A Wonderful White Christmas

We have survived Christmas with our two 19month old twin boys. What a wonderful holiday season we have had with them. We took them to see Santa and both boys had a total melt down. The photo of the boys turned into a family photo with Santa. Natalie and Sean were true troopers for the photo. Pat and I held the boys and stood behind Santa so they would stop crying.

Our home has remained decorated and the boys have each meal sitting by the Christmas tree. One morning Colby was crying and wouldn't eat his breakfast. Heather and I were both trying to figure out what was wrong and he kept saying "tee" and pointing to the tree. We then realized the lights were not on. Once we turned them on he was very happy and ate his breakfast. Both boys will walk around the tree and look at ornaments and so far they are very good about not touching. They will sign the word pretty and try to pronounce it as well.

As you can see from the below albums we've been very busy. Natalie and I spent one full day baking goodies for the staff at the U of U NBICU. We as a family also made 40 goody bags for the parents of the preemies in the NBICU and made a special card letting them know we were praying for them and their baby(ies). We took the goodies up to the NBICU on Christmas Eve on our way to church. Our church had a wonderful Christmas Eve service and the boys were actually pretty good for most of it. There was a lot of singing so they enjoyed that part the most. We came home and got into our Christmas jammies and Pat read "The Night Before Christmas" for all of us. We let the boys each pick out a cookie from the O'Leary Cookie Store to leave for Santa. Sean made sure Santa had a cup of milk to go along with the cookies.

Christmas day started around 6:00am with the boys having their usual bottles and then moving into the room to see what Santa had left for them. Colby and Austin really enjoyed all the presents and soon were over stimulated which seemed to last all day and still continues. Natatlie and Sean were great about letting the boys go first and then of course it was their turn. They got a lot of really nice things to include new snow skis, boots, polls and season pass for Natalie and a new snowboard, snow boots and season pass for Sean. The biggest gift of all was our family trip to Cancun this summer. The kids each got a passport and a ticket showing where we were going. We are all very excited about our trip with my whole family. There will be 15 of us going in June.



Grandpa John got the boys a new table and chair set with a matching toy box. We worked today on getting in the chair and staying on our bottoms. Colby figured out how to get in chair almost immediately. Austin needed some "hep" as they say but soon figured out how to stand in his which resulted in him losing his chair for awhile.




I just had to show you in a better picture what Pat made for me from my 3 boys. They each had a sweet message on the back to me. Sean of course was able to write his own but since Colby and Austin aren't writing yet Pat helped type what they said. I was very surprised but happy that Pat took time to do something so thoughtful.


Now as the holidays wind down we look back at all the gifts, toys, cards, treats, and pictures and I am reminded daily about how blessed I am. I looked back at pictures from last Christmas and I am so amazed at how far the boys have come in just a year. I hope each you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish each of you a wonderful 2008 year.

So much to be Thankful for!

I know it's been awhile and there's been so much going on that I do need to catch up. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my family. We flew from SLC to Memphis through Denver and the boys were great. Even though we were the doctor's office two days prior with bad colds they either slept or played the whole way. They did get a little off schedule but that's to be expected. Colby ended up with an ear infection but with some antibiotics he was feeling much better the next day.

It was so good to see all of our family and friends since we will be Utah for Christmas. We even got Daddy's tree up before we left. As usual we had tons of food and ate way too much while we were gone. We've hit the workouts though since returning home.

We took the boys to the cemetary to visit their grandma and all weekend I had been trying to get Austin to show Aunt Anna how to say pretty in sign language because it's so cute. He never would do it. As we put the flowers in her vase Austin was standing there and totally on his own he said "pretty" and signed it as well. Needless to say my eyes welled with tears of pride and sadness all at the same time.

Last week the boys had their 18 month check up. They are doing great. We have been concerned about Colby's weight but Dr. Cox didn't seem concerned. He said this is not a big growth time anyway and if we didn't have Austin to compare him too we wouldn't be as concerned. He did say there are some tests we can have done to make sure everything is ok so I think we do plan to get those done.

Colby was in the one percentile on weight and height but the 90th percentile on head size. Yes, he has a big brain. Austin was around the 50th percentile on height and weight and about the same on head size. Colby was a little over 19 pounds and Austin was a little over 22 pounds. For those that have seen them lately there is a distinct difference in size. Austin is in 12 mo clothing and Colby in 9 mo some 12 months if they run small.

Yes, Colby is digging for gold.

We are gearing up for Christmas now with our tree up and house decorated. My favorite time of the year so I enjoy it as long as I can. We got a huge snow this weekend so I am glad everything is up outside or it wouldn't get up now. Pat and I have been discussing what new traditions we want to start with the boys as I know these are the years that they will remember. I want them to say "when are we going to do this or that?" I want them to look forward to certain things in our home with our family regardless of where we are for the holidays.


We hope you are all staying safe and healthy through this holiday season and we wish you a great holiday season.

Beware of co-workers

What a great birthday I had yesterday. I just had to post some photos of what my 6 male co-workers did to my office area before I got into work. If you look closely Dora has the correct rank on and she has a propeller hat with the tiara to show who is queen. The brownie they had waiting for me showed I apparently turned 43 instead of 36. I could not even find the stuff on my desk and to top it all off one of them was waiting in my office with the video camera to capture my initial reaction. You have to be careful with some co-workers.






I got a new camera for my birthday. It's pretty awesome I must say. I got the Nikon D80 with two lenses. I did take some pictures with it but I have to figure out how to download them to my computer. Natalie and Sean came over for about an hour and a half for pizza and cup cakes. It was nice to see them even if for such a short time. Austin and Colby were of course right in the middle of all of it and we wouldn't expect it any other way. Pat promised next year I might even get to go to a restaruant for dinner. I was very happy to be home with my pizza and family.

