It's our 6th time you know...

9 babies. Weighing in at just under 2 lbs to just over 6 lbs. 13 weeks early to 4 weeks early. All in our immediate families (aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings).

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This will be the 6th time we've gotten up on a Saturday morning in April and headed to a park. Or a zoo. Or a trail. It never gets any less personal or any less emotional. We've always started off with a cry. Listened to another family tell their story. About how their baby (or babies) was born too soon. About how they feared the worst. About how they cried. And prayed. Some rode in helicopters and some didn't know for days. All endured. And held their breath. And counted the ounces gained, heart rates dropped, days in the NICU. And their baby made it. Their baby is now 2. 4. 6. 9 years old. Most years we release balloons. Or doves. To remember those who did not survive prematurity.

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Then we start off together. Walking in a circle. Or walking there and back. This year it will be 5 lovely miles. And everyone has a connection to this. Their baby. Their patient. Their sister, niece, nephew, friend, grandchild. Had a baby prematurely or had a full-term baby who should have been healthy. But wasn't. Some got steroids, some got surfactant, some got inhaled nitric oxide, some got parent support. All benefitted.

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6 years ago we were afraid. We were engulfed. We were crying every. single. night. Because our babies were so small. Because our babies were born too soon. Our babies were in the intensive care unit where we had to sign in and out and show picture ID to see our babies and we had to talk in whispers and had to wash our hands while we sang the ABCs and had to ask questions like "how many times did his heart rate drop?" and "how blue was she though?". And had to fear the middle of the night phone call.

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On Saturday April 24th, we'll walk together for the 6th time. This is the March of Dimes biggest fundraisers of the year. Walk with us won't you? Can't walk? Donate to support by clicking on the link of the left side of the page.

Confessions of Teenage Bride

I was a teenage bride.

Ack. Can you believe it? Sometimes--okay, most times--I can't either. I know, I know. You're chalking it all up to our religion. "Ooohhhh, it's because you're Mormon." Um, guess again. Here's the tricky part--we were not involved with any church or religion at the time that we married. Oh sure, getting married at a younger age is more common in Utah, but still. I was NINETEEN. Ack. Did I say that already? ACK. That was not a very women's lib move for someone who has yet to even change her name.

Snowshoeing outside Steamboat Springs. Most fun we've had in ages. Sort of a scary-too-close-for-comfort-self-portrait. Sorry.

This adorable Mr. and I spent a lot of time talking about our marriage over the last week. We celebrated the big ELEVEN last weekend. Talk about lucking out right? Did you know that 60% of teenage marriages end in divorce within 10 years? Not a big shocker right?

We laughed about how, on paper, most people probably would have placed bets against us. How most people would have put us in a trailer park or would have put us in the same jobs we had when got married.

We laughed about how we had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA, NO CLUE, NO INKLING about what we were doing when we got married. I mean, seriously. NONE. We had no idea how hard it would be. We had no idea how crazy it would be. We had no idea what challenges would come our way. Or how blessed we would be. We just had no idea.

I guess maybe that's for the best?

Apparently, we are getting braver in our old age. This is the sign outside the hot springs above Steamboat. Remember how two years ago we went to one that made a point of telling all visitors that bathing suits were mandatory?? Lest your mind is getting away from you, do not fear. We high tailed it out of there so fast once the sun started to set! Trust me when I say that the people who were showing up at dark were a very interesting crowd.

Because, honestly, I can't imagine what my life would have been like if I had let this get away. If I had decided against it because it was too soon or we were too young or I was too scared (which I should have been and which we were and it was).

Oh sure, a few things may have been a bit easier or may have been a bit easier (school). But, we've agreed. We made each other what we are. We pushed each other, supported each other, trusted each other, and pushed each other some more.

Looking down on the springs. Don't strain your eyes. No nudies here.

I don't know exactly why we made it. Why we beat the odds. But, hard work has definitely been part of it. Faith eventually played a big role. Learning to disagree constructively is a big part. There's that whole love thing, of course. Anyway, I give him WAY more credit than me.

Eleven years. !!!!. Crazy. I love this Mr.. I love this marriage. Teenage bride or not, I wouldn't trade this for anything.

Birthday. Party. Pictures. Love.

Who needs to sit when you can stand 'n spin? So much more thrill.
One of my fave pictures ever. Love those eyes.

Messy fingers. Yummy cake.

Self-explanatory.

Suspicious. Highly suspicious.

Um, mom? That thing is on fire. Don't you think you should do something about that?

