The Cluff's

For Daddy!

2012-02-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

Sterling,

This is what your little girl has been up to this morning! It's sharpie and I can't get it off!!!!

Making it mine

2012-01-23T14:21:00.000-08:00

When Sterling's little sister and brother-in-law moved out of our basement they left a couple things. This table is one of them. My sister currently lives in the basement and I asked her if we could trade her tables. It's bigger and we were wanting to move the kids out of high chairs and around the table with us so we needed a bigger table. I believe that this was the table that Sterling's parents used when he was growing up. It was painted black and I really just thought it was really ugly. So, I decided to make it mine and change it.


ugly black table before. beginning to strip the paint off.


applying the stain.

									I think I'm going to do another coat of stain then seal it. Although the black legs don't look bad I plan to paint it white because it will go better in my kitchen.
1st coat of stain done.

A Mickey and Minnie Mouse Halloween

2011-11-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum LOVE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. If we're having a bad day Mickey can turn it around in a heartbeat. During the day I get M2 following me around the house holding out the remote for me to take from her and saying in her cute little voice "bickey. bickey mommom?" Oh my gosh. It's hard to resist but I must because good moms don't just let them watching Mickey all day long.

So, they were mickey and minnie mouse for halloween. I wasn't sure they understood. On halloween day M1 had therapy. I had a client coming for a set of nails so they went to g-ma and g-pa beams for a few house after therapy. They were dressed up in their costumes. We took M2's skirt and tutu off for a nap and when she woke up she took them off the bed and gave them to grandma and said "monnie!" (yes, it sounds like money when she says minnie). I spent a good chunk of time making their costumes so I was SO happy to hear that she understood who she was dressing up as!


Cheesy Minnie

Mickey scrounging around under the table.

For our ward halloween party S and I "dressed up" as Kermit and Miss Piggy. I was planning to borrow a blonde wig from my sister-in-law but didn't get around to it. I threw together the little green thing around S's neck about 5 minutes before the party and my sister did my make up to pigg-ify me. I felt REALLY old at the party thanks in part to all the neighbor kids not know who Kermit and Miss Piggy are. WHAT?!?!?! What are you people teaching your children? j/k All in all it was a lot of fun. It's fun for that chance once a year to dress up and be silly.

"Fishing" at the ward halloween party.

Daddy helping M1 "fish". He thought it was so silly.

She's a ROCKER!

2011-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Patch Tradition

2011-10-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

My parents have 11 grandchildren. Only 2 of them live closer than 2 hours away. Those two are mine. They used to take my brother's 2 children to the big pumpkin patch every year but they recently moved out of state. So, I was MORE than happy to let them buy pumpkins for my kids. There is a really cute area set up where you can take a picture of your kids on a tractor with hay bails around it. I LOVE Halloween and everything fall and wanted to get some cute picture of the kids. I decided to take the picture on the opposite side that everyone else was taking picture because the light was so bright and would shine right in their face and make them squint. My father (bless his sole, that old hobbly man!) commented that my pictures weren't going to turn out because the sun was shining right at me. Well, I did it anyway. And this post is to show him that they DID turn out after all. Rather cute too I might add. I should say that I took his advice to get way down in the shade so as to avoid the sun and that's probably the main reason they really did turn out well.

It wasn't a real pleasant process because M#1 wasn't, shall we say, excited to take the picture on prickly hay. But, between 4 adults we got him calmed down enough to take a decent picture.

Attempt #1 (not so happy)

Attempt #2 (not screaming but there IS some left over drool dripping out)

Attempt #3 (M1 is happy but now M2 isn't smiling anymore. Oh well, that's as good as it gets.)

M2's hair WAS done really cute until we got in the car to drive to the pumpkin patch and she must've overheard that I wanted to get cute pictures and she sabotaged it. That stinker-bum!

New things

2011-10-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

Micah is rather sensitive about his head which really kind of sucks for me, the mom, because he falls quite often due to his cerebral palsy. When he falls he inevitably hit his head and begins to cry even if it was just a small "bonk". It's hard as a mom not to run over and give him loves but he needs to toughin' up a bit. He also doesn't like to have people touch his head or put anything on his head like a hat or head band. So, when I put this pumpkin head band of his sisters on and he LEFT it on I was so excited I took a picture. It's so exciting to see him do and experience new things. We have tons of therapy appointments and it get difficult for me to run around all week and have people push him to do things he doesn't like to do. This week we had 5 appointments for different kinds of therapy. Ugh! It's makes it feel worth it when I see him do/try new things. I love my little boy so very much and I'm grateful for the things I am learning because of his challenges. Heavenly Father surely knew that I needed this humbling experience to enjoy all the simple things in life.

Now, my little spit fire, Mattea. She's always been sassy which was fantastic when she was fighting for her life in the NICU but not so much now that she is almost two. Two years old? Really? How is it that my 2 lb babies are going to be turning two years old? The only answer I have for that is because they are a gift from God. They are a daily reminder that God loves me.

Back to Mattea, she really is a sassy-pants. She's talking up a storm lately. She used to only use sign language to tell us what she wanted. My dad used to say that she was never going to talk. Well, she must of heard him one time because she started copying everything we were saying. Somehow she has associated "no, no" with daddy because when she is telling Micah no, no or repeating back to me that something is no, no she says "No, No Daddy"

She has also started to go outside in the back yard without me knowing. Often times I will catch her playing in the dirt or with the outside broom sweeping up the sidewalk.

I love my baby girl so very much and take many opportunities to tell her so. I have a feeling that God sent her to me to strengthen my patience. That really is an area where I needed work so it's a real challenge some days when I'm on the phone with my mom and trying to tell Mattea, "no, no. the peaches don't go in your hair." or when I come up from the basement and she is throwing the dog food up in the air like it's confetti and scattering all over my freshly mopped, and swept floor.

New Pictures

2011-10-11T17:02:00.000-07:00

Dare Devil Babies

2011-08-03T18:41:00.000-07:00

Sterling's parents ward doesn't a neighborhood bar-b-que every summer and this year they had blow up toys. Sterling took both M&M down the giant slide and they had a BLAST! Sterling even sent each of them down by themselves much to my surprise. They loved that too.

Sterling's little sister took her son down the slide and it freaked her out so she screamed... which also meant that Jesse screamed too. Well, we thought maybe if he went down with someone who wasn't afraid he might have fun. No such luck. He's the water baby, where M&M HATE the water and my kids are the dare devils, where Jesse is a little wimpy. That's ok though!

Summer and Cousins

2011-08-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Our swimming trips haven't gone too well this summer. M&M love to take bath's but swimming pools are another subject entirely. So, we head over to Grandma and Grandpa Cluff's house to play in a little wading pool with cousin Jesse. At first they were still a little leary of it but they've started to enjoy it more and more.

Swinging is the best things since sliced bread in M&M's mind. They could swing for hours and still cry because they want to swing more. Too bad we don't have a swing set.

What's a childhood without having the naked cousins picture?!?!

Just some cute ones

2011-08-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

There's isn't a specific reason for posting the following pictures. I just think their cute. Mattea loves to talk on the phone. Every time she picks up the phone or I'm on the phone she yells "DA!". When she actually gets the chance to talk to her dad on the phone she closes up and won't talk. Silly girl.

Micah is such a funny little boy. One of his favorite things to do is to shove as much food in his mouth and smile at you like he is the smartest/cutest little boy ever.

Splash from my past

2011-07-30T00:21:00.000-07:00

We took the twins to a local pool a while ago and it was a DISASTER! They hated it. Cried the whole time! 45 min straight crying. We finally threw in the towel and went home. I was baffled. They love baths but hated swimming so I decided to try swimming on a smaller scale. They did better.

My parents have this little gray tub that I believe they bought back when dinosaurs were still roaming the earth. We used it for everything. It was a dog bath. It was a little kid swimming pool for me when I was younger. It was my hedge hog, Bufford's, home for quite a while too. So, I dug it out, sprayed off the cob webs, filled it with water and threw M&M in there. They were apprehensive at first but then started to splash around and have some fun.

Testing the waters!

Alright! NOW we're talking!

They were having such a good time that my mom hollered at my dad to come and see how cute they were. That's him hobbling over in the background.

All in all it was a success. We've done it a few times since as well.

... exciting announcement!

2011-05-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

My exciting announcement is that I've been called to be the 1st counselor in my ward Relief Society. We're a brand new presidency. I'm pretty excited about it. However, I haven't been given my list of responsibilities yet either. I feel really blessed to be able to be in this presidency with some really great ladies. I just need to remember that the Lord knows our talents and abilities and I need to rely on him to do his work.

from left to right

Marcie Moeller-Secretary, Sherrie Brinkerhoff-2nd counselor, Konni Cluff-1st counselor, and Lynnie Wilde- President extraordinaire

I bet some of you thought I was pregnant huh? ha ha ha ha... I wish.

Gardening

2011-05-02T10:18:00.000-07:00

This is our 2nd summer in our house and I've decided that we're having a garden this year. Now, my mother always had a fairly productive garden when I was growing up but I never helped her or learned anything. So... needless to say I'm doing this blind. I also decided to buy the plants was too expensive for us and to save money I just bought little seed packets. The following is the beginning of my gardening 101.

I decided to start my seeds inside. So, I used an egg shell carton to plants my seeds in and then I'll transfer whenever we get the garden tilled and the weather decided to start taking it's bi-polar medication again.

Their all planted and ready for mr. sun to make an appearance. So, we wait...

and we sew a little dress for easter...

...and we learn some new trick to cause trouble!

Everyone in the house get sick.

We celebrate Daddy's birthday!

and wait,

and wait...

and then BAM! we have little sprouts and the keep getting bigger and bigger. We have quite a few green bean plants, some lettuce, one pumpkin plants, zucchini, and some celery just broke through the soil too.

We're on our way to our very first garden!!!

Announcement...

2011-04-28T02:50:00.000-07:00

I have an exciting announcement but it won't be coming out for another few days. As if my life wasn't busy enough. I'm stoked though folks... I'll post in a couple days!

Pillow Pets

2011-04-18T11:37:00.001-07:00

It's a pillow! It's a pet! It's a pillow pet!

Sterling's grandma Kite LOVES these kids to death. We decided to have her over a couple Monday's ago for dinner and family home evening. When it came time for bed g-g-ma (which is what she has chosen to be called) sang songs and did the bed time ritual with us. After we got them to bed we talked for a while and she told me she had gotten the twins a present. Sterling took her home and when he came back he brought in the cutest little pillow pets. She had bought Mattea an unicorn (which we named Whitey) and Micah a dolphin (named Dale). They love them. Micah like to grab either Dale, or Eli (the elephant in the top right corner of his crib) and bury his face in them and scream at the top of his lungs (for fun) when we put him to bed. Mattea likes to lay on Whitey when she goes to sleep and when I get her up in the morning she grabs Whitey and one of her favorite blankies so she can carry them around with her.

Projects...

2011-03-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

I am notoriously good at starting a project and NEVER finishing it. Our ward does a few different "groups" that I have decided to participate in. I've been having tons of fun! First is card club. It's so much fun to get together with those ladies. I'm learning new things and FINISHING something I started because I have to have it done for card club. Next is quilt club. We meet tonight for quilt club and I didn't do my quilt square right so I'll need to re-do it but it's still so much fun. My mom is planning to come to that group with me now so I am STOKED that I'll be doing that with my mom. I am the YOUNGEST lady that is in that group but I don't mind because they are all such neat ladies that I still have a blast.
I also started sewing an Easter Dress for Mattea! The pattern is super cute, so I'm trying to follow the instruction very carefully so I don't mess it up. Every time I've attempted to sew something my mom always ends up finishing it for me. So, I'm bound and determined to do this on my own. It doesn't help that the very first instruction was to do the pleats in the dress and I had not a clue how to do that. Mom helped with that then stepped away so I could do the rest. So far so good. I'll post pictures to the blog so I'm help accountable for this project. Wish me luck folks!

Our little dooder-bug

2011-03-08T08:25:00.001-08:00

I was hoping to do this post right after the post about Mattea but we got a little busy.

Micah is 15 months old now. Oh my, how the time has gone. We've loved every minute of it. Micah was in the hospital for his first birthday because he had his skull reconstructed 2 days before. It was hard for us to watch him in so much pain but we know it was for the best.

Our Micah Man is the happiest baby I've every seen. He smiles half a second after waking up and is always happy.

Most of the time you can see this little face...

or this...

Even the morning of his big surgery he was all grins!

The only time we didn't see him smile was for a while after his surgery and he was still in quite a bit of pain.

Micah LOVES his dad...

and his jumperoo!