36 years ago today!

This is my mom pregnant at 8 months with us. All my Daddy could say this morning about that picture was "she sure got a lot bigger over the last month".


36 years ago today two angels were born in Jonesboro, Arkansas to John and Joyce Gregson and big brother Johnny. I was born at 2:32 am weighing 6.6 lbs and my twin sister, Ann-Marie was born 6 minutes later at 2:38 weighing 6.13 lbs. Mom delivered us naturally though she passed out due to pain and didn't remember Ann-Marie being born. Sorry Anna! She actually went 2 days past her due date of November 4th. Guess my boys didn't get the same message that we got about going full term or at least close to it.


People always wonder what it's like to be a twin. I can only say I can't imagine not being a twin. I hope my boys have the relationship and friendship that we've had over the years and contiue to have. It's was always nice to have someone to play with even though we always had different ideas of what to play. I was more into playing school, house, beauty shop and Anna was more into catching bugs, climbing trees, or playing a sport of any kind. We were so different in many ways growing up and it's nice to see how similar we have become over the years. Ok so maybe being in the Army and being a Doctor is not similar but neither was me getting my ears pierced for my 6th birthday and she got a pocket knife.

Just some funny facts that some of you might not know but those that grew up with us will for sure get a laugh or two.

* I loved having curls in my hair and wearing dresses. Anna would only wear a dress to church if she had to and she usually changed straight into jeans.

* Anna was always the one you would see playing sports with the neighborhood kids and I was usually a cheerleader on the side.

* Anna would always pay me to eat her Broccoli and Rice casserole.

* My mom watched one day from the kitchen window as we played out in the driveway so nicely. Then she noticed Ann-Marie getting one of our tricycles and the little red wagon. I apparently stood by and watched as she balanced the tricycle on top of the wagon. I remember her telling me since I was older I could ride first and she would pull me. So I carefully climbed on top and with the first pull from Ann-Marie I went tumbling off the back. Needless to say she never took her turn riding.

* Anna won the bicycle at the Enchanted Forrest in Memphis while visiting Santa. I never won anything!

* One year I wouldn't have my photo taken with Santa so Johnny and Anna had it without me.

* We decided to make cookie dough one day just to eat and since Anna is not Betty Crocker she put corn meal in the mix instead of flour. Needless to say it was awful.

* Anna convinced me to stick a double peanut (shell and all)up my nose. It was soooo stuck that Mom and Daddy could not get it out so they had to take me to the Dr. Of course all the crying helped it come out in the office and so my Mom had us get shots while we were there. Anna wasn't laughing then.

There will always be stories and memories to talk about and I can't think of a better person to do it with than my sister.


My Sister
She knows the things I dream of,
the places that I've been,
she accepts the person I've become,
she's a very special friend.
She's always been there for me
no matter where I roam,
and whenever we're together,
it's just like being home.

I would just like to wish my sister, Ann-Marie a very Happy Birthday and many many more to come. Love ya!

Arrrgh! Happy Halloween

My two little pirates had one great Halloween. I was so surprised that Colby would wear his costume because every time we tried to just put his hat on he would immediately pull it off. But once he saw Austin all dressed up with his shoes on then he was ready. Austin scares very easily regardless of what his Halloween shirt says. He was so scared by Sean that he kept crying and crying. Thank goodness we did not see any SCARY people or houses or he would have been done for the night. We did have Shrek with our group and Austin didn't like him either. Heather was a huge help as always and was not only out trick or treating with us but was the photographer. Once I get the photos from her I'll put them on our blog.

Sean was also a pirate and a very handsome one I might add. He of course went out with 2-3 boys that live on our street and they brought back a LOT of candy. Colby and Austin actually let people put candy in their buckets. I guess since they had their pirate hats on they didn't feel the need to wear the buckets on their head but first thing this morning Colby had his bucket on his head. That's been the best $.88 I've spent yet.

I was in charge of Sean's school party yesterday for 23 4th graders. Only one mom out of 4 that signed up to help actually showed up. Thank goodness Pat was nice enough to take off work to go and help. They painted pumpkins, made Halloween bracelets and decorated sugar cookies. We played a Halloween memory game and of course what would a Halloween party be without the Mummy game with toilet paper. Sean's team won the mummy game both times. We had a good time but man did they have a lot of energy and I can't imagine all of them last night on a sugar high.

Ok well I wanted to just get a few photos out but I will have a lot more to post later. I hope everyone had a nice Halloween and got lots of candy. I will say now that have moved up to NSL Trick or Treating is not as easy but it's all HILLS. No need for the gym yesterday after all the walking we did.

Pumpkin Picking

We took the boys on their very 1st hayride and pumpkin picking trip. It was a beautiful day and we also had Natalie and Sean with us so they got to pick out their pumpkins too. Austin was so cute. I took him over to the little pumpkin patch and he went for the 1st one he saw. He picked it up and then looked at me with the expression "can I have it". Then he looked around and saw all the other ones. He put it back down but decided the original one was the one he wanted so he picked it back up and headed back to the wagon. Colby was so cute on the hayride out as we approached the pumpkin patch he started saying "ball,ball,ball". He was very excited to pick his pumpkin and he picked the one right beside Austin's.

We are getting ready for the 1st "trick or treating" experience. I just hope they will let people put candy in their buckets since they have been wearing them as hats for the past week. We'll be sure and post photos of them in the costumes.