July

July began with a very busy week, especially for Glenn.  He set up games with 10 international lacrosse teams who were in town for the world games of lacrosse to play his BYU alumni team.  He had a blast and was gone for several days playing up in the mountains and at high school fields in Parker.  On Friday the 4th they played France and Spain at Copper Mountain.  It was a about a 2 hour drive away and I had intended to brave it with the boys but wimped out the day of.  I was feeling pretty sick, which was the theme of the summer, and didn't want to tough a drive in the mountains and wrestling the boys during the game and then a late drive home.  So instead, my sisters and I found a Star Wars symphony concert at Fiddler's Green, about 25 minutes away.  We bought cheap tickets to sit on the lawn, picked up dinner, and camped out while listening to some amazing patriotic music and a bunch of great John Williams music as well.  It was a great night and the boys had so much fun.  Not evident in their faces in this picture, but true, nonetheless.  

Saturday Glenn's team played Germany in the morning, then that evening they played England in Parker and the boys and I went to watch with Auntie Mallo and Kenzie. They fought hard but and ended up losing by two.  The boys had a great time playing on the bleachers and occasionally watching the game and cheering for Dad.

On Monday morning they played the Netherlands at the University of Colorado in Boulder, then Austria, Belgium and Turkey in the afternoon down in Parker.  The game against Turkey was a really big deal.  Turkey is the only Muslim country represented in world lacrosse and Glenn had been building a relationship with their coach for months.  One of the kids he coached on his youth lacrosse team even did his Eagle Project collecting donations of equipment for them to take back with them so they could continue to build the game in Turkey.  It was a very cool experience.  In addition, that night we had a little dinner after the sun went down with the Turkish team and our BYU alumni team to break their Ramadan fast for the day.  A very cool melding of religions and cultures.

We all ended up with some Turkey lacrosse shirts.  The boys were very enthusiastic in their cheering for Daddy.

It was a beautiful night for lacrosse.

Here are the men.  The Turkish team and the BYU alum team together after their game.

On Tuesday, their last day of games, they played the Swedish and Italian teams.  Mallory was ticked that she had to work that night.  She really wanted to meet some of their players! The BYU alum team did really well against all of the international teams.  They won 7 of their games, lost 2 and tied 1.  Not bad for a bunch of grown men, many of whom haven't played regularly for years.
On July 12th we flew out to New Hampshire for our annual visit to Glenn's homeland.  It was a great visit.  Amy and Gregor were kind enough to let us crash with them again even though they had had her family there to stay the previous 2 weeks and some of them were still there when we arrived. They are incredibly kind hosts.  It was a very sick trip for me.  I had just got on some new nausea meds and they were helping take the edge off at the beginning and by the end of the week I wasn't throwing up constantly, which was amazing, but I still felt really nauseous most of the time.  Everyone was very patient and understanding of my limitations.  I was ticked that I was such an invalid on vacation!
The first day we were there Finn found this bike in their garage and rode it every day for hours the rest of our time there.  It was amazing how quickly he took to the riding a little bike.  And how happy it made him.

One time we were riding down the hill by their house and he crashed pretty good and I started walking over to him but he immediately hopped up and said, "Don't touch me, Mom!  I'm fine!  I just wanna ride my bike!"  He knew that any momma coddling would just mean more time before he gets back on his bike.  Such a tough little kid.

Finn's other favorite past time was throwing a basketball through this hoop tied to the play ground in their back yard.  He got pretty good at it by the end of the week.

One day we went for a hike up a mountain near Lake Winnipesaukee.  It was our boys first big hike and they did pretty well all things considered.  It was pretty steep at parts and the boys needed to be distracted or carried occasionally.  Tate was not wearing ideal hiking shoes and ended up with nasty blisters on both of his heels.  Poor boy.

Here we are at the top.  Needham Makechnies (minus B), Andover Makechnies, and Denver Makechnies.

The Denver Makechnies.  So happy to have made it to the top.

The next day we hit up the Montshire museum. It's a great children's museum that we visited with them last year.  The boys had so much fun with so many things to touch and play with.

Finn was in love with the penny ramp.  He probably stood there for half an hour launching pennies watching them roll around and around.

Tate liked it as well and would stop by in between his other explorations.

Like the smoke maker.

Or the tornado maker.  Pretty cool.

We spent a lot of time at Highland Lake.  Sometimes Glenn took the boys and let me have a rest.  Sometimes we all went.  The water was beautiful and the boys were in heaven.  Tate wanted to swim around and look for fish with his goggles on.  And occasionally be thrown in the air by Glenn or Uncle Gregor.

Finn preferred to just stand in the water up to his waist or chest and have people pick up rocks for him to throw.  Simple pleasures.  It was bliss and the boys were so happy and worn out every day.  I loved being able to just tell the boys they could play outside and they would be outside for hours.  Riding bikes, talking to the chickens or collecting their eggs, shooting the basketball, climbing trees, playing on the swingset, and just exploring and being outside.
One morning we decided to head to the ocean.  The water was WAY too cold for me, but those Andover Makechnies are much braver and soon they were all body surfing and having a great time.

