Smee

I have this awesome pair of jersey knit gauchos that I got at Old Navy for like $1.99. They are crazy-comfortable, and ugly as sin. When I was pregnant with Reid I would wear them around the house (just TOO ugly to be seen in public, even just to go to the mailbox) until one day I wore them with a striped shirt on top and I got a bad feeling that I looked a little too similar to Smee here. Well, chubby little pirate sidekick or not, today I am again wearing my hideous gauchos. I think I'm heading into the territory where comfort reigns above all else. So sad.

Out of order

The following pictures are not exactly in perfect order, but then again, that's a pretty good description for life lately. Things are good, and starting to feel a little more settled, but still a little crazy. Here are some highlights:
Heck ya. That would be us at the beach, the beach that is like 10 minutes from our house. It's a nice, mellow, relaxing beach. The temperature doesn't reach more than 75 around here, so the beach isn't quite like a San Diego beach or anything (thank goodness), it's just really beautiful and foggy and peaceful. There's always a nice breeze (thus, the crazy hair you see above), but it's so pleasant. Just about heaven. (I've had some requests for shots of the belly, and I don't really think you know what you're asking for, but here's one... sort of. I'm 23 weeks now, and these babies are picking up speed and getting bigger by the hour, or so it feels. But they are healthy and developing well, and I'm still feeling pretty decent, so...so far, so good.)
I think we have ourselves a little beach baby.
He loved playing in the sand. He was crawling all over, rolling around in it, sitting, on all fours, digging with his hands, digging with his feet...he LOVED it.
Erik's parents were able to visit us for a weekend, and we were so grateful to have the company, and the help! (We are the new owners of a sweet Toyota Sienna, but it seemed like we were at the dealership for forever! I don't know what we would have done without the help! More details to come.)

Again, these aren't in order, but this is from a fun family dinner in Midway a few weeks ago. Reid shares my excitement about being able to get good mexican food now that we're in the lower 48.
Unpacking. It was so fun watching Reid get so excited about all of his old toys. Since he hadn't seen them in a month, it was like they were brand new. And a box to play in? Life is good.

This is what our place looked like for a good week straight. Our packers did an excellent job wrapping things. So much so that we were swimming in paper. We're renting the home we're living in now so we can have some time to figure out where we want to buy, so we're keeping all the paper and boxes to move ourselves again in a few months. I should take a picture of what things look like now, because every one of those papers has been laid flat an put in a nice pile, ready to use again when we move. Oh, and check out the clothes laid out on the couch. When we moved in we realized a problem. Our dryer is electric, and the hook-up is for gas. We ended up going to Home Depot and picking up an inexpensive gas dryer, but for a week or two we were using other means.
Reid and Grandpa Olsen playing at the beach.

This is from the drive down. In the Redwood National Forest there's this place where you can pay $5 to drive through a tree. Worth $5? I don't know, but it was pretty cool to see.

From our trip to Utah. I love the little planes that you can walk in and out of. I don't think I will once the babies are born and Erik and I are each holding a baby while trying to corral Reid, but for now it makes me feel like Jackie O.
Erik took this shot of the Salt Lake City temple. I love that city, and the temple always manages to take my breath away. I love walking around Temple Square, seeing the sights, and feeling so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In a special way, being near a temple always feels like home.
Another picture of enjoying a cool mexican restaurant in Midway. Erik's taking the picture, Reid has his eyes half closed, and Annie has a face full of food. Awesome. It was such a fun trip to be with family, Thanks Mom and Dad!

So, that's what we're up to. I intend to post a little more regularly, with little snippets of life here on the central coast and in the Olsen home. We're only about 3 months away from the arrival of our sweet baby boys, so things won't be settled for long. But that's okay. I like things to be a little crazy. As if you didn't know that already.

Redwood National Forest

Last week we spent a day strolling through the big trees of Northern California as we worked our way south to Sacramento. There certainly are some big trees!

Ode To Dad's Fort

Back in circa '82, there was a fort and it was new,

Back behind our house it stood, it was made of mostly wood.

The fort was built there by my Dad, what a talent for building that he had.

For more than 25 years have now passed, but that fantastic fort still stands at last!

A little bit smaller it seems to me, but three feet taller now I must be.

The trees are now all overgrown, and a little more wear the fort has shown.

