this is what 21 weeks with twins looks like

     so i caved.  here's a photo.  it's weird being a freakshow.  i had a bride and her friend blatantly stare at my stomach as they talked to me.  they wouldn't look into my eyes.  it was so bad that elise, who works with me, even pointed it out.
     we had our the big 20 week ultrasound last week and everything is looking great!  they are super active and doing really well.  here are the boy's profiles:

 

                                                           so fun!!   

and the winner is...

                                                                         SEATTLE!!!

                    yep.  that's where we will be living.  so here's the timeline, the twins will come in june and then we will be in seattle in august, pretty quick but we are so excited.  i was so excited that i had to watch this:

            i was really enjoying it and thinking about how cool it is going to be to live there and then i had a foreshadowing of what my future would bring.  i kept hearing the phrase "sleepless in seattle" throughout the whole movie and then i would feel the boys kicking and that is when i knew.  i was going to be moving to seattle and was going to get zero sleep.  i turned off the movie and took a nap right then and there.
            how are the boys, you ask?  oh, they're doing really great.  they're moving around, getting chubby and in the meantime making it so that i can't move around and that i start getting chubby.  that's ok though, i've been enjoying it.  the ultrasounds are awesome!  they like to kick each other and stand on their heads and it's so fun to see them move and watch their hearts beat.  i can't wait to meet them. 
            so, if you are feeling like taking a little vacation to the north west coast, you will have friends there with an extra room to stay with.  seriously, we will want visitors so start making plans.

why my mission was better than yours

ok... i don't really feel like my mission was better than anyone else's, but my mission was pretty awesome. if you don't know, i served in the nebraska, omaha mission where not only did i do the whole door to door tracting and teaching thing, but i was also able to serve at the winter quarters visitor center where i was able to become well acquainted with church history.
i was also able to become well acquainted with this man, bob smith. bob smith is the great grandson of Joseph Smith and if you're not familiar with who that man is he is the prophet who restored Jesus Christ's original church back to the earth. anyway if you have questions on that, give me a call and we can discuss. anyway, i love bob smith and i was able to get to know him very well and be there during his conversion. i love his story and he finally shared it. i want to share it with you now.

by the way, when you click on the link it will take you to page two.  scroll to the bottom of  the article and go back to page one. 


Meridian Magazine - Missionary Moment - Emma: I was Too Tired to go West - Page 2

decisions, decisions

this...

or this...

i think i already know what you're thinking, but it's not as easy as it seems.

tj and i are feeling really blessed, excited and a little overwhelmed. 2011 is kind of a big deal for us, not only are we going to welcome our twin boys, but soon after we will be moving to a new city. this week tj recieved an offer from amazon which would mean we would move to seattle. seattle!! what a cool city with tons of stuff to do. museums, restaurants, the ocean, and of course the high cost of living.
then there is the offer from walmart which would mean we would be moving to bentonville, where we lived this summer. small town, family oriented, down to earth people, beaver lake and one cheap flight away from places like florida and new orleans and of course the low cost of living.
so we are supposed to make a decision here pretty soon that will shape the course of our lives. (deep breath) but i'll be perfectly honest, i'll go anywhere. i think both places sound fun and i am open for whatever the future brings. i really think it will come down to whatever company tj wants to work for. anyway, i will for sure let you all know (all 2 of you) as soon as we make a decision. i love a new adventure!

well...

          that's right, two boys.  we are so excited!!  girls scare me.  i'm sure you're thinking "but you grew up with all girls alex and so did tj".  well girls are hormonal, drama, they cry a lot and i don't think that i can be sensitive to that, but if we have a girl after these two boys they can straighten her out. 
          anyway... there you go.  so freaking excited!!

our little a and b

              all of this is true except for the boy and girl part.  we don't know quit yet, but anyway, yeah...we are totally having twins!!  let me answer some questions that EVERYONE asks us (which is fine):

1.  i'm 10 weeks along
2.  yes, we were using fertility treatments.  clomid to be exact.
3.  yes, twins run in my family.
4.  no, i haven't been sick at all, just really really ridiculously tired.
5.  yes we do have some names that we love, but until we know what we are having we won't nail those down.
 6.  we have known for 6 weeks now.
7.  yes, we are sooooo excited!

       anyway, that's all i can think of right now but please feel free to ask. 

we found out about the twins in kind of a funky way.  on my mom's birthday, november 19th, we thought i was having a miscarriage and rushed to the ER.  we were really sad, as you can imagine, and as i was getting an ultra sound we thought that we would be making sure that the baby wasn't there.  well, the tech looked at us and said "do twins run in your family" and we looked at her like "really, your going to be that insensitive and tell me that we lost twins".  as i had tears in my eyes i said that i did and she said " because you're having twins and they are doing just fine".  holy crap.
       as you can imagine we went from crushed to elated in about 2 seconds.  it was crazy. 

      so there you go.  our lives are drastically changing forever and we wouldn't want it any other way.

       best reaction of the news?  some of our really awesome friends who we talked to on the phone and his exact response was
                       "excuse my language but that's f***ing awesome"
       hilarious.

  

home

      that is where we are.  we got back late wednesday night from our long drive home with a detour through pheonix to see my sister and through vegas where i had to hit up a trade show to do some buying for work.  we came home to a welcome poster on our door (shout out to the wells.  holla!) and a beautifully clean house (you're the best syd!).  we are so happy to be home but we are already missing it out there in arkansas.   here is our list of things we miss

1.  southern hospitality
2.  weekends off together
3.  our weekly housekeeper
4.  weekend trips
5.  our arkansas friends
6.  simplicity
7.  seriously everyone is so nice there
8.  sharing the gospel (cheesy i know, but it was fun sharing it in a relaxed question answer kind of way)
9.  hammontree's grilled cheese (best restaurant ever)
10.  not having to work (alex)
11.  reading a ton
12.  being together, just us and no one else.  it reminded us of san diego when we were first married.
13.  the ozarks
14.  beaver lake
15.  canoeing the buffalo river

      we love utard, but we will always have a special place in our hearts for arkansas.