OCEANSIDE CA

The Ocean. The boys first trip to the Ocean. What a beautiful thing!

Everett fell sleeping with Dad.

Brock, pasted out after a long day of swimming.

Holy Babies!!!

Grandpa and the boys

Rich, Everett, Kiley, Steph, Brock and Cindy

Isn't Kiley sweet?!

The Fickers

The Twin Reunion. The family that comes in TWO'S!

Cindy, Me and the boys at the beach.

We road our bikes to the beach. The live that close to the beach. Gosh, some people have all the luck.

Again, at the beach.

Rich rented a little boat for all of us to ride around in. He gave us a tour of the harbor.

Everett and Cindy

Us along with Joaquin's Great Aunts who are from Missorri, who are also twins.

What a trip, what a TRIP! Oceanside California is where Joaquin's Dad and step Mom, Cindy live. We absolutely love it there! We had such a blast, the only problem was, it was too short of a trip. I was so bumbed when it came time for us to go home. But that is neither here nor there. So the whole reason for this trip was because of a Twin Reunion Joaquin's Dad had put together. There are a total of 5 sets of twins in his family. The eldest set being 78 years old and the youngest being 8 months old. It was so fun to get together and visit and get to know each other. Plus we were in So Cal so we were able to go to the beach which I was happy about. Along with a Thursday night market they have downtown. So we are so "popular" that we made the Oceanside newspaper. There was a reporter there along with a camera man. You can actually read the article online if you want. I thought the writer did a good job. (Except she spelled Andon's name wrong.) http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/oceanside/article_82c4fcab-0cd8-5c9d-9166-9d1a2c04313f.html Check it out if your interested. If this link doesn't work, I just googled, Everett and Brock Ficker and it comes up. So I'm back to good old Utah. You know, if I could do it all over again, I wouldn't buy a house, I get a trailer and just be the free spirit that I know I really am and I'd live all over the country. Just the four of us. We'd be Gypsies. I'm not sure how we'd eat but who cares, we'd be living!!! Oh in another life I suppose. ;)

Yorba Linda, CA

Bec and AJ!

One of my best friends, Becky King, Isaiah Kind and I ;)

Joaquin and I looking as if we're at a prom

Air force one. This is the exact spot Richard Nixon stood when he was "kicked" out of office. The same pose too, except for the big smile. ;)

Joaquin trying to look like Nixon

The three Musketeers. Right: Everett, Middle: AJ, Left: Brock

Brian Brown being a water monster to the kids. Kate Brown and their two kids, Adam and Nina are in the back ground.

The three boys chillin in the pool.

AJ, look at that face! I just want to just eat it! I miss him so much!

Look at their faces...so cute!

We went on our first trip to So Cal since our little boys have been born. We flew out on Wednesday and the boys did great on the plane. I was a little worried but Everett slept in my lap almost the whole time and Brock sat with Daddy and slept part of the time. We flew into Long Beach and rented a car. We drove to Yorba Linda to stay with one of my closest friends, Becky and Andre and lil' AJ. The first day we got there Becky and I just visited and caught up. She's such an amazing woman, wife and mother. I couldn't help but be a little envious of her. She's just got it together. She's very organized and well thought out. Two huge qualities I have never had and am not sure if I'll ever get them. Anyway spending time with her was just a reminder of why I love her so very much. Poor Andre had to work until 5 and didn't get home until 6. The Browns came over to visit and have dinner with us as well. Brian Brown was Joaquin's old mission companion while serving his mission in Mexico. They got along so well. He'll still tell me stories about the two of them. He and his wife and two kids are so cute. We had such a good time in the pool together. The next day Andre had to be at work pretty early so I didn't even get to say goodbye. We decided since we were in Yorba Linda, the birth place of our former President, Richard Nixon, we should go visit the museum dedicated to him. It was really cool to read things about him. Seeing as I'm not much of a history buff. We really had so much fun. When we left, I was a little sad because I never see them and I didn't feel like we were able to spend enough time with them. Another year. I'm sure we'll be back soon. Thanks so much Bec and Andre. Love you guys!!!

sorry about the dup picture. i don't know how to get it off.