The boys and I ventured in up to our waists once in a while but they soon got too cold and were just as happy digging in the sand and looking for creatures and shells.

There were so many bugs to check out!

Tate was a little more cautious about how much sand he got on himself, knowing that the ocean was the only option to wash off.  Finn, not so much.

On one of our last days we explored Boston all together.  B and Jill were on a little getaway/business trip to NYC so we got to have the Needham Makechnie kids and we had a great time walking all over the city, getting some yummy food, and finding fun parks to explore.

We walked by the Boston Aquarium but didn't need to go in.  It was pretty pricey but they had this tank with seals out front and we got to watch them for a while.

That night I took the younger kiddos home and the older kiddos went to a Red Sox Game with the adults.  One of these years we'll brave bringing our boys again, but we're just not quite there yet.  Our last night we stayed at Brendaen and Jill's.  They were such sweet hosts.  We put the kids to bed and watched a movie.  Then our last day we helped with some chores around the house and yard and then took the kiddos swimming at this amazing pond near their house where they have a membership.  It was, once again, a great trip.  We lamented coming home to our teensy yard with no pets or chickens and no cousins to play with.  Booooring.  

Also in July, Tate went to a superhero camp put on by one of the Beehives in our ward YW, Lauren Favero.  She is incredible and they had such an amazing time.  He came home each time talking about all the games the played and obstacle courses, and super creative crafts and snacks.  I wish we could do it again next summer!

We received some big news in July, both on July 10th, actually.  I had my 8 week check up and we brought the boys to the appointment because we wanted them to see our baby and be able to tell them that they were going to have a little sibling!  It took less than 5 seconds into the ultrasound and our tech said, "Well, there's baby number 1....and there's baby number 2!"  I started crying.  Glenn was so thrilled and immediately started pointing to the ultrasound and telling the boys to look at our babies.  That we are going to have TWO babies in our family.  Tate was stoked and kept telling people all the way out of the doctor's office, "My mom is having twins!"  Finn kept pointing to pictures of babies on the walls of the office and saying, "That baby is in mommy's tummy.  And that baby is in mommy's tummy..."  It was a lot to swallow but we also feel incredibly blessed to not only be pregnant but to have two little babies on their way.  I felt relieved that my feeling way more sick and tired than my usual pregnancies is for a legitimate reason and not just because I'm a huge wimp this time!
My OB is fantastic.  She has a set of twins too and she started telling me in her calm, no big deal voice, titles of books I needed to read and things I needed to buy and how much fun and work having twins is.  We walked out of the office and as soon as we got outside Finn stopped with a panicked look on his face and said, "Wait!  We forgot the babies!"  He thought we were bringing home two babies right now.  We had to explain that our babies will come home in the winter, after Christmas.  So I am due with twins on February 12th 2015.  Insanity.

Glenn decided to take the rest of the day off of work and we took the boys to the Original Pancake House for breakfast/lunch to celebrate.  While we were eating Glenn received an email with a job offer from Saudi Aramco.  Holy Smokes.  So much to deal with for one day.  Glenn had been talking to them since last August and finally, after a lot of research, I told him it would be okay if he applied.  Then he got an interview and I thought, "Sure.  If we get an offer and it doesn't feel right we can always just say no."  And so he flew to Calgary for an interview in April and then on July 10th we got an offer and had to tell them our decision within a week.  We prayed a lot, went to the temple, spoke to some members and non-members living there, and finally decided that we would accept the offer...thinking, "if it's not right we can say no at any time."  But it just kept feeling right.  It's a crazy idea, moving to the Middle East.  But even while riding the waves of panic and, "Who the crap does this while pregnant with twins!", we have this underlying feeling of calm.  Like for whatever reason this move, while it has no right to, just makes sense for our family.  There are a lot of pros and a lot of bizarre cons.  The biggest pros for us are the it's a great opportunity for Glenn's career.  He'll be working for the largest oil company in the world and he's really excited about the work he'll be doing.  We'll be living on a company compound which is basically like a little city with wonderful schools, Glenn's work, a commissary, hospital, pools, parks, bowling alley, movie theatre, little cafes and restaurants, gyms and pretty much all the basic necessities and a large branch which we've heard wonderful things about.  Glenn's work schedule will be dreamy.  He'll work from 7 to 4 every day and will come home for lunch too.  We're also really excited about the opportunities to travel.  Glenn gets a lot of vacation days and we'll be just a few hours from so many incredible places.  Glenn and I can't swing a trip to Europe on our own from here, but living there, we'll be able to take our whole family.  We'll be able to show our kids Europe and a whole slew of other incredible places.  The cons are kind of bizarre and will take a LOT of patience and adjusting.  Mostly on my part perhaps, since school and work will be a lot the same, but stay-at-home mothering will be drastically different.  But I think we're up for it.  The next phase of the process is passing a few contingencies.  Background checks, Tate's acceptance to school there, Medical screenings, and getting our visas in time for us to move before it gets too late in my pregnancy.  More to come on that in the next post!  All in all, a very busy and exciting July.