My Missing Pieces

I watched this latest Mormon Message on lds.org and really loved it.  It reminded me of how we can face life with more faith and happiness when we trust in the Lord; that He knows what is best for us, and that there is a beautiful piece of artwork ready to be made from our lives when we let the gospel of Jesus Christ and faith in Him, as found in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, direct our thoughts, actions, and convictions.  With the twins on the way (coming sooner than I'm sure I truly realize :) I feel so grateful for a Savior who knows what is best for me, and who saw, understood, and guided me to a more fulfilling and enriching appreciation and gratitude for these precious babies through the experiences of life.  I'm an impatient person, and it took me a long time to learn to trust; I'm still working on it, but I feel, like the man in this video, that my relationship with Jesus Christ has changed.  I know He knows what is best and all the experiences I've had so far are to enrich my life and lead me in hope to the reality that the best is yet to come.  For me the missing piece was learning to trust and have faith; and now I see the fulfillment of those pieces falling into place as I anticipate our little Luke and Anna with Ben.



"My relationship with Jesus Christ changed.  Everything he did for me was to enrich my life.  He didn't do anything to pick on me.  If it wasn't for the things I've been going through, it never would have led me to where I am now."
~Stacy

"We cannot predict all of the struggles and storms of life, not even the ones around the next corner.  But as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and the best is yet to come."
~Elder L. Tom Perry

California Vacation: More Pictures

We celebrated Ryan and Ben's birthdays (they are only a day apart) and Rachel made these delicious homemade pies! Yes, they are both 23... :) haha actually I think due to a lack of a number eight candle, the three is backwards so it looks like an eight. What great guys they both are! Ben, you are a wonderful, sweet, fun husband, and Ryan, you are an awesome big brother who always looks out for me. I love you both!

Ben blowing out his candle. He looks very mischievous, I wonder what he wished for. Ryan, we shoulda had you sit by each other so i could get a pic of you both at the same time!
We got to go out on the boat quite a bit and we were in heaven. No wakeboarding for me this summer, but Ben sure enjoyed it!



We also celebrated Emmett's first birthday with the family and friends while we were there. I just love his cake. My favorite is the white cupcakes that are the steam from the train! Great idea Jess!
And here's the adorable cupcake he got to eat.
Sweet new bike!
We loved being with everyone and miss you all!

Graduation Pics As Promised

The beautiful flowers Benny bought me. We left the next day to drive to California and I took the flowers with me because I didn't want to just leave them! They lasted the whole week Ben was in Cali with me and almost the entire time he was gone in Ohio!

Couldn't have done it without this wonderful man by my side.
Nor without these amazing parents of mine.

The sun was right in our eyes! Oh well, you get the point :)
That's the Dean of Humanities, Dean Rosenberg.
Mom and Dad gave me these beauties...Dad looks a little skeptical ;)

And we can't forget that our little babies made the end of the journey with me :)

Family Reunion Pictures as Promised

At Folsom Lake: (Sorry, I only pulled my camera out about three times at the reunion, so the pics I have are of just a few little trips on the boat or to Donner Lake. I never got the whole group or the rest of the family! I was having too much fun being with everyone!)

I just love this picture of Mom and Emmett!
Cute Sarah!
Jess and Rachel! They both look so adorable in hats!

Mom, Jess, Kami, and Janelle

At Donner Lake:
All the boys were diving and catching crawdads. Here's Ryan with his...it was blue!
Riley man with his winner.
Carter almost gave in to the peer pressure to let that thing latch on to him...
Don't do it Carter!!!!!!! No worries, he didn't :)
Mya and Brianna
This just kills me. Maddy had a normal diaper on in the water and it got so full...I wanted a picture of her ghetto booty. Her's and Jason's expressions are so perfect!
More ghetto booty. Strut your stuff Maddy!

One chunky boy and a feisty little girl

I had my 28 week ultrasound and OB appointment yesterday to check up on the babies. We found out some interesting news: Even though I am 28 1/2 weeks our little boy is measuring 30 weeks 5 days and our little girl is measuring 26 weeks 6 days. A little bit of a difference don't you think? They estimate that our little girl is around 2 lbs 5 oz and our little boy is around 3 lbs 10 oz. So, we have one chunky little boy and a feisty little girl who knows how to hold her own in there despite her size. So, while we are a little concerned at the difference in their measurements, we are hoping and praying everything is all right, as they both looked healthy. We will see how they are measuring again in three weeks.

Little boy is head down, really low in my pelvis, facing my back, and little girl is transverse across my abdomen looking up towards my head. So, we got a good profile of baby girl, but because his back was to us, all we got of baby boy was his arm (a pretty hefty lookin'one if you ask me :).

Baby girl profile. Her cheeks are much chubbier now, it's so cute!!!
Baby boy arm.

Check this out. We thought this was hilarious. The circle on the left is baby girl's head, and the oval parts on the right are little boy's buns. Yes, her head is at his butt. I think they have a fun-loving relationship already :) haha.