So much cuter in real life. Or maybe it wasn't. But the taste overpowered the lame exterior.

Playing with one of his 74 new bouncy balls that he got for his birthday.


Thanks to Sage for the amazing pictures as always. :)

Using two hands...

Six years old. SIX. Isn't that the age when you suddenly stop being "little" and truly enter the realm of "school age"? I don't know why this birthday was so tough for me (um, because I'm a wimp??) but I did so much reflecting and wondering where the time went...
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We did a few other things, of course.
In the morning there were new birthday outfits to open and wear, new metal lunchboxes (old school Star Wars and Hello Kitty), and packages from Grami Tami (which totally trumped the outfits and lunchboxes). We could barely tear them away from the fabric dolls (like paper dolls only made from fabric) and panda extravaganza she'd made and get them out the door for an early breakfast at our favorite restaurant in an old house, Lucille's.

They had freshly squeezed orange juice (which Milo deemed "too chunky") in tea cups, yummy french toast, all the homemade jam they could handle, and fresh buttermilk biscuits.

We took an assortment of fudgesicles to school for their birthday treat. When the class sang Happy Birthday to her, Isabel said "Well, I guess I'd better put this Fudgesicle down since now I have to use TWO hands to show you guys how old I am!". Seems like just yesterday they were excited to be using their WHOLE hand to show how old they were.

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When their teacher asked Milo why it took him 33 whole minutes to get here after Isabel (when they were born), he told her "Well, they had to cut me out 'cause my 'bilical cord tried to get out before me and that was a big mistake!". True story and hilarious to hear him tell it to a room of 5 and 6 year olds.

This year we (okay I) decided we would take a year off from the insanity known as "a friends party". Instead, we headed to Build A Bear and went wild. Milo made a panda in a soccer uniform and Isabel made a flourescent pink bear in a prom-circa-1995 ensemble--complete with a choker and black velvet pumps.

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They each got to pick a dinner menu for their birthday dinner. Milo chose the very gourmet Little Caesar's cheese pizza and Isabel chose bbq pork sandwiches with asparagus. No pictures of that but trust me, they were feeling pretty special being in charge of their own menu.

The weekend after their birthday we had a family party. We carried on the tradition of picking out their own cake and frosting flavors. Isabel, apparently, is a 30 year old in a 6 year old body because she wanted cheesecake (she even tried to talk me into Cheesecake Factory cheesecake). Milo, went for the more traditionally associated with his age group flavor of chocolate with chocolate frosting.

Oh this girl. She is constantly making us laugh and wonder--as in "where in the world does she come up with this stuff?". A few funnies from Isabel...

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Last night during family prayer, she asked me to please pray "that Milo could work on his attitude". WHAT?! Even funnier because he was so not having an attitude that evening.
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A few weeks ago on the way to soccer practice she laid this one on me, "Oh Mom, I forgot to tell you that we are out of bandaids. So, the next time you go to the store you'll need to put bandaids and soy milk on your list okay? (Pointing at me now) Can I count on you to do that?". Mind you, this was all said in a very team-spirit way. No snottiness at all.

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She got that cute little art desk in the picture above from my parents. As soon as she opened it, she ran to her room and set up a little art corner. Her joy turned to frustration when she couldn't figure out how to sit at her art "desk" in their little stool while still keeping the legs of the "desk" on the ground. Some clarification and convincing were required. She now believes us that it is meant to go over your lap while you're sitting on the ground or the couch.

Then there's this guy. His humor is so completely different than Isabel's.

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Milo has developed an affinity for nonfiction books. We've checked out every book on pandas in our library system. We've tapped the cheetahs too and we're now moving onto volcanoes and the human body. This love of science and facts has led to a few awesome Napoleon dynamite-esque comments that crack us up..."actually Mom the cheetah is the fastest land animal" and "did you know that burps and toots are the gas that builds up when your body breaks down food?". Hilarious.

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Our neighborhood school is a "wellness based curriculum". The twins, especially Milo, come home with all sorts of facts and goals with regards to healthy eating and exercise. Yesterday, Spencer was getting ready for work and Milo came into the bathroom panting.

Spencer: "Hey bud, what have you been doing? You're all sweaty."

Milo: "Just getting my heart rate up."

Spencer: "Oh yeah? Doing what?"

Milo: "Jumping on your bed. It's good for you to get your heart rate up Dad. It's called EXERCISE."