He's so happy when he gets his "Daddy time"

and lets be honest... Daddy can't get enough of Micah either

They spend quality time watching the "big game" (BYU vs Utah)

Dooder is so soft and gentle with our new puppy Zeek. You can often find Zeek cuddled up next to him.

His new forward facing car seat was an exciting step for him. He's such a good boy in the car now. He loves to watch the world as we drive around town.

Micah enjoys playing with other kids. He and his little sister have tons of fun playing all day long.

Mattea often leaves him in the middle of the messes that she makes. Good thing we know he's a good boy and wouldn't/couldn't possibly leave this much of a mess in his wake.

This guys loves to eat. He's great at feeding himself crackers, goldfish, puffs, or even oreo cookies like below.

He's also "grandma's Micah Man". He loves his time with this sweet lil' old lady!

I love this little boy so much. He's so sweet, tender, and precious as can be. He's a beautiful baby and perfect in every way.

Lastly, we revel in the milestones that Micah reaches because they are so much harder for him to do. We have constant physical therapy, and occupational therapy going on. His newest trick is getting up on his hands and knee's.

The Lord has sent some very choice spirits to our home and left them in our care. I can understand to some small degree the love the Lord has for us because of the love I have for my children. Watching Micah with his trials and his struggles has built an appreciation for the pain the Lord feels as he watches us in our trials. How happy my loving Heavenly Father must feel as he watches us reach new mile stones and learn new things he's been trying to show us.

Ode to Mattea

2011-02-02T07:52:00.000-08:00

Our little Mattea is one year old now. Well, she's actually 14 months now but I've been a bit busy. Let me tell you more about her. Her first names means "God's gift". Her middle name is Hope after her Grandma Beam. She's still pretty small for her age which is to be expected since she was born 3 months early. She weighs about 17 lbs. She is apprx 27 inches tall. She has her 2 bottom teeth and her two top "fangs." She loves to walk and talk. She has a lot of nick names: Squirty Girl, Lady Bug, Mattitude, Baby Girl.

She love, Love, LOVES her daddy.

Some of her favorite things to do with daddy is play video games.

Running around playing.

And singing, and playing peek-a-boo.

She enjoys bath time.

We have come to understand that Squirty Girl would make a very cute Cindy-loo-who. And she LOVES her time with Grandpa Beam.

Mattitude is kind of a stinker sometimes too. She likes to steal toys from other people. (we're working on it)

She has lots of fun talking and observing from her new forward facing car seat.

She is almost always grinning to show off her brand new chompers.

She tolerates her mommy dressing her up super cute.

This little girl loves dogs. We just got a new puppy and we constantly have to remind her to be soft.

We waited, prayed and hoped for Mattea for what seemed like a very long time. Having her here with us now makes the wait seems so worth it. We love this little girl and are amazed at how fast she is growing. We're thankful the Lord allowed us to become her parents. She has such a sweet spirit and keeps us on our toes. We love you Squirty Girl!

To: Daddy

2011-01-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

The poor Daddy is having a bad day. Maybe this will cheer him up! We LOVE you honey!

Silliness

2010-12-31T11:54:00.000-08:00

The silliness at our house doesn't end. Something as simple as M&M's first peanut butter sandwich can be so fun. (and messy)

Mattea isn'tas messy as brother.

Micah... well, he apparently need to wrestle his peanut butter sandwich into his mouth.

Micah has started waking up in the middles of the night since his surgery and this is the pose that Mattea had prepared for me to see at his 3 am feeding.

Family Pictures!

2010-12-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

We had some family pictures done before Micah went in for surgery to reconstruct his skull and they turned out GREAT! Here is just one of them. I'll put up more when I have more time!

Halloween!

2010-11-05T18:53:00.000-07:00

Halloween.! We had so much fun. I love LOVE LOVE Halloween! If you ever hear me talking about that wonderful holiday my face will often look similar to .....

...THIS

This was the twins' first Halloween and we had their costumes before they were even released from the hospital. Sterling's mom and littlest sister went to Disney World and found "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" rompers. Immediately I knew that it was their Halloween costume. I would have never thought that my 2 lbs babies would EVER be big enough to fit in these cute outfits but lo and behold... they did.

We didn't do a whole lot. Sterling has two little sisters that work for 1800 contacts and they invited us to go with them to a big Halloween party that their work was throwing on Thursday night. We dressed up the babies and sprayed their hair blue. Sterling even dressed up as Cat in the Hat, (he HATES dressing up) while I made myself Mrs. Cat in the Hat. We had a family picture taken there and I'll post it as soon as we get a copy of it.
Sterling's work decorates the whole 4th floor of his office for kids to trick or treat around to all the desks. He was beyond excited for us to come up for that on Friday. He wanted to show the babies off. Everyone thought they were cute and loved their costumes. Sterling even wore the cat in the hat hat and asked a co worker to draw whiskers on his face for him. (The twins made this Halloween more fun for him I guess)
On Saturday our ward had a Halloween party. However, we didn't go because on Friday Sterling ended up working from apprx 7am on Friday morning to 4am Saturday morning so as soon as the babies woke up we went to my parents house to let him sleep. So, we didn't make it to the Halloween party. I was really bummed too. Oh well. We were going to go to trunk-or-treat but the babies came down with a slight fever right before and it was raining. So, we had to skip it.
I LOVE our new neighborhood. We get SOOOO many trick or treaters and I LOVE it. Those cute lil' kids all dressed up and looking up at me with big round eyes.... aww... I just adore it.

"Thing 1"... my first born! (ummm... yeah! that sprig of hair in the bottom right corner was Mattea attacking me)

"Thing 2" doing what she does best.... making a mess and getting into trouble!

I attempted to do a photo shoot at home. It didn't work out so well.

crib or jungle gym?

2010-11-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Mattea is VERY mobile. She is trying to learn how to walk and has learned when I use her first and middle name and stand up, that means she better crawl as fast as she can. That being said, she has learned all sorts of fun things to do in and with her crib since the first time she fell out. It's not very often that I go to get her up in the morning or after a nap that she is laying or sitting. She is all over the place and I love her dearly but my word... I paid good money for these kids, couldn't they be a little less difficult?

I walked in when she was supposed to be napping and saw the above picture....

...this is what I saw when she recognized me!

This is a typical sight when I open their bedroom door. She had to sleep in Micah's bed for a bit until we Mattea-proofed her bed.

Apparently she doesn't care who's crib it is.... she can still make it fun.

Oh Squirty girl...how you make me smile!

Grins and Giggles!!

2010-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

Our dooder boy has the silliest laugh and when he gets really tired he laughs at the oddest things.

Creating Memories

2010-08-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

So, it's a lot of work but we are working hard to create memories. Granted, the babies are too small to remember stuff now but it's family memories that Sterling and I will have. We have gone camping 2 weekends in a row. Last weekend was the Cluff family Stay-cation. We went up to Hyrum reservoir on Thursday, camped until Friday and then we were boating all day Friday with the boat my family had while I was growing up. (I made sure Sterling and the twins had sun screen on but completely forgot to put some on myself. Yup. yes guessed it. I was the proud owner of a very very bad sun burn) We went home Friday night, then Saturday morning we went to Seven Peaks water park. I didn't do anything at Seven peaks because of the above mentioned sun burn but Sterling had a lot of fun with everyone else. On Sunday we went to Sterling's parents ward as a family. We were exhausted to say the very least!

As if we hadn't done enough last weekend this weekend we decided to attend the ward camp out Friday night. It was a lot of fun. But again, exhausting. I remember camping being a lot more fun when my parents were the ones doing all the packing and planning. It's hard work being the one in charge.

My parents are the best. They bought a pop-up tent trailer a few weeks before we went camping and truth be told I think they bought it mostly for us. (well, the twins. Not so much Sterling and I) That made camping a lot easier.

Here are some pictures of our adventures in creating memories......

Like I mentioned. We were EXHAUSTED! This is Squirty girl after our ward camp out.

And this is the result of the pass out. I was so worried her little face was hurting from being smooshed against the tray.

Dooder with Daddy in the morning at the ward camp out.

Squirty girl has almost mastered crawling. She more scoots along like she is doing the breast stroke on land. But, she gets around. I mean ALL AROUND!! She LOVES dogs. Pedro isn't such a fan of hers. Especially when she approached him from his right side.

Fun at seven Peaks. I can't figure out what to do with her hair so she looks like a little orphan girl a lot of the time.

Dooder, he was so tired and blah at Seven Peaks.

Morning at Hyrum reservoir . Time for breakfast. It was pretty cold. They had to come to bed with us in the middle of the night so we could keep them warm.

Breakfast time at Hyrum. We were up at 6:00 am

Thursday night around the camp fire at Hyrum.

Very early Friday morning at Hyrum. This is Sterling's little sister Lindsay and her boyfriend (the birthday boy) Spencer. (The babies ADORE Spencer. Especially Mattea)

This was when we got to Hyrum. It was SO beautiful and the perfect temperature. The beach was really rocky but we still had a lot of fun.

Yay for Pioneers!

2010-07-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

Sterling's Mother loves parades. For years they have gone and camped downtown to save a spot for the Pioneer Day Parade. This year we didn't go camp with them. But, we did go down in the morning and the babies got to see the parade. It was a lot of fun.

We got them dressed in their red, white and blue. If they look a little slimy it's because we had just slathered them with sun block.

Dooder in his cute baseball hat!

Squirty in her "Mommy's little firecracker" shirt. Very fitting for her temperment.

Sitting with Gma Cluff right before the parade.

President Uchtdorf (sp?) heard the twins were gonna be there so he made an appearance.

This is a float that my dad's stake did. The Pharaoh was built in his garage. We were very excited to see the float all put together. My dad said it almost didn't make it because it wouldn't start that morning.

Mattea took a snoozer on Daddy

Micah made friends with SLCC's bruin bear. Their Aunt Lindsay is a cheerleader for SLCC. I'm not sure if the bear knew that but he came over and reached his arms out for Micah so I handed him over. (Am I a bad mom for handing my baby to a stranger? )

Anywho, we had loads of fun and can't wait for next year when the babies are MOBILE! OH NO!!

Picture overload!

2010-07-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

Our babies are 7 months old. It's so much fun and we're so happy to have them home and healthy.
The first two pictures are of our babies when they were tiny so we can be reminded how blessed we are. It's interesting to see where they have been and the progess they are making!

Our Micah Man a week or two old.

Squirty Girl. My wedding ring is leaning against her stretched out arm so you can see how tiny she is.

Micah Man now.

Squirty after she was throwing a fit in the tub because apparently she was starving to death.

Our one-eyed Pedro taking over Mattea's bouncer in the garage.

Micah like to stay very rigid so he's very good at the superman pose

This dress was my mother's when she was a baby. Her mother and grandmother did the embroidery and crocheting on it. It was so neat to see Mattea in it.

Fourth of July!!!

Sterling and I on the Ferris wheel at the west jordan carnival

Micah at his first parade.

Someone in the parade was giving away these flags and it immediately went into her mouth just like everything else she can get her hands on.

Micah and his Daddy (1st parade)

Mattea and her Mommy (1st parade)

6 months old

This is outfit was his daddy's when he was a baby.

A very happy un-birthday to Micah and Mattea. The day they turned 6 months old. It was an emotional day for me. I didn't know if I would have my babies see 6 months.

I did a photo shoot at home.

Photo shoot at home

Matching jammies! They each have their own bed now.

Goings on....

2010-07-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened and we are a very busy family now. Thus the reason there hasn't been a post in a few months. I don't have pictures today but I will put some up asap.
Sterling and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on June 29th. It was neat because last year on our anniversary it was confirmed that we were having a baby. One year later we have twins who are healthy and happy even after all that they went through. We went to the Homestead that is up in Midway while Sterling's parents babysat the twins over night. It was SO beautiful. You would have thought that we would have gotten a good nights sleep for the first time in a while but I kept waking up thinking I needed to feed a crying baby. Grrr. We found out Micah had a fever and went to pick up the babies after seeing Eclipse. We ended up taking Micah to UrgentCare where they told us he had pneumonia (sp?), When we got home from UrgentCare he had a fever of 103.3, Took him to our family Dr the next day because we couldn't get rid of the fever and he gave us the go ahead to give Motrin. Again, fever got up to 103.5 and the Dr told us to go to Primary Children because there wasn't anything in Micah's chest x-rays that would cause such a high fever. Two tired babies, two frazzled parents, a CT, catheter, IV, and x-ray, and 5 hours later we were back at home with a Viral diagnosis. It has to work it's way out. BUT, we knew that there wasn't anything wrong with his shunt. On a happier note, a few days before we left for our anniversary Mattea had been working on rolling over. Well, she finally rolled all the over for her Aunt Lindsay while we were gone!!! Arggh. We didn't know she had done it until we told them that she rolled over for the first time only to find out that it wasn't her first time. It's still fun to see though. Micah doesn't seems to have much interest in rolling over but he is much more observant then Mattea. It's amazing how different they are!