Oh, and while Ben was gone I did my best to get a belly shot around 28 weeks. It's a little fuzzy, but you get the idea of how fast these babies are growing. A lot of people seem to think I'm due any day and ask if I'm ready. haha, I just smile and let them know it's twins, then inform them that I still have several months left!! Usually shock and surprise are the reaction :) Just gotta love every minute of it, and it really is fun to see their faces!

What we've been up to...Part 3: Ben in Ohio, Me in California

So after a wonderful week of vacation together Ben had to leave California behind and head off to Ohio for a Radiology rotation. I decided to stay behind in California to spend some more time with my family before my life changes drastically with the arrival of these little twins. I sure missed Ben for those two weeks. Those two weeks were a little more low key, with sleeping in, doing projects with Mom, going out on the boat, and just loving being around family. Favorite project of the two weeks: Mom sewed me pillows for the babies' room out of fabric I brought. Here's one of the final products:

Isn't that awesome? I think it looks like a sea anemone! I have a great mother! It will match perfect with the lime green and turquoise polka dot decor in the room.

Well, Ben and I are back in Utah together now. He is in a Sports Medicine Rotation and I am getting ready for the babies, who will be here before we know it, which brings me to my next post...

What we've been up to...Part 2: Graduation, Vacation, Birthdays, Baby Shower, and Anniversary

Next, Mom and I stayed in Reno until Tuesday morning, when Jenni, Cami, and Tara, my Mom and I took off to drive back to Utah. I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's in English and we went to Utah to attend my graduation ceremonies. We met Ben there and my Dad flew in from Cali late Wednesday night. Graduation was Thursday and Friday. It meant so much to me to have my parents and Ben there to support me. They were so happy for me and it made it feel so much more real that I am done with school to actually get up on the stage and walk! (I finished classes back in mid-June). But yay!! I'm done, and I could not have done it without the support of my sweet husband and my parents (and countless other family members and friends).

After graduation, my Mom, Dad, Ben, and I drove BACK to California. Ben was able to take a week off for vacation to be in California with me. Here are some of the festivities involved in our week together:

-White water rafting the American River (no worries, I didn't go :)

-Boating on Folsom Lake several times, with family and with Jared and Crystal Roberts!! (we were in heaven)

-Ben and Ryan's birthdays and their family birthday party

-Mine and Ben's anniversary: Saw "Despicable Me" and went to the fabulous Cameron Park restaurant Papa Gianni's

-California Baby Shower on mine and Ben's anniversary and Ryan's birthday. Thank you everyone who came and helped support us! It was absolutely wonderful!

-My nephew, Emmett's, first birthday party and my graduation party.

It was a super jam-packed week and we loved every minute of it. I really do have a lot of pictures to share, they are just en route via USPS on a little plastic card. Soon I'll post them!

What we've been up to...Part 1: Family Reunion

The past month and a half have been crazy for Ben and I. We have done a LOT! The beginning of August Ben was in Pocatello, ID for a radiology rotation. While he was gone I decided to skip town and join my family for a Carter family reunion out in California. My mom and I spent a couple of days preparing for it, shopping for food, packing camping gear, etc. and then off we went with the family to party at Folsom Lake, my parent's house, Donner Lake, and to Jason and Leslie's House in Reno. It was a blast seeing all the family. All of my mom's siblings made it out to one part of the reunion or another, something that hasn't happened in a while! We went out on the boat, had an outdoor movie night, camped at Donner Lake and played in the cold water, rafted down the river, and talked until the wee hours of the morning with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins! It was great and would have been even better if Ben could have been there!

I forgot my SD card at my parent's house, so here are just a few pics I had on my phone until I get my card and can upload the rest:

While we were at Donner Lake there was a swim across the lake race...We watched from the sidelines :) But isn't it just beautiful up there in the mountains?
Carter sitting on possibly the smallest camping chair I have ever seen. I love my family! Carter, you crack me up!
Little Adam was soo exhausted and fell asleep at the picnic table. This kid loves his sleep and I saw him sleep in some pretty amazing positions and places on that trip!

More pictures to come later!!!

I am soo behind on blogging!!

So, I have been seriously neglecting this little blog of ours and figured it was about time to update! I guess I have to go back quite a ways and share a few of the fun things and news we've had in our lives.

For Pioneer Day here in Utah (which is like the fourth of July all over again) Ben and I wanted to do something fun, so Ben searched around on the internet for local events and we found FOAM DAY!! The Lehi fire department came out that day and hosted a fun event; they hooked up foam sprayers to their fire hoses and created a huge foam pit where everyone could go and get drenched. Being pregnant in the summer always adds a little heat to the body temp :) so it felt so good to go get wet! They had free watermelon and a few little shops that we walked around. Ben, brilliant idea! Here are a few pics.

The foam was about two feet deep towards where they were spraying it.
I guess I never posted a 20 week pregnancy pic, so here is the belly at about 22 weeks.

By the time we got to the camera to take a pic most of the foam had blown off and dried from the wind. We were almost completely white when we first left the foam area! Oh well, wanted to get a picture anyway!