It just shows our Dad is an amazing dude, with strong character and 'fort'itude!

By Erik

Everett home visited by Erik and Emily and Reid on 26 July 2008.

Coming out of our ears

News that is. News is coming out of our ears. Things are changing at a very rapid pace lately. Let's break it down.

1. The news I'm most excited to share is that we went to Anchorage on Wednesday for an appointment with a specialist, a perinatologist. We found out at 10 weeks that we were having twins, and since then we've had 4 or 5 ultrasounds, all showing that the babies are in one amniotic sac and share one placenta. That makes them "mono/mono" twins if you want to wikipedia it, but the bottom line is that it's the riskiest kind of twins you can have...well, second to conjoined twins. The mortality rate for mono/mono twins is 50% and they frequently elect to deliver them early, like at 32 weeks or so, because of the risk of entanglement (which is the cords wrapping and kinking on each other). Basically, it's no good. On Tuesday night I asked our good friend Ben Borrego to come over and be there when Erik gave me a blessing. The two of them gave me a blessing and I felt very peaceful about the appointment. Well, on Wednesday we very clearly saw a division between the babies...meaning there is membrane between the two...meaning they are in their own sac! This is incredible news for us. This means that the entanglement risk is gone, and depending on how the babies grow (if there is any complications of Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome or not, wiki that one too if you're interested) I may be able to carry them until 37 weeks or so. I had prepared myself for very small babies and lots of hospital time, and while we're not out of trouble just yet, things are looking so much brighter. For me, it was a miracle and an answer to many, many prayers to see that they are in separate sacs. I'm just elated.



2. On Friday and Monday the packers came and boxed everything up, they loaded the truck on Tuesday, and Wednesday morning we signed out of our house. It all happened so fast, but amazingly everything has gone very smoothly. We stayed up until 2 am cleaning to be ready for our housing inspection, because we couldn't really start cleaning until after the packers moved everything out (actually, until after we got Reid to bed). We put a lot of work and elbow grease into it, and the inspection went a little something like this: they walked around, pulled out the fridge and made sure it wasn't gross back there, and then said when we're ready we can sign the papers. I was so jazzed that it went so well, but I actually wanted her to praise me, profusely, for the stellar cleaning job that I had done. Especially the stove/oven. You should have seen how sparkling clean that thing was. Oh well. It's done. That's good enough. I guess.



3. This morning we fly out of Alaska for good. We've been here for three really wonderful years, and it's hard to believe that it's already over. I'm all nostalgic about my cherished Alaskan memories lately, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the summers are so gorgeous. I'm glad we're leaving on a high note. If we were leaving in January or February, I don't think I would be so nostalgic.



4. We're still on the hunt for a house. We've done a LOT of looking online, but hope to meet with a realtor soon after we get to CA and start making something happen. I can't wait to get settled. I've got a crazy nesting instinct lately, but no nest. This little mama bird needs a nest for all her babies. We'll be on the road until next Friday, so catch us on the cell phone for a chat.



5. So, today is the day. The day we leave Alaska. I've really loved it here, it's been a wonderful home for Erik and I to grow together as a family. We've met some lifelong friends that I pretty much regard as family now. Being away from my own family was hard, but we were really blessed with the right friends, right when we needed them. Ah, I am getting all nostalgic. I think I feel a certain Green Day song coming on. No, wait...it's a Sarah McLachlan song. I think you know the one.

The Olsen twins

Our newest news is that our identical twins are little boys. So, while we can't name them Mary-Kate and Ashley, we're consoling ourselves by referring to our as-yet unnamed boys as Rod and Todd. Yes, I know that the Flanders boys weren't twins, but they have such great names.

My hike to Denali, Part II

The squiggly road below is Eielson Visitors Center, mile 65. The view is from our hike above. Click on the picture for a larger shot of this panoramic view.
A shot for posterity.
Just a snapshot of my journey into the wild.
This guy was just swaggering down the road beside the bus like it was no one's business.