On a VERY happy note, Sterling is being transitioned to a permanent employee for Goldman Sach's. Yay! We get insurance! Not a moment too soon either. I'm in constant pain because we can't afford my meds for my fibro and Sterling is an inch from losing his life the majority of the time because we can't afford the meds for his ADHD and I'm about to strangle him.

We're a very happy and a very blessed family and our testimonies are strengthened daily with all our trials and blessings. I'm amazed at what a person/family is capable of with the Lord as our guide. I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father and for his plan of salvation that granted me my Savior to shoulder everything that comes across my plate. I truly feel that we lived in a blessed dispensation to have all the truths of this wonderful gospel. To mention a few I know to be true, Priesthood, Temple ordinances, Covenants, Baptism, Prophets, Scriptures, Prayer, Faith, Repentance, Atonement, Word of Wisdom, and Revelation.

5 months!

2010-05-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

The twins are 5 months old. I can't believe it. They are at about 2 months developmentally which is how old they would be if they made it full term. They are starting to smile a lot and hold up their head. Micah just grew out of newborn clothes this week. Mattea was out of them 2 or 3 weeks ago. Poor little Micah was circumcised last Friday. He's been a trooper and has healed pretty well.

Micah smiling big for the camera.

He was being so cute with the photographer. He liked her

Mattea was zoning a lot.

Micah's blessing outfit.

The one time she smiled and it was because she was looking at her Mommy.

The monkey we gave to Micah when he had his first surgery and the lady bug we gave to Mattea for Christmas while they were in the NICU.

Blessing outfits

My favorite picture of them together even though Micah is drooling. Usually it's Mattea that is drooling.

2010-05-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hello world! Micah and Mattea here. We've been up to a lot and wanted to share it with everyone.
First of all, our Aunt Chelsea got married and we had lots of fun. Grandma Cluff made us outfits in her wedding colors. Don't we look cute?

We got to spend some quality time with Dad.

We spent some time awake...

...and we spent some time asleep.

Mom took us to get shots. :(

So we did a lot of this....

...and a lot of this!

We have had a lot of fun so we're full of smiles now too.

Thanks for coming to check on us. Stay tuned for more really cute pictures!

4 months!!!

2010-04-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

The twins turned 4 months old yesterday. Size and developmentally they are only 1 month because they were born 3 months early. It so cute to see them get bigger and grow and do new things. They both have started to track things with their eyes. They recognize when someone is talking to them and watch you. It's so neat to know that my babies can see me and are understanding who I am. They are working on holding up their heads on their own. And they started smiling. This post is mainly for Sterling to see at work because he hasn't seen Micah smile yet and I got a picture of it. Love you Bubba-roo!

The twins finally fit in their coats that we bought for them when they left the hospital. It's so cute. Their my lil teddy bears!

I don't really have a picture of Squirty smiling that well but this is a cute picture of her taken on Daddy's birthday.

Here is Micah Man in all his happy smiley glory. You can't help but giggle a little when you see this. The other day my mom was "chewing his chops" and he was almost laughing. It was so cute. He loves his Grumma.

Here is Squish working up to the big grin. I'm so happy to be their mommy.

For those of you who don't know Pedro got cataracts in his right eye really bad. It looked pretty gross and it was causing him a lot of pain so we had his eye removed. Poor guy has to wear the cone of shame for 2 weeks.

Church, Cousin, and Growing

2010-03-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

Life has been hectic. I started tending 2 little boys. (2 and 3 years old) We attended all three meetings of church for the first time. The babies cousin Carmendy came from Texas to visit.

We've been having a lot of fun and not so much sleep. The babies are growing and getting so big. They seem huge to me but everyone keeps saying how tiny they are. It's kind of bitter sweet to watch them grow. They aren't gonna be my little babies for very long but on the other hand I want they to grow and get healthy.

This was today at church. We were pretty late to Priesthood/Relief Society because we woke up 30 min before we were supposed to be to church. Sunday school and Sacrament meeting went pretty well. I had one person ask to hold Mattea and I didn't know how to say "no" so I made her sanitize her hands and let her hold her. I've got to figure out a nice way to say no.

This was yesterday at my parents house. I kind of like to dress them alike so I had a denim dress for Mattea and denim overalls for Micah with a green striped onsie underneath. I thought it was cute.

The other morning in bed with Daddy.

Dressed liked twins!

Our Micah Man. He's so cute.

Mattea after her bath.

This is the twins cousin Carmendy. She is so beautiful. She and Aunt Leslie came to visit from Texas. She is only 2 weeks older than the twins. Crazy huh?

Micah being a good boy.

Mattea smiling after I gave her a kiss.

2 am feeding....

2010-03-12T01:51:00.000-08:00

I was up feeding one of the babies (Micah.... he thinks he's s starvin' marvin) and wanted to say how happy I am, regardless of the stress and total lack of sleep, to have both my babies home. There's nothing like cuddling your baby in the comfort of your own home. Or having the daddy come home from work and passing of at least one of them. (The fussiest one of course) I'm thankful my Heavenly Father for giving me the wonderful opportunity to be a mother and to watch my husband be a father. I hope we can make him proud.

Together at last!

2010-03-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, our babies are both at home. These pictures were taken at the hospital. We just walked in the house with both of the babies. They were reunited yesterday at the hospital. I showed up with Mattea and Sterling was coming after work to "room in" overnight with them. I was in the room for 5 min with both and they were both hungry, crying, I needed to pump really bad, and Mattea had wet through her clothes. It seemed as though they were both screaming "Welcome to twinhood Mommy!" I made it though. We're both really tired and I know it's just gonna get worse. Wish us luck everyone.

Micah not so happy to be with Mattea

Finally got them both calmed down!

In our brand new couble stroller. Thanks Dad! It was an enormous help!

Mattea's progress...

2010-03-04T02:14:00.000-08:00

Mattea is doing great at home. We've weened her off her oxygen so she is without tubes and wires for the first time. She should be nicknames Mattitude because she' pretty fiesty. She good at telling you what she wanted but she's also a sweet girl. We're happy to have her here. I must say... girls are A LOT of fun to dress.
One of her sweet moments

Oy Vay daddy..... are you ever gonna get this right?

Micah boy.....

2010-03-04T01:39:00.000-08:00

So since we brought squirty girl home I've not posted much. A lot has happened though. Micah got his shunt and is a totally different baby. He's my mellow fellow which is good because I don't know what I would do if I had two of Mattea. Micah was also life flighted back to St Marks from Primary childrens. (I didn't get to ride in either of the flights :( ) The NICU at Primary's was really full and Micah was stable enough to be transported back. He was in seclusion for a while where we had to gown up, gloves, and mask. He wouldn't nurse while he was in confinement. He didn't know who I was. After they were sure he didn't have RSV or anything else they put him in the room with all the other babies. The eye Dr saw him today and said his eyes are getting better so he'll probably be home soon. Two days before their due date he weighed 5 lbs 14 oz. Mattea a week before their due date weighed 7 lbs 2 oz. Not bad for 3 months old huh? They are the size of newborns. Micah is so skinny right now that you can see the tube from his shunt under his skin come from the top of his head. Down behind his right ear, across his should and down over his tummy. It's kind of funny. He looks like a little puppy with all his extra skin. I hope he fills out a little. He looks just like his daddy right now. Tall, skinny, and the cutest boy I've ever seen.

Micah boy being happy before surgery. That didn't happen much before surgery. He was kinda fussy.

Again, before shunt. Just cuddling up on Mom's chest.

Also before shunt. You can see his extra skin of his shoulder. Looks like a puppy that's still growing into his skin.

After surgery. He's still orange/red from the iodine or whatever they used.

After shunt. Looks a lot like his Dad. I love my boys.

So sleepy after shunt surgery. Temporary red head.

If you look kinda close you can see the shunt tube under his skin.

Shunt...

2010-02-23T12:38:00.000-08:00

So yesterday Micah had his shunt. I was worried because last time he had surgery he was on the ventilator for a few days and couldn't eat. And that was just when he had surgery on his eye. Well, before I could even get up there to see him later that day he was off of the ventilator and didn't have any oxygen what-so-ever. When I did finally get there (after dropping Mattea off at my Mom's) he was also very angry because he was hungry. Well, they let him try to eat and he did GREAT. I guess it goes to show how important that little shunt is. I'll post pictures later.

She is HOME!!!

2010-02-22T02:01:00.000-08:00

The babies were born back on Dec 8th. After 2 and a half long months Mattea is finally home. She came home on Saturday at about noon on oxygen and a monitor so we know what her oxygen saturation is. Regardless, we are so happy to have her home. She weighed in at 6lbs 10oz when discharged from the hospital, which means so gained double what she was born at. We're pretty tires and still running on adreniline but happy as clams. We (meaning Konni) have to wake up every 3 hours to feed her. We are allowing people to come and visit but we ask that you not be or have been recently sick. RSV is at an all time high right now and we would like to keep her out of the hospital. Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers on our babies behalfs.

Ready to go....

Dr Lui saying goodbye. It was actually pretty hard to leave knowing we wouldnt' be walking through the NICU doors again and leaving all of our angels behind.

I still couldn't believe we were really gonna leave with her.

Cuddling with Daddy

cute head band

Finally home!!! high five....

We didn't go to church but we did dress her up for sunday. This was a newborn dress.

All pretty for Sunday!

Squish and Squirt...

2010-02-16T20:44:00.000-08:00

Both the babies are doing pretty well. We're hoping to get Micah's shunt put in this week. He's up to full feeds so he doesn't have to get most of his nutrition from the IV. He seems to be getting angry more and I can't help but think he has a headache. He really needs that shunt put in the get the pressure constantly pulled off. He was 18 inches and 5 lbs 7 oz. Turning out to be a big boy

Our squish being a happy boy.

Ummm.... BLINK!!!!

Being grumpy for Daddy

Starting to grow out of his preemie clothes. The shorts are supposed to be pants.

Mattea is getting really close to coming home. She's really low on her oxygen again. Close to coming off. Doing great with her feedings. She is growing out of her preemie clothes too. She likes when people talk to her after she eats. She doesn't just fall asleep right after her bottle anymore. She likes to stay awake and look around. Sterling also changed her diaper for the first time the other day. He chose one of her blow out to be the first time he changes her. we had to change her clothes and everything. Don't worry.... I took pictures. She was 18 inches and 6 lbs 4 oz.

After her bottle

In her cute turtle outfit

After her first bath

First bath.... "someone save me...."

9 weeks...

2010-02-09T18:53:00.000-08:00

9 weeks ago today our babies were born. It seems like so long ago with everything we've gone through. It also feels like it was just last week that I was still pregnant. Both the babies are over 5 lbs. They've both at least doubled their birth weight. Micah is still at Primary Childrens Medical Center and Mattea is at St. Marks. Hopefully the end is in sight. We've been truly blessed to have such strong, beautiful, loving children come into our family. We are a family now too. Our family doubled in size in the small space of 2 minutes. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for our babies.

Micah the day he turned 9 weeks old.

Oh hello Mommy!!

Are you talkin' to me?

The bink can always calm him down.

Mattea

Sleeping peacefully on her 9 weeks birthday

Look Ma!! No tubes!!!

Cuddled up with daddy. Still so tiny

My dad doesn't love me does he?!?!?!?!

2010-02-09T18:38:00.000-08:00

Micah's eye surgery went well. He was on the ventilator for a couple days. He is still gaining weight and has started his feedings again. The Dr's say he'll probably go in to get a shunt next week. He is still really twitch-y and the Dr's don't know why. They aren't seizures. They have done about 6 EEG's and they haven't shed any light on the situation. We've been told that Micah has cerebral palsey but we won't know how sever until he starts to develop. Regardless of all the stuff going on we're still so happy that he is here. He's our sweet, precious, down to earth, angel boy. He is and will continue to be a wonderful addition to our family.

This is Micah next to Lenny, a cabbage patch kid I had since I was little. I took this picture to document how small he was. this was even after he doubled his birth weight. I should have done something like this when they were super tiny.

This was Micah the day after his eye surgery

Micah right after they finished surgery. They put some tape over his eye to keep it closed.

