More IOP beach fun

Aunt Kim w/Rebecca
Aunt Kim & Me talking

Grandpa holding Brella (1 yr) & Mary-Gail

Calli, Avery, & baby Jada (3 weeks)

Avery & Calli walking to the ocean

Grandma snapping pictures of Pat digging holes for the kids

IOP Beach

Tony & I changed the girls into their 'cute and pettite' bathing suits. Mom got them at the dollar store - can you believe that? We lathered on the spf 50 sun screen (did you know that sun screen takes up to 30 minutes after being applied to start protecting you from uv A & B rays?) and gathered up our gear. We met Avery & Calli at the van, gave lots of kisses to Jada, and headed to the beach. Jack & Gail (Tony's mom & Dad); Pat & Kim (Tony's brother & sis-in-law) and their 3 kids: Dalton 5yrs, Jesse 3yrs, Brella (Lilly Gabriella) 1yr; were already at the beach.

Kim, in her usual fashion, had everything already set up: shade umbrella, 4 lawn chairs, skid boards & beach towels out. Pat was using his shovel to dig water holes for the kids to play in. It was low tide, but there were several large tidal pools that we played in.

Avery & Calli left Jada with us and walked to the ocean for a quick toe-touch. Jada was sleeping soundly, just like a 3-week old baby should. Mary-Gail & Rebecca kept squinting with the bright sun and cool ocean breeze. Here is me & Lovey with the girls in one of the tidal pools. Let the girls explore these new sensations...



Tony w/Mary-Gail; me w/Rebecca



Mary-Gail loves the water! look at her tongue :)

Saturday, 9/8/07

After getting about 4 hours of sleep - so tired - I wake up to hear baby Rebecca sobbing. She's having a night tremor. She's had a few of these lately, and each time my heart breaks hearing her cry out. I get up and fumble around for the empty bottles and can of formula. After creating a mess in the bathroom trying to make two bottles on less than 4 hours of sleep, I snatch up Rebecca and we lay down together to feed.

She's so sleepy, but she doesn't hesitate to tear into the bottle. It's finally good to see her eat without being "coaxed."

(Rebecca happy to see me )

Mary-Gail's next - too bad I have to wake her to feed her. She greats me with a lovely smile. She is always soo stinkin' happy it blows my mind. I am grateful that she has a happy disposition and is so light hearted.

(My angel Mary-Gail sleeping peacefully)

Today we're going to the beach! Yeah! Rebecca and Mary-Gail's first (and definitely not the last) experience of sand, cool sea breach, ocean crashing, warm sun. It's going to be a great day.

Charleston, South Carolina

Charleston, SC, or BUST! Quick trip to see family: 9/7 - 9/10

Wahoo! We are finally in Charleston, SC, after a long day/night of flying and driving. We left Provo, UT, Friday, 9/7 at 9:30 am to catch our 11:55 am flight to Ft. Worth, TX. We then changed planes and caught our connecting flight and finally arrived in Charlotte, NC, at 9:00 pm. 12 hours of flying and we're still not to our destination! We picked up our rental car (Toyota Sienna Van - nice!) and drove about 30 minutes to Rock Hill, SC, to pick up Avery, Calli, and 3-week old Jada - our 1st grandbaby! From there we continued to Charleston, SC, - finally arrviing to our hotel at 1:30 am Sat, 9/8. Loooong day.

The girls were absolutely fabulous on the flight! They really surprised me. It's going to be a great trip!

Drafts

I love the fact that I can type and type and type and then "save as draft" to finish later. Although this only works if you truly finish later. Well, I saved several drafts from our trip to Charleston, SC, this past week and I now just getting to post them...

Here are some of my favorite pictures to entice you to read on...



Live Oak trees on the drive into Boone Hall Plantation



Live Oaks on the Battery. Magnificent homes along the Battery. Historic "Rainbow Row"


View towards Waterfront Park - Charleston Pier. My favorite fountain - the Pineapple Fountain


Crepe Myrtle Trees - beautiful. US Customs House, 150 yards from the shore. St. Phillips Episcopal Church, downtown Charleston


New Arthur Ravenel Bridge. Charleston Sunset. Morris Island Lighthouse, Folly Beach.