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Milo got new running shoes for his birthday and has, literally, worn them every waking second since then. He's also been busting out sprints anywhere and everywhere. Down our hallway. Across the backyard. Down aisles at the store. When we eventually catch up to him, he's fond of saying, "I totally smoked you!" and "Yup, these are definitely the fastest running shoes I've ever had!".

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So cute. So big. So can't believe that they are six.

Uno

(How 'bout that sabbatical eh? Wow. Season even bumped me to her list of "friends who never update their blog". Ouch. I'm workin' on it peeps. The computer is in the baby's room. 'Nough said? No? Okay. I'll be better. I promise.)

Turns out, Keeler loves tacos.

Emotion has filled this last week...I am one who feels so reflective on my kids' birthdays. I think of everything the last year (or six!) has held, everything the next year will hold, and everything that I will miss about the stages that are passing.

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This week I thought so much about the adoption process, the little miracles that brough Keeler to us, and his birthmom. So, so, much about his birthmom. And how this exciting and important day for us would be one of the hardest of her life. There were emails back and forth. Tears. A package from us to her (pictures, an album, a necklace with a charm for each of her kids including Keeler). And more tears. Knowing you've made the right decision doesn't make this easy. Prayers for her please? Thanks. :)

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Then there's this guy (see above). Oh my. How we love him! So crazy this boy!

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I love his walking (10 or so steps until he remembers how much faster crawling is).

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I love his talking (mama, dada, ball, shhhhh (that's 'shoes'), whassat, and ball, ball, ball, ball).

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I love his funny baby breath. I love his green eyes. I love that he looks so much like his birthmom but so much like us too. I love when people say he has my eyes.

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I love his fat feet. I love his blonde hair.

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I love that he got his eye teeth first (just like Isabel) and that his front middle teeth haven't quite caught up.

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I love that he beelines for the bathroom like he can sense that the door is open and that he can unroll the toilet paper faster than any adult. Ever.

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I love that he loves raisins and yogurt and bananas and pancakes. I love that he thinks that climbing on things is the funnest and funniest thing ever.

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I love that he dances to the Farmer Tad musical magnet.

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I love that he still sometimes smiles with his eyes closed and I love that he is a solid 12+ hour sleeper at night.

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I love that he loves his brother and sister SO much and looks for them as soon as he gets up in the morning.

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I love this boy. I mean, LOVE this boy. It seems impossible that our family was ever without him.

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Grami Tami put together a lovely collage and letter for Keeler on her blog. You should check it out. :)

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Birthday pics are coming...promise.

Cease Sabbatical.

Well, that was a lovely month off.

I'm sure you're just dying to know what we've up to right? Or, if you're my mother, I'm sure that you will continue to harass (please say in a Ms. Mathis fashion all of you Bingham Middle school alumni) me until I put up some pictures ALREADY.

So, cease sabbatical. Commence catch up.

We, okay Keeler, have been working on walking. We've got the first two steps down but that typically freaks us out a little and we then cautiously lower our cute bums to the ground.

We've been sledding in Rocky Mountain National Park. By we, I mean them. The temperature ensured that Keeler and I spent a fun-filled hour in the car pretending to drive and setting off all of the lights/flashers/radios simultaneously.

We did make an appearance for the family photo. Do you think Keeler was peeved about his "Ralphie's Brother" ensemble?

We made a forray into Utah. Let's just say things did not go as planned. But, folks, we went. We saw. We partied. We stayed up super late with the Loveridges. We came home.

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Above are all of the Anderson girls with their adorable, adorable, adorable handmade baby doll quilts from Grami Tami. Contrary to Audrie's appearance, they all LOVED them. Isabel also made doll pillows with Grami Tami. Milo got a handmade animal print book bag for his set of ALMOST ALL of the Magic Treehouse books. Aaaah bliss.

We worked on our silly faces. We also practiced closing our eyes while making these ridiculous faces.

We visited Grandma Cathryn in Utah. ALL of the Anderson cousins were together. Doesn't happen often but when it does WATCH OUT because there is mucho funno. There's also a bit of "who is the Alpha female" that goes on between the little twins and Audrie. Let's just say my money is on Liv. That girl is pretty much the boss. And I want to eat her up.

We had all of our dreams come true on Christmas morning with the arrival of a.) a talking/grunting/eating/moving Panda

and b.) a princess doll and a ballerina music box complete with tiny drawers for hiding all of your fancy jewels (that have yet to be worn?? Apparently, they are just for staring.).

