Quick Flashback to Bear Lake and Ode to the Twins

My sister Saydi is an amazing photographer. We were hanging out at the beach late one afternoon last summer and the light was so beautiful. I asked her to snap a few shots of these beautiful boys of mine and she got some gorgeous stuff! She sent these photos to me last week and I just had to share them. They make me miss Bear Lake. They make me cherish these boys of mine all the more. Thank you Saydi!!!

Click on the photos to see them bigger - they look much better bigger but I still haven't figured out how to make photos bigger on my blog. One of these days I'll remember to ask Shawni or Saydi how to do it....

All summer, the twins and their cousins Charlie and McKay who are just a year younger than them were enamored with this tractor that my dad uses to launch the boat. They spent hours on end pretending to drive that thing.

Oh, I wish I could freeze time for a while and keep Oliver and Silas just as they are. They are SO much fun right now. They are always playing these great make-believe games (mostly about rocket ships and dogs). They love pretending that they are dogs going to a birthday party - not sure where they got that one! They spent most of the afternoon today playing with the cell phones that Eliza made for them - she just drew some buttons and a screen (complete with a space alien game drawn in - she knows what her brothers like!) on paper and cut out a "phone" for each boy. I loved hearing the conversations they had with each other. And they called me as well. At the end of his conversation with me, Oliver said, "Bye! I hope you love me!" I guess he hears me end so many phone calls with "See ya, love ya" and somehow came up with "I hope you love me" instead. I sure do love you, Ollie!

Another quick story: A couple days ago, Oliver was having a hard morning. He spilled his milk all over at breakfast and then was totally sad and mad when Silas finished putting away the silverware from the dishwasher without him. I tried to snap Oliver out of it and get the morning moving a long by suggesting they have a race to get dressed. Oliver got a head start and I was feeling relieved that maybe he could win this little race and feel a little better about his life for a while. But Silas came in and really hurried and was in the lead before long. Silas looked over and noticed Oliver's increasing distress as he couldn't get his arm through the inside-out armhole of his shirt and slowed down a little to let Ollie catch up. Silas pulled his own arm back into his shirt, waited until Ollie finally got his arm through, stuck his own arm into his sleeve simultaneously and jubilantly declared, "It's a tie!" Both boys were smiling from ear to ear. It's watching moments like that that make motherhood the best job in the world.

These guys go to kindergarten next year. What in the world will I do without them? Well, I have a pretty good idea of what I'll do - delve deeper into the 100 projects I've got going on but never really have time to finish. But I'll miss them so much!