Lil' Chunker

2010-02-05T19:21:00.000-08:00

Mattea is doing great. She gets better with her feedings everyday. She turned 8 weeks old this week. I can't believe it... 8 weeks ago my little 2 lb 5 oz squirt made her debut and now she has more than doubled her birth weight. That's right.... she is over 5 lbs now. She fits in most preemie clothes now. We can't get over how cute she is getting. She changes so much so fast. She has won over most of the nurses in the NICU. They loved to walk by and take a look at her and tell me how cute she is. One of her favorite nurses named Deb even made her a little hat.

Wearing the hat nurse Deb made for her. SOOO CUTE!

Growing up I had Leni. He was my favorite doll. I've kept him over the years and decided to wash him and take him in to take a picture with the babies so we can see how small they were. He is a regular old fashioned cabbage patch doll. He is still a bit bigger than Mattea. She's still so small

You can see how big her little belly is getting. Nice and round.

We're so proud of our baby girl. She's super cute

Surgery again...

2010-02-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

Micah has to go in for surgery again. No. Not on his little brains again but on his eye. His left eye is in the advanced stages of ROP (I don't know what it stands for). But, it means the vessel in the eye are growing over something it shouldn't be so they have to go in with a laser and fix it. He will have to be put under and go back on a ventilator. That sucks because he just came off oxygen. 1 step forward and 2 steps back it seems. It feels like their never gonna come home.

Squish is on a roll!!

2010-01-27T10:15:00.000-08:00

WARNING!!! There is a naked picture of the cutest baby boy in the world in this post.

Micah is doing great. We seem to have gotten his seizure under control and taken him off of his seizure medicine. They are weening down his oxygen and moving him into an open bed just like his baby sister. He weighed in at 4 lbs 8 oz yesteday. He has been more awake this week. Almost everytime I go to see him I pull up the blanket to see him and he's staring back at me. We get to hold him again. It feels so good to feel my baby in my arms. Sterling was chomping at the bit to hold his son again. When we do hold him we just stare at him and think how perfect he is. We're so grateful for all the prayers and blessing for our babies, especially Micah. Micah has some cysts in his brain that are consistent with cerebral palsey. So, it's likely he may have some development problems later in his life. We've got a great team on his side to help him learn how to deal with this. We know that Micah came to this earth knowing he would have some challenges and that he is a strong enough spirit to overcome and deal with these trials... it's just his Mommy and Daddy that are having a hard time with it. We've got some really uplifting pictures to share with you all. (Cousin Kambrie... if your reading this Micah and Mattea can't wait to meet you and have you hold them. Their working hard so they can get out and you can see them!!)

Loving my Micah time!

Squish wearing clothes! he still have a PICC line in his left arm so he only have one sleave one. He's also wearig the hat Grandma Beam knit for him.

Here is the naked picture! obviously! Sterling didn't like that I took a naked picture of him but I think it's my right as a mommy.

You can see the incision spot where they put the resevior. The little bump just above it is where the little bubble that they put a needle into to pull our fluid.

This is what we see on a regular basis when we go in to see him.

Nice and comfy! Checking out the world.

This is Micah's 3rd EEG. They were checking his seizure to see if they could get more info on what was causing them. They still dont' know. He doesn't perform when they put him on an EEG.

Lots of changes!!

2010-01-27T09:58:00.000-08:00

Our little Squirt (our nick name for her) Mattea Hope is getting so big. She was 4 lbs 6 oz yesterday. She has a little bit of fat and a few rolls in her little bum and legs. The bracelet my friend Lili gave her is getting small on her. We'll have to take it off soon and get her a new one. She is taking 3/4 of her feedings by mouth now. I also get to try and breast feed her once a day. She gets really tired when we try to breast feed her. She should still be inside me not trying to breast feed so I don't blame her too much. She tries hard. She has also made a huge step of being moved from her isolette into an open bed. So EXCITING!! We don't have to look at her in her little plastic bubble anymore. I've also been able to see my baby girl in clothes for the very first time. Since she was moved into an open crib she gets to wear jammies and stuff. Here are som pictures...

Our little squirt. What a chub-a-dub!

Sterling loves to just stare at his babies and loves to watch Mattea eat. She smacks her lips when we pull the bottle out.

You can see her bracelet is getting pretty small. She is also wearing the hat Grandma Beam made for her.

Her new house! The old isolette she used to be in is in the back ground. Yay! she can hold her own temperature.

Squirt in clothes!

She has a little onsie underneath her jammies to help keep her warm.

Bottle, Bracelet, and Grandma's

2010-01-22T04:38:00.000-08:00

Mattea is doing really well. She took her first bottle on her Mommy's birthday(Jan 15th) and has been taking some of her feedings through her bottle that way ever since. She loves her bottle but doesn't know how to suck, swallow, and breath at the same time so we have to let her suck for a min and then pull the bottle out so she'll breathe. She also got her first piece of jewelry. My good friend Lili had a bracelet specially made for her tiny little wrist. It was a little smaller then a quarter and it fit her. She can grow into it a little bit too. Mattea also let both her Grandma's hold her for the first time.

Wakey, Wakey!

Well hello Grandma Cluff, I'm a little tiny thing!

And hello to you too Grandma Beam. Don't you think I'm cute!

See my bling?!?! Does it make me look fat?

Yummy! You sure can make a good bottle of milk Mom.

I have a bubble in my tummy could you please get it out?

Peek-a-boo

This was my birthday and the day Mattea took her first bottle. What a cute little girl.

Our Angel Boy

2010-01-22T04:19:00.000-08:00

Micah had surgery last week to put the reservoir in his head. He has built up fluid on his brain and needed help getting it drained. Now that it's in they can go and "tap" or pull of fluid with a syringe to relieve some of the pressure. We were really nervous but the surgery went great. It was the before the surgery that was the problem. He stopped breathing twice when they put him on the table. They put him on the ventilator and then he was fine. Obviously, it easier when you don't have to breathe on your own. We think he had just had enough that his little brain just couldn't handle it anymore.

Our little boy a couple days before surgery

Mommy and Daddy with our lil' squish before surgery

Squish after surgery. I know. He looks like a little baby corpse. He looks lots better now.

Micah

2010-01-06T00:36:00.000-08:00

Micah was just transfered to Primary Childrens hospital from St Marks. He has some ventricles in his head that are swelling so he needed to be seen by a neurologist to see about putting in a temporary shunt to relieve the pressure. This is actually a common problem for preemie babies. When he got up there they also found that he had an infection that had started to show it's nasty head right before he left St Marks. It's pretty bad and is apparently in his digestive system so he's not being fed my breast milk anymore to give his little tummy a break. The ultrasound today showed that his little tummy is looking better but his white blood count is abnormal which is to be expected with and infection. He's on antibiotics and pain meds because they say it's pretty painful. If he has to have to surgery for the shunt they won't do it until the infection clears up. Micah is a lot more laid back than Mattea so he's not as grumpy or vocal about everything going on with him.

Micah boy LOVES his tummy time. He breaths on his own better and is a good boy.

I love to kiss my little guy as often as I can. He's usually in his little bubble so I get excited when I don't have to look at him through plastic.

Seeing us holding him just helps put into perspective how small he is.

He likes to stretch out and relax. He stretched his legs out really long and doesn't like to have his feet tucked in next to his body.

He likes to wink. It's not very often we see him with both eyes open.

Mattie

2010-01-06T00:16:00.000-08:00

Mattea is doing pretty well. She has a PDA, which is a vessel in her heart that usually closes at the end of pregnancy but because she didn't make it that long it was still open. It causes a heart murmur. It look as though it is starting to clear up and close on it's own. If it wouldnt'have close we would have had to send her into surgery to get it closed. She also had an infection but she just finished her antibiotics and look to be doing really well. The Dr has increased the number of times we can hold her a week to twice. She was taken off of the ventilator a while ago. She is really strong will and has a mind of her own. We can definatly see her personality and it's starting to make us nervous (just kidding). She really is fiesty and the nurses tell us she has a little attitude. That's good cause she needs to be a righter right now.

She's really wiggly and has an attitude and she likes to work her way out of her bed. She often sleeps with her hand on her face like this too.

Wide eyed lil' wee.

Our precious girl. She's getting lots of hair.

She's so tiny. We can hold her in one hand. She's wearing one of the hats my Mom knit.

Daddy's little girl. She has him in the palm of her tiny little hand already.

Babies update

2009-12-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

The babies are doing pretty well. Micah still has a bleed in his brain but the Dr.'s say it's not critical yet. He is off of the ventilator and has been for about a week. He's holding his own really well. He's also having feedings through a tube that goes into his little tummy. He started at 1mil every 12 hours. Now, he's eating 5 mil every 3 hours. He is gaining weight which is good because they both lost a bit of weight and were little like Ethiopian babies.

Micah boy looking very healthy.

Mattea is doing alright. She has a PDA which is a vessel in the heart that normally closes at the end of pregnancy. Hers didn't close so the Dr.'s are trying to get it to close on it's own with meds but if it doesn't close then she will have to be taken up to Primary Childrens Hospital for surgery. Along with the PDA comes a heart murmur which will hopefully clear up after the PDA is fixed. She has been put back on the ventilator because of the PDA makes it more difficult for her to breath on her own. She is a lot more alert than Micah usually is. We've never seen Micah's eyes whereas we see Mattea's all the time

Mattea saying hello to her Mommy and Daddy

Look out world!

2009-12-13T19:54:00.000-08:00

Look out world... here we come. We, the very proud parents of Micah and Mattea are happy to inform you that both of the babies are doing very well. Micah had a few seizures as a result of blood on his brain which looks to have stopped and cleared up. Micah is still on a ventilator but the nurses have talked about removing his ventilator tube. Mattea was taken off of the ventilator today (Sunday) at apprx 2:30. She is doing really well and it's nice to see more of her little face.

The nurses and the staff in the NICU are so loving. They have made our babies name tags for their Giraffe's (special isolate).

Here is our Micah boy. Everything still looks a little scary to an outsider but it's looking a little better.

This is just a special picture of our angel boys face.

Again, the nurses and staff are great and here is Mattea's name tag.

Here is Mattea. She's off of her ventilator but still have a little tube going down into her belly. She does look pretty skinny in this picture. We love the little bows that they put on her.

We're able to touch our little ones now! We always ask if they are stable enough first but it's not very often that we can't touch them. This picture was taken today. It's Sterling touching Mattea's little head. She always responds when her dad touches her. Yesterday she was kicking his hand.

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers and well wishes. Ourselves and our babies are definitely receiving blessing from our Heavenly Father. We're very grateful for all we've been given.

Suprise Arrival!

2009-12-08T23:36:00.000-08:00

On December 8th 2009 at apprx 12:20 PM Micah Sterling Cluff and Mattea Hope Cluff decided they were sick of being with just Mom and wanted to meet their Dad. Yessiree bob, they were born at 27 weeks 5 days by C-section. Both babies were ventilated right away. We were expecting that and weren't suprised to hear or see it happen.

Micah was the first to appear. Truth be told he was almost pulling himself out once they cut through to him. I felt the water break and then heard the Dr's say, "Wow, he's grabbing the forceps with his hand." They pushed his little hand back in and then pulled the rest of him out.

(Micah shortly after birth in the NICU)

Our son was born weighing 2 lbs 10 oz. Tiny, yes we know. However, that's a pretty good size considering how early they were. Micah has a significant amount of hair considering how early he was. It looks pretty blonde actually.

(Micah a little later)

Our daughter was born one minute after her brother weighing in at a whopping 2 lbs 5 oz. Mattea is our little fighter. I could hear her crying (oh so softly) in the operating room which was kind of nice to hear. We heard from the NICU Dr later that night that Mattea was actually breathing room oxygen and wasn't using the ventilator. They mentioned they may be taking her off soon.

(Mattea a little later in the day. Her left arm is up by her head. I think it's cute)

Mattea also has a lot of hair considering her age. Her hair is darker than her brothers.

(Mattea shortly after birth in the NICU)

Side note: Fear not friends and family! We will still be having baby showers. I estimate they will be happening in January. More news to come.....

I've escaped!!!

2009-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

Yes! I've escaped! My Dr came into my room the Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving and gave us the good news that I was being sent home on bed rest. Yay! We were so happy. So, we loaded up the car with all the things we had brought (ALOT), went to my Mom and Dad's to pick up Pedro. We decided to take one picture together to documents our stay in the hospital.

Sterling's family needed to get a family picture done so his Mom could send out Christmas cards. Sooo, with me being on bed rest we decided to have everyone come over and make it a do-it-yourself family photo. We borrowed my Dad's very nice, expensive camera and this is what we got.

Our little family... soon to increase significantly with the twins.

A lovely belly pose. Yes, it's very large. I went and had an ultrasound done and the tech told me I have 1.5 times the amount of amniotic fluid in each of the sacks so essentially it's almost as if I'm carrying triplets without the 3rd little human in there. Because they have so much fluid they never hold still. I feel bad when the nurses have to track down their heart beats and put me on a monitor.

