided it would be a good time to Kenna Baby for her first swim. Actually, I just wanted to show her off in her cute swimming suit. We haven't found one for Cooper yet so he stayed inside with dad. The water was too cold though so I just splashed water from the hot tub on her and called it good.
Say good bye to Coopers over-the-ears hair. He got a "hairs cut!"

At first, he liked the buzzing of the clippers...

...by the end he was MAD!

He was actually too mad to get a good "after" shot. Here he is a few weeks later. He's in his bouncer and very happy having just finished his first bowl of rice cereal. He really did eat it right up. Maybe he's been ready for it for a while. It's just an adventure I wasn't ready to start. All I have to say is I'm glad Kenna Baby isn't ready yet. I'm just going to worry about one baby at a time.

Our good friends Adam and Ashley were visiting from Arizona. Their little girl is just about 3 months older than our babies and she has teeth. They were all laying on a blanket together. We thought it was so cute and then the screaming started. Katie grabbed Cooper's finger and chomped down. It all happened too fast to stop and we were left with a very upset baby. I figure he needs to get used to it because pretty soon his sister is going to have teeth and who knows what she's going to want to do with them.
Ashley's parents had twins too. They are 30 now, but they still have the magic touch.

Mother's Day Adventure

I'm not sure why this picture turned, but I can't get it to turn back. This is how Kenna Baby and Cooper Dooper spend a lot of their day. They really like to hang out next to each other on a blanket. They tend to grab each other's hands or arms.
We went to visit our families on Mother's Day weekend. As usual, we didn't take enough pictures. Here is one of Grandma Thompson. I'm pretty sure she loves being a grandma.

We were also able to stop and see my grandma. It was the first time she was able to see the babies. Here she is with Kennedy...

...and this is her with Cooper.

One boy, on girl.

Look at those eyes...they probably know that their mom is going to do next.
Yea, I know. He makes a pretty ugly baby girl. It's a good thing he's a super cute baby boy!

Pictures

We had some 3 Month pictures taken of our babies a while ago (I know...they're already 4 months old now). I think the pictures speak for themselves. We love our little babies.