Oh my gosh, so Serena Martineau took some baby pictures of them being 7 months and she did such an amazing job! I have already emailed these all out to my family and posted them on facebook but I thought it only be right to update my blog with them too. So here they are....I can't thank you enough Serena. You are such an awesome cousin and best friend. Thanks for dealing with me for a week in St George. I sure did love it and miss you guys. Not to worry though, I'm thinking you'll be here in a couple days. Yessssss! Anyway enjoy. Oh one last thing, if you want to see more of Serena's work, go to her website at http://www.serenagene.com/ she is truely amazing.

The celebrations

I imagine the boys conversation going a little something like this, Everett- "No way, Mom actually fell for that?" Brock- Laughs, "Heck yeah, Just start to whine a little and she'll get you any food you like to try to get you to stop crying. What a sucker!"

The four of us at the famous Soda Springs parade.

Little Everett in his ghetto shirt I had to fix a little. I bought this shirt with it saying, Born in 2009 and as I sat in bed that night thinking about the shirts, I remember, they weren't born in 2009! I'm such a ding dong. Anyway, it was nothing a little sharpy couldn't fix.

Brockster with his Pops.

Our 4th of July celebration in Soda Springs. So we didn't actually get to go camping like we'd thought but we did have so much fun after all. Joaquin drove up by himself on Wednesday so he could be there for the first day of some river opening up so he could go fishing. I drove up on Thursday mid day with the boys and Fred. The drive went pretty smooth until we hit Malad Idaho. Everett was not a happy camper at this point. He was pissed in fact but I tried to keep him entertained by handing him toys. Then we got to Lava Hot Springs and he was so upset that he made himself throw up. I stopped to get some hot water for his bottle at this Tia restaurant and the cute little man filled up the bottle with coffee water so it was boiling hot. I wasn't able to pour any out because the formula was already in it. From then I decided to just keep on driving 20 more miles in hopes that he would just fall asleep. He never did. So we both shed a few tears on the way to Soda Springs this 4th of July trip. As soon as we got there, his Dad got him out of the car and it was like someone shut off the crying switch. Ugh...wonderful. I suppose it was good that he stopped crying but sometimes, just sometimes, I wish Joaquin was able to feel the anxiety of a screaming baby and not know what is exactly wrong with them. So after that was over and we got settled in at the Young's house, I went into town and got some food and had some alone, mamma time. It was very nice. So back to Soda, it is SO beautiful up there. I really want to move there. I've decided that it wouldn't be so bad being a ranchers wife. If only Joaquin's back was in better shape, he would do it and so would I. Everyone in Soda is so nice and so home townish. (If that's even a word.) It just seems like such a good place to raise kids. I obviously realized we won't be able to move there anytime soon but I told Joaquin that once the boys turn about 12, I want them to spend a few weeks every summer at the ranch. I think it will be good for them to learn to work hard and live a slower pace life. I already told Gerry I want the boys to grow up around his farm and he said that would be just fine. We just had such a good time up there this year and we had such a fun time hanging out with almost the entire Young family. It reminded me a little of my own family because of how many kids there are. (Although the have us out numbered with grandchildren by 10! That's right, they have 18 grand kids. That's a lot of baby makin'.) Well I hope everyone else had a good weekend and I hope everyone was safe. I'd say the boys first 4th of July was a big success.

The 4th of July is coming

I've been really bad since I got back from Sacramento about taking pictures and I have no idea why but I promise I will start doing better over the 4th of July. Speaking of the 4th I just can't help but to think about how lucky, myself and my family truly are for living in the United States of America. I love my country and am very proud to be an American! I used to feel bad about saying things like that for some reason. Like by me saying that, that put other countries down or maybe it wasn't "PC" but I don't think that at all any longer. I would love to travel someday and visit other places but I'm most certainly happy this is where I call home. Just a little random thing that happened to me last week. I went to Hill Air force Base with my Grandma last week and while we drove around the base I saw many Soldiers walking around on base in uniform and I couldn't help but feel very patriotic seeing them. A little choked up even. These people are giving up so much of themselves to fight for our freedom and I'm so grateful to all those who serve in the military and their families. (Andrew and Lisha Helpingstine and Kyle and Serena Martineau as just a couple of examples.) Anyway, I just wanted to share that little experience I had. Don't worry, I'll get some pictures on here as soon as possible.