And....lastly... the entire Cluff clan. Minus all the babies on the way. Sterling's little sister Brittney (in the dark brown sweater) is also pregnant. We've got three little babies coming within 3-6 months of each other. Fun huh?

Micah and Mattea will have a couple cousins their same age becasue my brother Kim and his wife Leslie just had their 3rd baby (a girl, Carmendy) right before Thanksgiving. Lots of blessing all around us.

Hello from a hospital bed

2009-11-22T18:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am stuck in the hospital until I deliver Thing One and Thing Two. I'm not hurting, the babies are safe, but as a precaution because I wasn't even aware I was having contractions or dilating I have to stay. I'll be here for Thanksgiving and that kind of stinks but I can't complain too much. My brother and his family (in Texas) are stuck in a hospital for the 2nd Thanksgiving in a row. I do get sad but I have some really great family and friends that visit me.

My mom knits cute little beanies but they are pretty big. I told her she should figure out how to make teeny tiny beanies. Well, she came in and presented me with the cutest little preemie beanie you've ever seen. She's only done one so far but she's gonna make another one.

Sterling "wearing" the beanie my mom made for our babies.

Konni at 25 weeks (in the hospital, obviously.)

The beanie in proportion to a coke can. Cute huh?

Bed rest and surgery...

2009-11-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well, on Thursday after work I went into my Dr because I had the tiniest bit of bleeding. Well, he checked me and said my cervix was "softening" and he thought I was dilated to a one. He sent me over to get a vaginal ultrasound to see what was going on. When I got in and they had the probe in for like 15 seconds the cute little tech printed and two pictures and said...."I'll be right back. I need to go talk to my Dr." Oh crap! What's going on?, I though to myself. Well, the Dr comes in and says, your dilated to a 3 and your cervix is paper thin. Oh and by the way, we think you have an infection and it might be in with the babies so we're going to shove a huge needle into your sons placenta guided by ultrasound to pull out some amniotic fluid. If there is an infection in with the babies we have to deliver now and if there isn't we are going to stitch your cervix closed. Then he tells me.... "Your not going home!" WHAT? I'm 24 weeks pregnant I'm thinking to myself. my babies weigh like a pound and a half. They won't live if we deliver them now. So, I text Sterling and tell him he better come.
Long story short, apparently I had been having contractions and wasn't aware. There was no infection so I went in the next morning for surgery to sew my cervix closed. The Dr came in after and said the membranes were poking through and he could see one of my sons feet. So, he had to blow up a little balloon to push that all back in and then stitch my cervix together. He said it was very successful especially considering he could see my sons foot.
They have put me on medicine to stop the contractions, given me steroids shots to help the babies lungs mature and I'm on bed rest in the hospital. My Dr said, "we're gonna take it a week at a time." when I asked how long I'm gonnna be in here. Home sweet Hospital.

By the way, we've decided to change Michael's name to Micah. I just didn't want to name him completely after Sterling's dad. I wanted to pick out a name that we both chose and Sterling finally conceded. Micah is Hebrew for Michael anyway so we really didn't stray too far.

Thanks for reading folks.... I hope your having more fun than us.

Let us compare!!

2009-11-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

I'm very lucky to have some wonderful mother role models. First of all my mom is fabulous. Sterling's mom is great and I have three amazing sister-in-laws that are great example

Ok, So, this is my beautiful sister-in-law, Leslie, at 33 weeks pregnant. I am on the right at 21 weeks pregnant. Difference? Yes, I'd say so. I'm significantly larger but more then 10 weeks behind her. Granted, I am having two and she was thin when she got pregnant.s.

Home and Belly

2009-11-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

21 weeks and counting!!! Yup... they have moved in and are making themselves known.

The first time my belly stuck our further than my chest.

I haven't posted any pictures of my new house because it has been a disaster. I really am happy about our new house and wanted to show everyone what it looks like. The inside is still a mess. we're getting there slowly but surely.

This is a picture of the front. Those little white things are little Halloween Ghosts that still in the lawn. They're super cute. Also, there is a stair well that leads to the basement apartment behind the little fence in the center. Sterling's little sister and her husband live down there. They just found out they're expecting now too. We're gonna have 3 crying little mouths in one house. Exciting huh?

M&M

2009-10-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

We've not put up pictures of the babies since they were little blobs. Well, they look like humans now. They have little faces, arms, legs, and everything else they are supposed to have.

This is Mattea Hope Cluff. The only good pictures we have of her look like this. She's pretty shy and is usually hidden by her brother.

We like this one of Mattea because you can see her little arm. We only have 2D ultrasound pictures of her because she's squished bu her brother all the time and is difficult to see.

This is Michael Sterling Cluff. He loves to be in front of the camera. His pictures are in 3d because he moves too much to be seen really well in 2D. When we move over to look at Mattea he likes to get in the way.

Here is a common view of Michael. He likes to keep his hand up by his face. They both do actually. I know the 3D pics are kind creepy but to us it's really fascinating to see.

Anywho, thats all for now. We're hoping to get started on their room and get it cleaned out, painted and set up. We're only going to put up one crib for now. I've been told that twins have a hard time being in different cribs at first anyway. Wish us luck. We're past half way now!

1st meal

2009-10-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been in our house for over a month but I did document our first dinner in our new home. It was the first Sunday we were here. We made burritos and had sparkling cider. Cheap, I know. But we just bought a house for crying out loud. It was a lot of fun.

I still haven't unpacked most of the boxes that were in storage. I've lived without that stuff for so long that I dont' even know what is in them or what I need them for. I am just so tired and lazy between work, school, and my pregnancy. I've lost a lot of my lap to my every growing belly so it's difficult to bend over to go through boxes. I've got to get it done now or it's gonna be worse. We've also got to get the babies room done asap. It's currently a storage room with a a crib and a bassinet up against the wall. We've got a long way to go.

Pregnancy

2009-09-27T16:40:00.001-07:00

We havn't updated the blog because we've been moving and workin in our new house. However, I do have some pregnancy pictures so you can see how we have changed during the pregnancy.

Sterling at week 13. Looking pretty good I would say.
Konni at week 13. At the "Is she gaining weight or is she pregnant?" stage

Sterling at 17 weeks. Doing very good at not gaining much weight. Good for you honey!

Konni at week 17. Yup, definately something in there. I know. I don't look very happy in the picture but I really am. I've still gained less than 5 lbs so far. I'm trying not to gain too much because I was already big before I got pregnant. We'll see how well it works.

Multiple Blessings

2009-09-08T10:29:00.000-07:00

We have been trying to get funded on this home we fell in love with for almost 2 months. It's been rediculous. We figured we were either REALLY supposed to be there or REALLY NOT supposed to be there. Well, We found last Thursday that we were finally approved. Sterling had been working so hard on this and was so stressed out that I decided to fo to Fetal Foto's in Murray to see if we could determine the gender of our babies. Well, the results are in and we're having a little girl and a little boy. The little girl was being really stubborn/modest so when watching the video you didn't know what she was until the very end of the video. I brought it home and had Sterling watch it when he got home. He thought that the 2nd baby was a boy and was kinda down about it because he wanted a daughter SOOO bad. When the words, "I'm a Girl!" popped up on the screen he turned and looked at me with big eyes, dropped jaw, and a BIG smile. We're happy about both of our babies and can't wait to meet them.
We've been working on the house and we will be moving in this coming Saturday. It's going to be so great!

Almost 11 weeks

2009-08-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I am 10 weeks and 5 days along in my pregnancy. We went to the Dr last week and had an ultrasound done. Sterling kept popping his head in front of the screen so I couldn't really see much. He said they were moving all over the place and could see the hands and legs. He was so excited it was so cute. He'd move a little close to the screen every time and say "That is SO cool!" with a BIG grin on his face. They printed out pictures for us but all you can really see is a white line that is one of the babies spines.
The Dr wasn't able to see us that day because he had to run and do a delivery so, today I had to go in and see him today. He took me to do another ultrasound which was a lot more clear than the last one. I could clearly see the arms, legs, and heartbeat. I got to hear both of my babies heartbeats. They were very strong. I saw some movement and the Dr said the baby that we were focusing on was kicking. It was so amazing. Now that I think of where the other baby was in relation to Mr/Ms kicker I think he/she was kicking it's sibling in the head. So, I told Sterling that if one of them comes out with brain damage we'll know why. They are so big now. They take up all the room in the sack now. Their little legs are all scrunched up. I've heard you can find out the gender at 13 weeks and my next appt in at 14 weeks so maybe we'll find out then. I hope so. Sterling's mom keeps buying us stuff but she doesn't know whether to buy baby girl or baby boy.
Now that I'm pregnant I sometimes wonder why I wanted this so much. Things like today remind me why I wanted it so badly. I've been very lucky that I've only vomited 1 day of all of my ten weeks and 5 days.
We'd like to thank all of you who have kept us in your prayers. We're very grateful for what the Lord has blessed us with. We hope all if well with all of you and will continue to pray for you all as well.

Presenting......

2009-08-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Baby 'A' and Baby 'B'. We usually just refer to them as "the kids". I finally had Sterling scan a one of the ultrasounds we have of them.
From what I understand they actually look like humans now. They have grown their little arms and legs and move them and everything. We are very anxious to find out the genders. I keep having the strangest dreams that I give birth to puppies and chipmunks.
I don't know if I should be popping out yet but I feel like I kind of am. I felt really fat last sunday when I went to church.
Everything is still the same with Sterling and I. If anyone knows of any companies around that are hiring I would love to get into a new job.

How many did you say?

2009-07-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, we had an ultrasound a week ago and have seen both of our kids. Yes, that's right...I said BOTH. We put in two embryos and they both stuck. We're having twins. We were nervous because each sack could still hold more than one baby. We've seen the heartbeats and only 1 heartbeat per sack. Sterling is having a hard time accepting this. He has moved on to "I-need-a-new-job-and-a-2nd-job" mode. I've tried to show him it's not going to be that much more expensive. We can buy most of the items 2nd hand. We're both very nervous but coming to terms with it. Don't get my wrong...we're very excited and getting more excited the more we see the babies. Our due date is March 8th but twins usually come early so they'll probably be here in Feb. I'll post pictures of the ultrasounds later.

Valedictorian!!!

2009-07-06T14:44:00.000-07:00

Sterling finally graduated. He is officially done with school. He graduated with a 4.0. Obviously he was Valedictorian.
Here he is after the commencment.

Sterling with me and my parents

Sterling with his family except one of his sisters.

Giving his speech. He didn't memorize it or print it out. Nope. He read it from his cell phone. That's my husband. He did a really good job. I was really proud of him.

Ripped from my ovaries!

2009-06-17T06:03:00.001-07:00

So on Friday the 12th we went in and had the "Egg retrieval" done. We injected a large dose of HCG which releases the egg from the wall of the follicle. Then we went into the office and I was put under after they got me all set up in stirrups. (a position i've never fallen asleep in I must say) At that point they go in with a vaginal ultrasound to navigate and go in through my abdomin with a need to suck out the eggs from the follicle. After the retrieval they let them rest for a bit and then do ICSI which is just injecting the sperm into the egg. I was told that it would feel like cramps. That was kind of an understatement. It felt like the worst bloated cramps I've ever had. I would dread going to the bathroom because it hurt. 3 days later I was feeling better. My sister-in-law even bought me flowers and gummy bears. It was really sweet.
The day after the retrieval we got a call from the Dr's office. We had retrieved 6 eggs and the nurse told us that 5 of them had fertilitized. Sterling was so excited. His words..."My boys are studs!" Lol. Sure baby! Whatever you say!
Today, Wednesday, I am scheduled to get pregnant. Yup! It is possible to pin point the day you get pregnant. It only takes about $15,000 and me turning into a human pin-cushion. I do have pictures of the day we did the retrieval but It's not really flattering. I was pretty pale after the procedure. My lips look blue.
Anywho, wish us Luck!!!!

Baby Ingredients!

2009-06-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

There are a few people that know that Sterling and I are going through IVF (invitro fertilization). Sterling has been giving me a shot every evening before bed. The needle was just and insulin needle at first. It wasn't that bad. Sterling was out of town the first night I was supposed to start the shots so I did it myself. We have since moved up to a cocktail of medicine and uses a bigger needle. In about 10 days we will start progesterone shots, which from what I understand are pretty painful especially when you have to do them every day. I'm very much so feeling like a pin cushion. For the last week I have been going into the Dr. every other day to get a blood draw and and ultrasound. Luckily the ultrasounds are showing that I've got about 30 follicles (we call them baby ingredients) in each ovary and about 13 that are progressing the way the Dr's like. Next week (the 2nd week in June) is when we will be doing the egg retrieval. They will put me under and surgically remove the eggs that are mature enough and then they will do ICSI (insert Sterling's sperm into the egg (more baby ingredients)). We'll wait for about 3-5 days and then implant 2-3 of what they call blastocycsts. (we call these baby scraps) So, I've contemplated not telling anyone and decided to ask all of you for your prayers. We're ok with whatever the Lord has in mind for us and feel optimistic about this process. Thank you in advance for all of you thoughts and prayers and we'll let you know.