My Denali Hike (the Park, that is)

This is a stitched photo from this weekend on my trip to Denali National Park. Me and a couple buddies from work took the bus to the end of the line and stayed two nights at Wonder Lake campground. Click on the panoramic photos for a larger view in your browser.
On Saturday morning the clouds parted and the mighty Denali showed itself in its entirity. This is another shot from our camp.
Wonder Lake is to the north of the mountain. This is a shot from the shoreline back at the mountain.
This proves it, I made it, all 85 miles.
This is from the Eielson Visitors Center at about mile 65. We hiked up the hill on the north side of the road and this is the view from the top towards Denali. We'll say that person is Emily (it's not).
We had a good time, the weather was kind to us on Saturday, then clouded over again on Sunday and we awoke to the patter of rainfall. The most difficult part of the trip were the mosquitos. Out at Wonder Lake they were like clouds and would swarm around us as we ate, or just about anytime you were standing still.
On the bus ride we saw some bears off in the far distance, some goats on the hill, and some caribou in the field. As the bus would stop and pick up other campers we would swap stories of our adventures and our homes. A good time was had by all. -Erik

Don't you just hate it...

when you bite your cheek or your lip? Man, I hate it! On Tuesday I bit the side of my lip accidentally while I was eating dinner. But once you bite it, then it gets all swollen and in the way, so yesterday I bit it again in the same spot...twice! I spent all this effort making a Thai peanut chicken dish that I've been trying to perfect, and in my first few bites I totally chomped on that dumb spot, and I just didn't have it in me to eat anymore. It wasn't worth the risk of biting my very sore lip.
So, that's all. Nothing too big to report.
But seriously...don't you just hate it?!

I've got a good excuse

So, yes...things around here have been a little crazy lately. Just goes to show that just because I haven't blogged in over a month, it doesn't mean that there isn't news to share. In fact, we've got some pretty great news. Double news.
How many heads do you see in the above picture? The answer is more than one and less than three.
That's right, we're having twins! This Christmas I'm going to get two babies!. And if you're trying to do the math in your head, I'll save you the trouble. Erik got home at the beginning of March...it adds up. When I called my family to tell them most of them paused for a little bit to do the math. A little funny and a tad insulting. But it all adds up. Our plans have changed quite a bit since we got the good news. Our house and car plans have drastically changed. We're going to have to upgrade straight to a minivan when we sell my awesome little Subaru. And we are no longer considering any home makeover-type houses. No fixer-uppers for us. Thinking about it now is almost laughable. We know that the twins are identical, but we don't know yet if Reid is going to get brothers or sisters. We're excited to find out which it'll be. In other news...check out some of the fun things we've been up to. A few weeks ago I was curious to see if Reid fit into his ginormous Yoda costume yet. He doesn't.

A really lucky shot of Reid as he's just about to sneeze. Cracks me right up.
Adventures in self-feeding.
Playing with a fun train toy that Grandma and Grandpa Traynor gave him for his birthday. He LOVES it.
Helping me clean, this was the day that Erik came home from his 5 weeks in Alabama.
We stopped for lunch after picking up Erik, and as you can see, it doesn't take much time for Reid to completely forget about mom. Their readjustment time is always about 30 seconds.

Erik reading a magazine and Reid reading the annoying fliers inside.
This is the little plane that Erik has been learning on. He's thisclose to finishing his pilot's license.
When Erik rides his motorcycle to work he wears this vest for visibility. One day when Erik was home for lunch I put it on Reid as a joke, and then he didn't want me to take it off. This is the face he would give me when I would reach for it.
Reid loves to read. He picks up a book and points to things on the page, jabbering the whole time. It's too cute to explain.
Adventures in Alaska. This is a gift shop that in a brochure was described as the "classiest gift shop you'll ever see." That was a lie.

The gang at the Yukon River crossing.
Finally! We made it! We drove to the Arctic Circle, and this sign is pretty much it. We thought the drive would be about 3 hours from Fairbanks, but we were wrong. It was about 6 hours from Fairbanks, so that makes it 12 hours roundtrip. Crazy. More than half of the distance was unpaved road, so that's part of why it took so long. But, we can say we did it, we were in the Arctic Circle!On Saturday there was a party for our good friends the O'Neils. They are moving to Kansas this week, and we are sure going to miss them. The party was at Chena Lakes and Reid loved all the nature that he could play in. Here's him discovering many, many rocks.
Playing in the water.

He LOVES water, but we just couldn't get a good picture of him with his eyes open. I think I'm going to find a mommy-and-me swim class for us when we get to California.

So that's what's new. Our little (but growing) family enjoying our last summer in Alaska.