Hello again...

So i have Dequervin's tendinitis in my left hand right now and it really bites. I'm not sure who this Dequervain person is but they can have their tendinitis back. I'm putting this on here because I may not be able to post anything for a while unless something really exciting happens. I got a shot from my Dr's office yesterday and I almost cried. (Almost.) He said it should start feeling better in 2-3 days. Well meanwhile, i can't pick up my kids. Well that's funny because I'm pretty sure 18 lbs and 20 lbs blobs aren't going to pick themselves up. Ugh....so Joaquin stayed home yesterday and I was hoping today I'd feel better but I most certainly was not. I think it's worse. (And I'm pretty sure typing isn't helping. Eh oh well.) So I called my wonderful, life saving Grandma up and asked if she'd come down to SLC and of course she said yes, she's my Grandma, it's what they're there for. ;)

So while Grandma was watching the boys I had my first Pack Meeting for Cub Scouts. That's my new calling at church and I'm totally going to love it. Let me rephrase, I totally love it. I can be goofy and weird and these boys don't care, in fact they'd probably like it if I was more weird. Their parents on the other hand might be rethinking if they want to bring their boys back to the pack meeting once a month. They probably think i have something wrong with me. (And I probably do.) Anywho, it was the boys Pinewood Derby and it was awesome!!! I loved it and I kind of wish I had made a car myself but between the twins, my thumb, going for walks, making dinner, cleaning the house, entertaining the boys, laundry, driving to get grandma, running for mayor.....just kidding about that last one, i just didn't have time. Anyway, I now know for next year that I'll be making one....maybe. So my new Cub Scouts are such good kids. I don't know them all very well yet but I can just tell. Scouts is going to be so fun and I'm excited to have my boys in it someday. If we can fit it in between football, baseball, hockey, hip hop dancing, singing, piano and whatever else. (Joaquin's going to kill me for the second to last one.)

So enough about that, now on to my last and final issue of the night. I want to make an Ode to MINI VANS! That's right people, I'm making a shout out to all my peeps with mini's. Let me first just start off by telling a slight story. Friday night Joaquin and I decided we wanted to rent a movie from our local red box. So I drive down, in my mini, and I see someone who I think is from high school. Wasn't really sure but pretty sure. So I look over and I see another friend I knew in high school. We'll call her Lisa for discretion reasons. I was actually really good friends with Lisa my Jr year. (She was a Sr at the time.) So we were catching up. She's pregnant, I told her I had twin boys and that was quite nice. Well as we were saying our good byes she says, "Nice mini van!" In one of those tones. You know the tone, one of those tones where you take all night to pick out an outfit and you put it on and the next day you go to work or school and you've realized it's a little small since you last put it on and someone says, Hey nice outfit, did you forget to look in the mirror? Now don't get me wrong, I love Lisa. She is such a sweetheart but don't be knockin' on my mini. There were so many times before we had the mini that i wouldn't leave my house because I had to cram two baby, myself, two blankets, a diaper bag and sometimes Joaquin in my Corolla. It was too big of a pain. So i called my wonderful Dad up in Cali and asked if he'd start looking for a van and he found one and I just so happen to love it. I really do. It's not brand new or anything but it's brand new to me and I think everyone should have a van. Now it's not just this good old friend that I ran into from high school who's knocked the mini. I have friends husbands who've said, I would rather work a ton of overtime and put in long hours at work so we could drive anything but a mini van. Are you kidding me? Well you go ahead and work those long hours so you can have some fancy, cute, up to date SUV but for me and my family, we'll take the mini. It's so good on gas and it's huge. Why would you want to spend more money on something else just because it might "look" a little cooler. LAme! If you choose that, that's fine but I'd much rather see my husband more often then have him work overtime just so we can have a nicer car. So to all my fellow peeps Rockin' the mini, more power to you.