Belated Easter

2009-04-19T10:19:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter. I woke up and made a nice Easter breakfast for everyone in the house. We had hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, and french toast. We had a nice family breakfast with each other, Sterling's parents, and his two little sisters. We got ready for church and taught our primary class. It was great. We had a couple of beautiful musical numbers in sacrament meeting. Typically I get an Easter dress but we're saving for children (either adoption, or fertility treatments), and a down pmnt on a home. I looked for an easter dress for like 3 hours one day but I had decided I didn't want to spend more than $30. I didn't find anything I liked so I settled for a nice shirt I found on clearance. I went to put the shirt on to get ready for church and had found that it was WAY too big. I ran the shirt upstairs and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law pinned it for me and then Chelsea (my sister-in-law) took it in. It was a good 3 inches too big. It turned out great. I was just as happy with my Easter shirt as I would have been with an $80 Easter dress.

When we got home from church we went out in the front of the house and took a family Easter picture with the daffodils. I LOVE daffodils. Obviously we had Pedro in our family picture because he is our "kid".
Grandma and Grandpa Cluff came for Easter Dinner. We had yummy ham. Mom and Dad had a Family Home Evening planned. A special video about Jesus Christ with a talk from President Hinckley. We had a great family discussion afterwards and then bid Grandma and Grandpa farewell. We took a family picture after the movie to document our lovely Easter.
Bottom Left to Right: Dad Cluff, Brittney, Lindsay, Chelsea
Top Left toRight: Jeff, Mom Cluff, Sterling, Konni, (Pedro), Grandma Cluff, and Grandpa Cluff.
It was really great to see Grandma and Grandpa. They always give big hugs when they get there and when they leave. Grandpa is so cute. He's this really tall 6'4' man that gives the best hugs to everyone and everyone loves to get his hugs. They shared some really great stories from their missions.

So many children left in our care

2009-04-19T09:51:00.001-07:00

We have so many people that care about us and want us to have our own children. They tell us that they recognize what good parents we will be. Maybe that's why so many people tell us if something should happen to them they want us to take care of their kids. When Sterling's little sister was pregnant they told us they were going to put us down as legal gaurdian to their children in their will.
We have some friends...Bob and Cher, who are the parents of little David, pictured below, they have left David in our care if something should happen to them. They asked if we would be his "God Parents". We get to watch him pretty often and love this little guy. He's so cute. We had him Friday and Saturday this week and gave him a hair cut. He's getting so big. So, basically, all we need is for some people to die for us to get a kid. j/k. totally j/k

Baby David. He's a tank. before he was crawling it took a lot out of me to haul him around. Cute picture of him... not so flattering of me.
Sterling is so good with David. David always has a big smile for him. Sometimes when he's playing his computer game he even lets David sit on his lap and play with him. He's gonna be a great dad....someday.

David is just a movin'. This little man decided he wanted to get around on his own and started crawling. It wasn't a gradual learn how to crawl either. Sometimes when he gets away from me I've got to jog to catch up to him.

We bought him this little einsteins tunnel to play in when he comes to our house. He LOVES it.

Conference and Sterling's B-day

2009-04-09T19:51:00.001-07:00

Conference!!

Yes, that's right folks that time of the year has come and gone. Conference is one of my favorite time of the year. My dad takes us all out to eat at a nice restaurant on Saturday after the priesthood session. This time we went to Red Lobster. Yummy! Then on Sunday morning we have the most delicious breakfast. Hashbrowns, eggs, toast, bacon, sausage(usually like 2-3 kinds), cinnamon rolls, and fruit. My dad is THE BEST breakfast maker in the world. Then, we sit down together and watch/listen to conference. Kirk (my brother) and Marnie came down from Logan with all of their kids except Trulan. He had to work. I love when they come down. While we had most everyone there I asked my family to take a big family photo that I could post on our blog so Kim (my brother) and Leslie could see and know that we were thinking about them since they live in Texas. It wasn't until we were all done taking the photo that I realized that most of the woman hadn't done their make up. Including me. Oh well. (Kim, if you will look closely at Kris on the top right you will see that in both of the pics like this he is giving you the "sexy" look. Goof ball)

Bottom Left-Right: Cabren holding Pedro, Bryson, Kiana, Kirk, Marnie holding Kambrie

Top: Konni, Holden, Sterling, Keri, Mom, Dad, Kris, Rosa.

We retook the picture because Kiki just had to touch Peddie and Kambrie was covering half her face.

Kirk, Marnie, Kambrie, and Cabren listening and coloring during conference.

I went up to take a picture of my dad "listening" to conference up in his room but he had just woken up. If the man would let us help with breakfast he wouldn't have to wake up at 5 am to start breakfast.

Poor Kiki was sick when they got to the house. She started throwing up right after breakfast. This was after she threw up and was feeling better so she decided to color with me, Bryson, Holden, and Kambrie. Kambrie and I colored her a "get well soon" picture. It was really cute. It was a precious moments picture of a little girl dressed up like a nurse feeding a spoonful of medicine to a sick little puppy.

This, ladies in my nephew Cabren. I would say that he's a hottie but that's a little wierd coming from his aunt. So, I will just say that he is growning up to be very handsome. Trulan is very handsome as well but he wasn't there for me to take a pic of him. Anywho, keep your hands off. He's only 15. Pedro was so cute. He jumped up on Cabe'slap and just sat there with him for a while.

Bryson, my cute little nephew. He's getting so big. He's turning into a little man. He came and sat on the floor with us and colored as well.

Kirk nick names all of his kids. Hold is Moochie because when he was little he would walk around the room and kind of Mooch off of people for treats and stuff. I remember going to the hospital when he was born. This time was the first time he was able to go to the priesthood session and then out to dinner with us because he turned 12 in February. He's a very impressive young man. He ordered some fish that he had never tried before when we went to dinner. I would have never done anything like that when I was his age.

I was taking a picture of Sterling "listening" to conference the same way my dad "listens" to conference up in his room. The spirit must have whispered to him that I was taking a picture because he opened his eyes right as I was taking the picture.

Kiana started feeling better at the end of the morning session and got up to cuddle with Pedro. She's so cute with him. If he is within touching distance she has to be touching, or petting him.

Sterling's B-day!

On conference Sunday Sterling turned 26. Well, he likes to call it the 1st anniversary of his 25th b-day. Nerd, I know. Ever since he decided he's balding he doesnt' want to get older. It's a good thing something started to age him because I don't think he could hold it together again if the gas man came to the door and asked if his mom or dad were there when he's 30.

I gave him this shirt for his b-day. It's a really pretty dark purple. He looks nice in it. I got a small for him so he didn't look like he was wearing a tent. It fits his body much better but the sleeves are a little short and the neck is a little tight when he buttons it all the way up.

It's a good thing there were only like 12 candles because he wouldn't have been able to blow all of them out. He couldn't even get all 12 of the ones on there.

Happy Birthday Pedro!!

2009-03-06T03:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been three years since we adopted Pedro from the humane society. He was 12 years old when we got him and since we adopted him in March I just say that Pedro's birthday is in March. So, Pedro is 15 years old now. We got Pedro after we had been trying to get pregnant for a while. I guess you could say I wanted a dog to replace the void that I felt from lack of children. We couldn't have found a dog that could fill that void any better. Sometimes when I am cuddling with Pedro I say, "Peddie, Heavenly Father sent you to me." Sterling thinks it's cute and I somewhat believe that Peddie was sent to us. We really do love this little guy. Even my mom says that she was a little worried when we got him but he has turned out to be a really great dog. I think she secretly wishes Pedro was hers.

People always put postings up about their kids and Pedro is the closest thing we have so...here goes...

We always take him with us to family pictures. He's very photogenic.

He loves to be with his Mommy. He has this neurotic habit of licking his paws. He can do it for hours. It actually gets really irritating especially when he's always near you. The movement bugs, the sound is disgusting, and his breath REALLY stinks. Regardless he's still super cute.

He is always happy when he is with his Dad. Whenever Sterling is holding him you can see his little tail wagging back and forth. In the morning he usually sticks his head out of wherever he is on the bed to say goodbye to Sterling.
The most common spot that you can find Peddie is on my side of the bed on top of my pillow. We have so many pillows that one of them usually ends up on top of him as well. He doesn't mind. If he gets too hot he sticks his little head out like so. There have been multiple times that I have woke up with him op top of my head or with my head on top of him.

Pedro's favorite sport is sleeping. This little puppy honestly sleeps for about 18 hours a day.

Our little guys is counted as one of the grandkids on both sides of our family. His cousins LOVE him. Whenever we get together he is followed by at least Kiana if not everyone else too.

This picture is a bit creep-y looking. However, Pedro usually gets to participate in all of our hollidays. For Christmas he had his very own stocking full of lots of fun stuff. On Valentines Day I made "Love" pancakes,(Pink pancakes) and he had one of his own.

One of my favorite hollidays is Halloween. Thus, Peddie always gets a costume. Here he is at the trunk-or-treat with our former neighbors baby. They are both horses.

Update

2009-02-25T17:15:00.001-08:00

Hello one and all. It's been a while and I just wanted to take a moment to give everyone an update.

I am enjoying my job. I am realizing that I am very blessed to be employed right now. Discover card is a pretty good company to work for. They seem to take care of their employee's very well. Offering products on all of my calls is a bit challenging but worth it. The incentive on products sells is pretty nice. The insurance pays 90% of fertility treatments which is unheard of. Looks as though we will be going back to the drawing board and trying to get pregnant again. I am dieting and exercising very aggressively to lose at least 50 pounds to increase our chances of getting pregnant with in-vitro. I'm doing pretty well most of the time.

Sterling is still enjoying his job at Goldman-Sachs. Although, he doesn't like having to be up on the UofU campus. If it were on the Y campus he would be in heaven. He only has about one more week left of school for this quarter, and then one last quarter until he is FINISHED. It will be so exciting for him to finally have his bachelors. I am so proud of him. He STILL has maintained 4.0 and is top of his class. HHEELLLLOO Valedictorian!!! One thing we are NOT looking forward to is paying back the Student Loans. Oh well! Like Sterling's dad always says..."You can pay now or pay later. Either way, you're going to pay."

There is one thing that I would like to ask of all you. My baby nephew Nickolas is still very sick. He's in the hospital again and the Dr's can't seem to find out what ailing him now. We would really appreciate as many prayers on his behalf. He really is a sweet little boy. They are all the way in Texas so it's pretty difficult for my family to have him be so sick and so far away. If you would like to see him and get to know more about him you can visit their blog... www.beamovi.blogspot.com

We feel that the Lord has really blessed us regardless of all the bad things we think happen to us. We recognize his hand in our life and are greatful for the knowledge we possess about the restoration of the gospel.

Goodbye to a Lovely Lady!

2009-02-10T17:18:00.000-08:00

My grandma Beam passed away two days after Christmas. She really was a wonderful lady. Anyone who knew her or came in contact with her loved her. She had a lot of friends and a lot of love. My grandma Beam was my Dad's Mom. She had two sons. My Dad and my Uncle Dale. They are both great men. She raised her boys to be caring and loving just like she was. I miss my grandma alot. The up side to her passing is that she wasn't a member of the church. We've got a lot of family that was up there waiting for her and I'm sure they will be the missionaries we are expecting them to be. We are excited to be able to do her temple work in a year. Even though she wasn't a member while she was alive we still have faith that we can still be with her again.

We had a memorial service for grandma. She was creamated so her body wasn't at the service but we were very blessed to meet all of our family and all of her friends on in Seattle when we went up for the service. This is a picture of my dad at the service. I think my grandma would be proud.

This is my Uncle Dale. He is such a sweet guy. My favorite thing about my Uncle is his hugs. He gives the biggest, most loving, most heartfelt hugs I've ever had in my life.

My Mom and Dad at the service in Seattle. My sister and I were very impressed with the dress my Mom picked out. It was very "Jackie O". She looked great in it.

My Dad and Uncle were so funny when it came to planning the service. They wanted nothing but the best for her service. I was asked to arrange the flowers for the service. This is the "before" picture of the flowers.