Charlotte, North Carolina

So, Lovey, me and the babies are going on yet another road trip. This time we're flying back East to visit family. We're flying into Charlotte, NC, picking up our rental car (I'm secretly hoping its a van), picking up Tony's son, Avery, and his girlfriend, Calli, and their new baby, Jada (3 weeks old), and then driving 3 hours to Charleston, SC. Get all that?

We leave Friday, 9/7 at 11:55 am and get into Charlotte at 8:35 pm (2 hour time change). We won't be in Charleston until close to midnight. We haven't broken the news to Pixie and ArlaMae yet - they will pout if they know what we're doing ahead of time.

We plan on playing at the beach, going to the Market, eating some yummy seafood. We're excited that Sunday is Stake Conference because we'll be able to see lots of our friends from the ward and stake. Monday we will be stopping in for a quick Hello to my former co-workers at Blackbaud and then we're driving back to Charlotte to drop Avery and his crew off and catch our flight home.

Whew! I hope we make it!

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Every time I change the girl's diapers, we sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" to help with their flexibility (mostly for Rebecca). I snapped these today of them trying to do the actions themselves:

What? A Tooth!!!

Oh my heavens! I totally forgot to post the most eventful event that has happened to us....Rebecca's bottom tooth finally broke through!! Hooray! She has been teething since mid May and we've been seeing the white speck since July, but finally this little tooth pushed it's way through. I can't remember the exact day (awful, right?) but it was sometime the week of August 13th.

Tony and I laugh about her single tooth being her "first" tooth: in the NICU, we noticed a huge bump on her lower gum and both of us swore it was a tooth - how could a 27 wk preemie have a tooth already?! An Ear,Nose,Throat doctor was making his rounds and he came to look at our piece of wonder. He flicked his finger forward on the bump, and out came a tooth! Don't believe me? Here's our little "snaggle-tooth" in the NICU just days before her tooth came out (you'll have to click on the picture to enlarge it):



Dadda holding Rebecca, 10 days old (12/7/06)


Like any proud momma I saved her tooth - can you see it?



And, of course, with twins, you can't leave one out. Here is picture of me holding Mary-Gail and Dadda putting Rebecca close to my face. This was also on day 10 of life, 12/7/06. This is probably one of my most favorite pictures. Mary-Gail and me doing Kangaroo Care (even though she has her CPAP on) and Rebecca bundled up tightly. 4 days later and Tony and I are in Ogden with Mary-Gail for her heart surgery.

They call me "Gra-manda"

Yup, I'm a Grandma. At 30, I'm a Grandma. What's funnier is that Rebecca and Mary-Gail are Aunts and they're only 9 months old! Tony son, Avery and girlfriend Calli, had their little girl on August 16, 2007. They named her Jada Neveah Kemp. (Neveah is "heaven" spelled backwards).

Jada weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and measured 20 inches long. She looks so cute in pink!



Jada looks like she's smiling here Jada finally has room to stretch!



Jada in Avery's hands Avery giving kisses to Jada


Avery, Calli, and new addition, Jada

Day 2 of eating Oatmeal

You know how I said earlier that my girls don't eat? Well, scratch that...Mary-Gail is a natural at eating from a spoon. Who knew?! I still struggle with Rebecca. She is so opinionated and stubborn. Wonder who she gets that from :)

We started eating Oatmeal cereal 3 X day when we returned from Colorado on Thursday, 8/31, and so far so good. Mary-Gail opens wide when we say "Eat your oatmeal" and show her the sign for "eat." Rebecca just laughs at us and then spits the oatmeal out. She's gotten better at taking her bottle though. Too bad I'm trying to phase the bottles out.

Enjoy these pictures:

Mary-Gail "dancing" as she eats her oatmeal
Rebecca looking at Tony saying, "Save Me!"
See these pursed lips? They're not opening!!
Mary-Gail - more dancing