One month has gone by. A lot of pictures and a lot of blogging. Beware.

Our precious "Thing 1 and Thing 2"

Auntie V with Lil E.

This little boy is Joaquin's Cousin, Rich's little boy and he was so adorable. I would have taken him home if they'd let me.

Joaquin's Aunt Dorthy with her newest Grandbaby. So cute.

Aunt Neda and Joaquin feeding the boys at the Mule Day Parade.

Joaquin, Toni and the hat. (Just kidding Toni, we love the hat.)

The Mule Day Parade.

Brocks eczema. :(

First swim lesson with Daddy.

They boys feeding the boys at Julies wedding.

The beautiful wedding. So beautiful.

The last two pictures are of my sister in law Steph with her boy friend and I'm sorry to say I can't remember his name right now and the other is Joaquin's Dad, Rich and little Kiley standing to the right. (Our niece.) This was at Julie's 40's style wedding. So cool.

Melina and Vallerie at the aquarium. It was awesome...kind of.

The stingrays at the aquarium. That really was awesome.

Us at Lagoon. "It's What Fun Is!"

Melina and Vallerie up at Gerry's ranch. It was seriously soooo beautiful up there. I might even move there if I knew it would stay that way all year round. ;)

I feel like I don't know where to start....so much has gone by in the last month. Well let me just start off by talking about my trip to Bishop CA and Sacramento CA. Bishop was really fun. We had such a good time there. We were able to visit with Joaquin's Mom and Sister along with a lot of his Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I really love Joaquin's family so so much. Bishop is such a special place to Joaquin and has now become so for me. It such a small town but the mountains are so huge and there are so many things to do out doors there that we just love it. We were able to be there for the annual Bishop Mule Day parade. It's the largest none motorized parade in the world. WOW, pretty fun. ;) Then after that we drove another 5 hours to Sacramento to visit my family and to go to Joaquin's beautiful cousin, Julies, wedding. We had such a good time. It was a lot of fun to see all of his Dad's side of the family too. I also adore the Ficker's. They are such wonderful, family oriented people. It's hard to be away from all these great people. Everyone was really happy we were able to come to the wedding, as were we. The wedding was beautiful as was their reception. So once all the fun stuff was out of the way then the sicknesses came. It started with our little Everett. He got sick. Now the boys haven't ever gotten a cold before so I wasn't really sure how to go about this. I was in Sacramento away from our doctor so I called and asked what I should do. They said take him in because he could have RSV or Bronchitis. (Yeah right.) Well let me just tell you what a waste of $50 bucks that was, a big waste. They said he had a viral syndrome which I found out was code for we don't know what's wrong with him so just let him get over it. Lame. Anyway, he was sick for a few days and then I started feeling sick. Joaquin left to go back home about a week before I did so I was there with out him. Then I started feeling even sicker and sicker. For about 6 days I felt like crap. Didn't really even leave my Mom's house. I couldn't breath, sleep or eat.....ah just kidding about the last one, I can always eat, are you kidding me....look at me. (Just a little joke.) Then Brock started acting funny. He was a different sick than Everett though, he was so out of it. On top of him being sick he broke out with pretty bad eczema right before we left and it only got worse while we were in Sacramento. Anyway, so I remember sitting in bed not being able to sleep and thinking I'm so going to blog about this and the title is going to be My horrible, terrible very bad no good vacation. Even though we weren't sick the whole time, at that moment I felt like it. (Oh and Joaquin was also sick. He had to call off almost the whole first week he got home from CA. He could have just stayed with us.) I really felt like it was such a blessing that I was in California while I got sick because I had my Mom and Dad and sister to all help me. Thank goodness. So after all of this craziness happened, I drove home with my Mom, the boys and two nieces. My nieces stayed with us for about 10 days. They just left today. I was really really sad to see them go. I've been so busy the last month and it's been so nice because I've had a lot of things to do but now I'm back to reality. Although I think Joaquin's happy I'm back in reality. I think he likes things a little less chaotic. Pretty good month all in all.