This is an "after" picture of the flowers.

Another "after" picture of the flowers.

My grandma was an excellent knitter/crocheter. She made these coats for my older brothers that have a horse and a skier knit into the back. We set up display tables of all the stuff grandma has made for us over the years. Kim put his coat on...(the best he could) and started singing "Fat guy in a little coat." from Tommy Boy. It was hilarious.

The morning after we got to Seattle my Dad was taking us out to breakfast. Kim was on the phone with Leslie, his wife. Leslie always tries to make sure Kim and her boys eat healthy so she told Kim not to get all sorts of bacon, sausage and stuff. Well, as you can see Kim isn't a very good listener. This is a picture of his plate right after he was told not to order such things. This sausage patty would put most quarter pounder hamburgers to shame.

Because my grandma wasn't LDS she had a lot of friends that drank coffee. My Dad and Uncle thought she might like it if we served coffee at the service. So.. they booked the service to be done at a different church down the street from where she lived. They pastor let us use the kitchen along with the coffee machines. At the end of the service before anyone went in to mingle and have refreshments my Uncle warned everyone that the "Mormons" were making that coffee and that we did the best we knew how to do. So... I took a picture of our "Mormon coffee".

New Years Eve!

2009-02-05T17:40:00.001-08:00

I know. It's February and I am posting stuff about New Years. It took me forever to actually upload the pictures from my new camera.

We had a great time on New Years Eve. We went to our friends house (Megan and Russ). Larrissa, James, Christy, and Corey all came too. We had dinner and played games. We started with Disney's Scene It. It was girls against boys. Needless to say there was some animosity at the end of that game. We rang in the new year and started to play a game called Mafia. It was a blast! We played until like 4 AM.

Russ and Megans little boys Landon really liked Sterling that night. He kept climbing up on the couch to chill with him and walking up to him to have him pick him up. It was super cute.

My favorite part of going to Meg and Russ' is Daisy their great dane. She is awesome. One time we took Pedro with us to their house and Daisy was trying to play with him.

Good news and Bad news!

2009-01-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I have some good news and some bad news. Lets start with the good news. I have a new job. I am now an employee of Discover Card. I'm actually pretty excited. They seem like a fabulous company to work for. Their benefits are the best I've ever heard of which is great because we have been without medical insurance since September.

The bad news...our cute little Milton (one of our hamsters) has passed away. I went to get their cages our of the room we put them in at night and he was head first into his food bowl. I thought he was just being weird but I picked him up and he was very lethargic (SP?). So much so that I couldn't tell if he was dead or alive. I did some research and found a couple of diagnosis' for what might be wrong with him. His body temperature was very cold so I wrapped him in a hand towell and put him on a heating pad. He seemed to be moving more so I thought we might be out of the woods. A couple of minutes later I wasn't getting any responses from him. I was a little upset but I made a little coffin for him out of a guitar hero box and lined it with batting. We burried him in the field across the street. The ground was frozen so we didnt' get him too deep. I'm not exactly sure how many city ordinances we broke but I felt better when we were done. Rest In Peace Milton. We will miss you!

Family Photo Shoot

2009-01-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

I have a good friend of mine that takes amazing pictures. I've seen her work a couple of times and wanted to have her do some of Sterling and I. I worked out a deal with her that I would watch her kids a couple days and she would do some pictures for us. We were really happy with the outcome. Here are a few of my favorites

This is a really cute one of Sterling and Peddie

Christmas

2008-12-26T18:24:00.000-08:00

We had an interesting Christmas this year. The power went out right after we finished opening presents because we had a BLIZZARD on Christmas morning.

We did have a good Christmas regardless. We enjoyed out time together.

This is a picture of us later on in the day. We were at my parents and Sterling was really tired.

We have never had a Christmas of our own. Ever since we have been married we have slept over at Sterling's parents house on Christmas Eve. It seems strange that the year we don't have out own house is the year that I really wanted us to have our own Christmas morning. So, we did out stockings in our room before we went out to open presents with everyone else. We have a really fun Christmas tradition every year that we both go christmas stocking shopping at the same time in the same store for the other. It's really fun because we have to try and avoid each other in the store so the other can't see what we have in the cart for each other.

Pedro got a stocking too! I made him this little BYU stocking. It was actually supposed to be Sterling's but I made it too small so I used it for Pedro. I will make Sterling a larger BYU stocking for next year.

Sterling on Christmas morning. One of his little sisters gave him a game that he has been wanting for a while. He was really happy to get it.

When we woke up we noticed it was a huge storm. It took our power out and make it difficult to get across the valley to my parents house. Little did we know when we left that on my parents side of the valley they hadn't even gotten any snow. This is Sterling headed to the car to go to my parents.

Kris, Kiana, Bryson, and Pedro. All Kiana wanted was to sit with her dad and Pedro. she loves that little guy. She just follows him around the house.

Bryson got a Nintendo DS for Christmas. He kept asking how to play the games he had gotten. Kris would tell him to come over and he would show him but for some reason he went to my mom (who, by the way, calls them "finger"drives instead of thumb drives) to help him. She tried her hardest to help him. Bless her heart.

Bryson and Kiana LOVE to wrestle with Grandpa. Whenever they punch him in the stomache he says "Don't mess with steel" Right before we left Kiana had started to pick a fight with Grandpa. It's really cute.

We hope that everyone had a really great Christmas filled with a lot of love. We excited for what this next year brings for us and all those around us.

First Snow of the Year!

2008-11-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we had the first snow of them year. This is what we woke up to. Normally you can see clear the the mountains on the east side of the valley from the front door of the house. It was snowing like mad. It all melted pretty fast but the day was really pretty. Sterling and I went out to see a movie. I really wanted to build a snowman but Sterling was a kill joy.

view from the front door.

We have to force Pedro out of bed every morning to get up and go outside to go potty. I put a sweater and a rain slicker on him this day because it was snowing and so cold. (Iknow, I know. Yes I am one of those people that kind of treats their dog like a baby but we don't have any kids!!!)

Pedro outside in his "winter clothes". Scotty, my mother-in-laws dog, always has to supervise Pedro's potty trips.

We look like we're in pain but we're really not. Sterling looks like this in almost every picture we take of him so I guess it rubbed off on me. We were at Jordan Landing to go see "Eagle Eye". Good movie by they way!!

My little handy man!

2008-11-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

Sterling is not handy with cars at all. His family is the "take the car to the shop to get it fixed" type of family. I know how to fix cars more than he does. We're rying to cut cost everywhere we can so when the window in the Saturn stopped working we took the car over to my dads to have him help Sterling put in the new part. A couple weeks later I noticed the "change oil" sticker in his car said that he was supposed to change his oil about 5000 miles ago. So, we went and bought the stuff to change the oil ourselves. We probably didn't really save that much on changing the oil ourselves but we felt good about it.

Working on the window in his VERY worn out BYU jersey.

Changing the oil in the car. Sterling got out the handy-dandy owners manual that was actually pretty helpful.

Sterling and my dad trying to figure something out. I forget what they were looking for.

Pedro really wanted to be outside with the boys working on the car. He hopped in the car while the door was open and wouldn't get out to go back inside with me. They had the BYU game on in the car so they could listen to what was going on. (not the BYU vs UTAH. this was a couple weeks ago)

Late Halloween

2008-11-17T18:13:00.000-08:00

So, I have been trying to get Halloween picture up for a very long time. I finally got it done.

We went to Trunk or Treat at our ward but it was very lame. So, we drove over to our old ward that we were in when we lived in the condo's trunk or treat. It was awesome. They had dinner, music, and tons of fun. The two bigger girls were in my primary Class. Amber is the one standing right next to me. When I first started teaching their class she was in a wheel chair, had tubes coming out of her and no hair. She was just finishing up with chemo. She's in remission now. It was so great to see her so healthy. I almost wanted to cry. Sara is the girl next to her and she had grown a lot since we moved out. The little girl is my old visiting teacher's daughter. Her name is Kassidy and she is a doll.

This is a picture of a bunch of our friends from our old ward. They are so great. We miss them A LOT.

Our good friends that lived across the hall from us are 'D' and Kasey. Right before we moved out they had little baby Pierson. He was born the week of General Conference and they got his name from one of the General Authorities that spoke. He's half black and is soo stinkin cute. His costume was a horse and Pedro was a horse so we had to take a picture of them together. (This was the back of my car)

I was a pink lady and Sterling was a T bird. Well, we dressed him up like the picture before and then he found one of his mom's leather jackets to wear so he could be a T bird.

Let's Honor Them

2008-11-11T09:39:00.001-08:00

It's Veterans Day!

Today is Veterans Day. It's a day to remember and honor those who have and are serving for us. These brave young and women know more than most that FREEDOM ISN'T FREE.
I have a a picture of my cousins wearing my grandfathers military hat that we found after both of my grandparents had passed away. When we were taking those photos I don't think we realized exactly how much that hat really meant. We didn't realize what pride should be present while wearing that hat. We didn't realize that my grandfather had fought for loved ones and strangers.

Both my grandfathers and Sterling's grandfathers served in the military. Today is a very special day for both of us. The images and thoughts that they did and are living with are more than any of us can imagine. The sacrifices that were made on our behalf are amazing. We love them and appreciate them for what they have done. We love the current men and women who are fighting for freedom for everyone else that deserves it. We pray that the Lord will be with these awesome individuals who love with all of their heart.

God bless America and her service men and women, past, present, and future.

Punkin' Mania

2008-10-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

So, I LOVE Halloween! The thing I love most about Halloween is the pumpkins. My parents and I took my neice and nephew (Bryson, and Kiana) to the pumpkin patch. Oh my Goodness! It was beautiful. Rows and rows of round, orange funness.

Kiana was trying to pull the cart while Bryson was pushing the wheel barrel.

The kids let us take picture but Pedro HAD to sit next to both of them. It's so cute that they smile when you tell them to now.

Me with the kids. Sterling had to go to school.

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids.

The pumpkin patch was so much fun and the kids had a BLAST. Sterling and I are going over to their house to carve the pumpkins this week.

Happy Birthday Kim

2008-10-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

Kim,

This is for you Happy Birhtday. Make sure to turn up the volumn because the kids are a little difficult to hear.

Our get away

2008-10-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

We babysit a lot for some friends of ours. Conference weekend was his birthday so we took David (the baby) overnight so they could go up to their Time Share in Park City. They offered the rest of the time to us during the week. We went up on Tuesday night and left on Thursday night. It was a really nice hotel. Very beautiful. On Wednesday we went back down to the city to have a cheap lunch and go to the Factory Outlets. We bought Christmas for most of Sterling's family for pretty inexpensive. I love to have my Christmas shopping done by the end of November so I can enjoy the holliday. Thursday we just kind of stayed in our room because the view was so beautiful and we just wanted to relax and spend time together.

Sterling and Peddie on Wednesday morning. The bed was huge. It was strange to feel like Sterling was on another continent while we slept.

The Shower!! I was AMAAAAZING! It was really large with marble tile. A little bench, and a sauna. To turn on the sauna all you had to do was push a button. I fell in love with the sauna. The steam and the heat took away a lot of the pain that I experience from my fibromyalgia.

The tub! It was huge and obviously a jacuzzi tub. I thought I would really enjoy the tub because I thought it would help with my pain like the sauna did. I didn't really like it. I don't like to be hot. I would MUCH rather be cold than hot. When I was in the tub I would get so overheated that I would get nasueas. I didn't enjoy it very much. Sterling did.

Animals weren't allowed so we snuck Pedro in. He would obviously have to go out to go potty so we put him in my back-pack to go take him out.

On Wednesday we went out to lunch. It was McDonalds. BUT, they had picnic tables. We bought Peddie a double cheeseburger and we got meals. Sterling gave Pedro some of his fries. What a generous dad he is.

I wish you could all see the waterfall that's behind us in this picture. It was gorgeous. This is at the front of the hotel. They had an enormous waterfall built into the building. It was stunning. We took this picture just as we were leaving so it was too dark to pick up the waterfall.

All in all we had a GREAT time at the nicest hotel we've ever been to. The best part was the company we had. Eachother.

Conference

2008-10-15T20:29:00.000-07:00

My family has traditions during conference. Every Saturday after the Priesthood Session we all go out to dinner at a nice restaraunt. (my dad pays) The women usually get together before and meet at the restaraunt to wait for an open table. (It can get pretty busy) It used to be a pretty big bill because all the siblings, their spouses, and any of their kids 12 and older went. This year my mom and sister were in Texas with my brother Kim and his family because his baby is in the childrens hospital. My brother Kirk and his family didn't come down from Logan. My brother Kris came but didn't bring his family. So, It was just Dad, Sterling, Kris and I. We went to Archibalds. (EXCELLENT!) On Sunday morning we all go to my parents house and they feed everyone an enormous breakfast. My dad usually wakes up at about 5AM to get breakfast going. (Hashbrowns-2 kinds, eggs, cinnamon rolls, bacon, ham, sausage, juice) This year it was only, Dad, Sterling, and I for breakfast. Prep time was significantly less.