We got a Snuggie. Some of us (the grownups, to be exact) are pretty sure that Lisa is right in her suspicions of the Snuggie. Snuggies are made of a very, very odd material resembling felt. But not exactly felt. But really resembling it. And probably highly flammable. Or highly NOT flammable. Also, the Snuggie spoof on YouTube is hilarious. Inappropriate (consider that your warning) but HILARIOUS.

For the record, the nongrownups (also known as the only ones who count at Christmas) think that the Snuggie is "AWESOME" and sleep in it every night.

We had Christmas Eve with the Mestas cousins. There were new jammies and books for all.

We contined to work on perfecting our "eyes closed while making ridiculous face" maneuvers. (Oh, and if you can see his shirt, you can see that we are obviously getting geared up for the Olympics too. Seriously, discovering that we now have a 24 hour a day NBC Sports channel was the highlight of our week.)

We had a little part-ay with the Pierces and the Davises. 975 Homemade gingerbread men and about 9 pounds of sprinkles later, a good time was had by all. Porter (who is 4) even made an anatomically correct gingerbread man. Highlight of the evening I'd say. Yet, his mother did not include it in her blog party summary??? ;)

We had a tree! Oh sure, it was completely boxed in by couches and baskets but it was there. Way back there. In the corner. Oh, and it was tiny. Because it was in the corner. But, I tell you what, Keeler didn't knock/pull/push/drag our tiny hidden tree down even once. :) Anyone who has had a toddler/crazy monkey at Christmas time will tell you THAT is an admirable feat.

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While that is the end of the pictures, it's not the end of the updates. Thrilled aren't you?

• Well, we've also been celebrating (albeit states away) the FINAL finalization of Jess and Aric's adoption of Camden. If you haven't read her story, you definitely should. Oh sure, I'm a sucker for adoption stories but it'll really get ya. :)
• We (Erin) have also committed to another marathon. This time in Utah and this time with Shikay....!!!! I am nervous, excited, and freaked out all at the same time. Am I really doing this again??
• We (Spencer) have been working on some new addition to the climbing wall (think lots of power tools and sawdust...I am, once again, pretending that room doesn't exist. Some would say, that room is dead to me.).
• We (Spencer) have been riding our fan bike. That is a whole post in and of itself. Think 16 Candles. Think 5 am. Think the blue flicker of the television. Think Spencer riding the bike while perched precariously on a throw pillow on the actual seat (which is apparently uncomfortable) of the fan bike. Riding for his life. Lance has nothing on this guy.
• We (all of us) survived 3 weeks out of school. THREE long weeks. With sub-freezing temps. Wowza. That's all I have to say about that.

Sabbatical Over.

TTTTTTTTTTTTT

T ONGUE

Keeler is teething and has been chewing on his own tongue to alleviate some of the discomfort!! It's made for some pretty hilarious faces.

T ree

We purchased (frozen and wrapped!) our Christmas tree. Decorated it and barricaded it in a corner. Aaaaahhh the joys of babies at Christmas! :) Keeler put the start on the tree this year (with some assistance) while the twins cheered for him.

T reats.

We got gelato with Spencer's sister, mom, and nieces over Thanksgiving weekend. It was delicious. They (the nieces) were HILARIOUS. Big fans of gelato. BIG fans.

T own.

Well, Old Town, technically. We took Spencer's family to the old historic part of Fort Collins to see the lights, eat some yummy food, and play at the cute toystore. The layers and layers of clothes and mittens and hats added to the cuteness factor.

T wins

Don't these two look like they could be twins?? They are from two different sets but, seriously, I am marveling at how much they look alike in all of these pictures! Love that Lyla and her Cindy-lou-who hair. :)

T o the mountains they went.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, Spencer and all the fam went for a hike (I was sleeping after working and a Turkey Trot the day before). Weather was beautiful and the kids all had tons of fun.

T remendous Strength

I honestly tear up at this picture. This beautiful gal is Spencer's sister Melissa. She's been through one heckuva year and never ceases to amaze us. She has defined grace and strength in the last year. Absolutely defined it. She is an incredible mother and friend. It was so, so, so great to see her and laugh with her.

T able.

The kids' table to be exact. Isn't this the definition of Thanksgiving dinner at grandma's?? So cute. So many kids. Such chaos.

T ree

This time, it's our Thankful Tree. All the cuter and more misty-eyed this year because of the little new handwriting that was on so many of the leaves. They were thankful for "seasons", "twins", "Aunty Lissa", "beds" and "strong bodies" amongst other things.

T oo cute.

I sat down to eat one day and discovered that a bird had landed in our tree. :)