Dad and Sterling getting breakfast ready. (*Note my dads uncanny ability to match plaid bottoms with a striped shirt. My brother Kris has inherited this ability along with wearing socks with flip flops. It takes real talent to pull it off. At least both patterns were blue.)

Dad and Tucker cuddling in Mom's chair. Tucker had to "suffer" with dad while mom was out of town.

Pedro cuddling up to listen to the words of the Prophet.

We watched the Sunday Morning Session at my parents with my dad. The only downside to having such a wonderful breakfast right before conference is that you're so full you can't stay awake. Usually I'm the one that stays awake while Sterling falls asleep. This year Sterling was the only one to stay awake. He even leaned over and hit my foot because I was "snooring" too loud for him to hear. (I don't snore! I just breath loud!)

Hairy Boy!

2008-10-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

I cut Sterling's hair a while ago and it ended up looking like he had just joined the military. We're trying to cut costs so I took another wack at cutting his hair.

The Before

In "The After" picture it doesn't look like I cut much but I had a pile of hair to prove contrary.

The After
It doesn't look like I cut that much but in person you could definatley tell a difference.

I did a much better job! I better have because I had him stuck in that chair for the majority of one of the conference sessions. To be fair to myself he wasn't real cooperative. I told him to put his head up and he would for a min but he kept putting it back down. He's a trouble maker.

When the adversary gives you lemons...

2008-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

make lemon pie.
So, literally everytime we start the adoption process something financial happens that sets us back. About a year and a half ago we went in for orientation for adoption and got the paperwork to fill out. We were refinancing our condo so that we could have the money to pay for the adoption when Sterling got in a wreck. We found out that following day that our good for nothing insurance company had cancelled our policy because the DMV didn't file the medical clearance paperwork that the Dr's office had faxed over. Lewis Insurance stated that they sent out a letter to us letting us know what was going on but we never got one. Granted they had our first apartment address on file with them but all of our mail was being forwarded and we got a little post card that told us they had moved offices!!! So, needless to say the balance still owed on Sterling's '02 Mazda Millenia (which he loved dearly!) was about $10,000-$12,000. The other guy had like a '98 or '00 Mustang. He sued us and we settled for $4,000. Between everything all of our money for the adoption (plus A LOT more) was used. To make that situation worse the company that towed our car told Sterling he couldn't touch the car. They at least let him get the school books he needed for that quarter out but he had other books in there, all of his CD's (there was a lot), his mission scripture, and our Temple clothes (the ones we were married in. Plus, Sterling's temple pants weren't only the pants that he married me in but they were the same pants his dad married his mom in) :( , We had to refinance once again to get the car paid off so we could get the title to give over to the junk yard so we could get our stuff only to find out the they had either crushed it or sold it so EVERYTHING was gone! We were pretty devastated.

The hundreds of dollars of school books we "couldn't touch"

The damage. (he was T-boned) Thank heavens that he was alright.

We were just saving up to be able to pay the $1000 you pay up front for background checks, home inspection, and whatever else you need when our condo leaked into the condo below us ruining stuff in both of our condo's. Luckily the insurance (we got a new company) paid for most of it but we had a deductible we had to pay.

And now, we have sold our condo (didn't get as much as we wanted out of it because we had to refinance TWICE), moved in with Sterling's parents, and have money in savings to pay for the adoption. Our plan was to save the adoption money, and take our income to pay off ALL of our debt and save money for a down payment on a house. All of a sudden, on Saturday Sept. 27th I (Konni) am pulled aside at work and told they are letting me go. Yes, that is right! I am unemployed. To make the situation a little worse Sterling hadn't been to work in a couple of days because his anxiety and depression was the worst I have ever seen it. He would just lay in bed. He wouldn't smile, he didnt' want to talk. I was so worried about him. He hates his job and just couldn't get over this hump of anxiety and depression to pull himself out of bed and go into work. He's back at work now but he still has to force himself to go in. He's doing better. He will laugh and smile now.

The point of this whole things is 1. to let me vent and ramble on about it. and 2. to give you the moral of our story.

The moral of the story is When the adversary gives you lemons, make lemon pie out of it! We have been praying all day everyday. Our relationship is better between us and our Heavenly Father. We are showing our faith by continuing forward with the adoption. We know that we are doing the right thing because the adversary is blocking us at every turn and we will NOT be stopped. With the help of our Father in Heaven and our Savior we will overcome this too and bring a wonderful little spirit into our Eternal Family. We have each other and the Lord had brought us together. We have little Pedro (and Milton & Charlie) to tide us over until the child that has chosen to come to us through our birth mom makes his/her (I want a boy, Sterling want a girl) grand entrance. We pray that the Lord might stregthen us and all of our friends and family to get through all of our trials.

Might be fun

2008-09-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I saw this on a cousin of a cousins (don't ask) blog and decided to join in. Here is what you do...1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember! If we're only blogging friends, write about a post that is the most memorable for you.2. Next, if you feel so inclined, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll be sure to write one about you...!

Condo or Baby?

2008-09-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on the sale of our condo. It's actually been a couple weeks but we've had other stuff going on.

This is the view that could be seen from all the rooms and the patio. It's beautiful. The mountains look like a painting. It's nice to just take some time to notice them and all of the beautiful splendor the Lord has given us.

We gave up the home we love so that we can adopt. The view from our home was beautiful but I don't think it will compare to the look in our birth mom's eyes when we meet; and the love that will be present when she holds that baby for the first time. We can't wait for the Lord to send us our angels. By angels I mean our baby, AND our birth mom. It will be our own glimpse into heaven.

Please Help!!!

2008-09-15T07:44:00.001-07:00

To all of our friends and family,

Sterling and I have a nephew that is very sick. They live in Texas so we have only met him once but we still love him so very much. He was born with 1 tiny kidney (I don't think it was ever working) and the other wasn't doing well either. The poor little guy was born in March and as of today, Sept 15th, will have had at least three major surgeries. He has a feeding tube that sticks out of his belly and has recently had to have surgery to put a tube and stuff (great medical terminology I know) to put him on dialysis. Yesterday (Sept 14th) they were forced to do dialysis before the Dr.'s felt comfortable and it leaked all over so now they have to go in and "install" a differend kind of dialysis. (hema-something) His name is Nikolas and I know that the Lord has sent him to my brother and sister-in-law because they would be able to take care of him. I am just asking that all of you might be able to remember him in your prayers. Any prayers that can be offered would be fabulous. Here are some pictures...

This is Nikolas a few months ago while they were visiting us in Utah

This is Nikolas after his surgery to put in the first dialysis port.

Nikolas is a very special spirit and we are hoping and praying that the Lord will bless all of us and him to help him get healthy so that he can stay with us. All of your prayers are appreciated.

If you would like to see more about Nikolas and his family here is a link to their blog...

http://www.beamovi.blogspot.com/

Awww... How Cute!!!

2008-09-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so, I had a couple of hamster's from the Vet Tech department at my work and to make a very long and drawn out story much shorter (and look in more favor to me) Sterling gave them away and I was VERY upset. So... we got another one. His name is Milton and he's pretty cute. I know I know.. you're all thinking... is she really putting a blog up about her new hamster? YES DANGIT! I AM! Now do you see why we need to adopt a baby so badly? Anyway, right after we got Milton we went to my parents house for dinner on Sunday. I knew that my neice and nephew, Kiana and Bryson, would be there. So, we brought Milton for them to play with. They LOVED him. they kept taking turns holding him and laughing while his little feet would tickle their arms when he ran up and down them. Then, one of them (I forget who) saw the back end of him and said "I can see his bum!!" Ha Ha Ha hilarious. For those of you who don't know... hamster carry their male genitelia (sp?) on their back end and you can see it all the time. It was just too cute for words. I just said "Yup! you SURE can!"

This is out little Milton

This is Charlie. He came to us because his owner was trying to find him a home and we decided to take him

This is the both of them. Their not real great friends... they don't cuddle or anything like my other two did. The other two were brothers though.

They like to push each other off of the wheel. Charlie is significantly bigger (fatter) than Milton so he pushes him around a lot. Milton runs really fast on the wheel where as Charlie more waddles along. However, It seems that Charling has taken quite a "liking" to Milton at times. Sterling says that Charlie rapes and pillages. Poor Milton.

Anywho... these are our new pets.

I'll be putting some much more interesting posts up very soon. So... stay tuned!

Who does Sterling look like?

2008-08-13T08:29:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Familytrees - Family search

Who does Konni look like?

2008-08-13T08:23:00.000-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree chart - Geneology

An end to our beginning....

2008-08-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who don't know we moved out of our condo and moved in with Sterling's parents. We did this so we could save money for a down payment on a real house with a yard and stuff, we also needed to save money for adoption, and to pay off all of our debt so that I can be a stay at home mom. With just a mortgage payment it makes it possible for me to be a full time mom when the time comes.
The condo had been on the market for 2 or 3 months and we were starting to get worried. We had a lot of traffic going through but no offers. On fast Sunday, Aug 3rd, we were fasting about the condo. We had been praying and hoping that things would start to pick up because the market was going down and we were still making our mortgage and hoa payment. One week and a day after our fast (Monday) I got in to work and noticed I had an email from our realtor. She said we had two offers on the house and one wasn't a bad offer. I called her and got the details. While I was trying to get a hold of Sterling I got another email that said we had a 3rd offer on the condo. To make a long story short we have signed the paper work to accept one of the offers and we are officially selling our condo.
It seems kind of sad now that we are about to sign over OUR home to some strangers. We have grown a lot in that home. I remember when we dedicated it. We both got down on our knees in front of our old hand-me-down couch and Sterling offered the dedication prayer. It was our first home (that we "owned"). We were responsible for the spirit that we felt there. We had A LOT of trials in that little dwelling. We made a lot of life long friends that made a print on our hearts. I know that this is what our goal was but it just seems like an end to our beginning.

I've included some pictures of the condo. This is what it looked like while it was being shown.

Our favorite room in the house. This was our room. We spent most of our time in here. The master bedroom was at the end of the hall and was the end of the condo. It had it's own bathroom (above), a walk in closet, and the laundry room was off of this room as well. You could only get to the laundry room from our room. It was kind of nice. For a family it probably wouldn't be a great idea.

The main bathroom for the condo. (1 of 2)

This is the smallest room in the condo. We used it as our slash room. It was our office/storage/exercise/whatever else we needed it for.

This is the 2nd biggest room in the condo. Our master bedroom is the biggest.(that's not saying much) We had a girl stay with us for about a year and rent this room from us.

This is the living room/dining room. We put down those floors with our own four hands (and a lot of other family hands)

This is our kitchen. We used to bake in this kitchen together on our Sundays that we didn't go to one of our parents. We also sanded down and put a new gel stain and sealer on these when we put it up for sale. We also put on the hardware. It made it look like a new kitchen

3 Amazing years!

2008-07-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

So on June 28th it was out 3 year anniversary. We decided to go camping. That's a big jump from last year when we took a limo up to the Silver King Lodge in park city and Sterling gave me a diamond necklace and then we went horseback riding.
There was a little rodent of some sort that came into our camp while we were there. We didn't end up staying up in the mountain for our anniversary because lots of stuff kept going wrong but we had a really great time. We've got two video clips at the bottom. They are kinda fun. Just take a look.

P.S. By the way, for those of you who don't know, we're adopting. We've been trying for over 2 and a half years without success so we've applied for adoption through LDS Family Services. If you know of anyone who is thinking about putting their baby up for adoption please give them our contact information. We know we can love any spirit that our Heavenly Father send to us. Please kept us in mind.

I thought this was a beautiful view. You can see the horses feeding on the grass. It was so much prettier in person but I wanted to remember it.

Somehow on the way up Pedro got his little bandana over his little legs and around his belly. We stopped to get ice right before we went up the canyon and noticed at the gas station.

Pedro liked camping too but it got a little cold at night for him

I think Sterling was a little too excited about using that shovel to put out the fire.

Sterling made some pretty amazing coals for our tin foil dinners. It made really yummy food.

my dad let us borrow his canopy. The problem is that we couldn't set it up where we wanted it the correct way. SO....we jimmy rigged it! I think my dad would be proud.

Sterling couldn't remember any of his boyscout knots so I had a go at it. I think my dad would be proud of this too.