Christiansen's come to visit

(cousins) Kammi, Rivkah, and Alicia with the twins

Christiansen family with the twins and me in front of the Portland Temple

our first family trip to the beach

Shane's sister, Sondra and her family came to visit at the end of July. Their family went on vacation to Seattle and on there way back to Idaho they stayed a few nights in Gresham with Craig's (Sondra's husband) brother. We met up with everyone at Seaside on the Oregon coast, Friday July 30th. We took the babes in the stroller and spent time together as a family on the beach. We had sandwiches and then drove back home. On Saturday, Sondra's family came over to our apartment to see where we live and then we took them to the temple. However, the temple was closed for bi-annual cleaning and so we took a few pics outside the entrance. In the evening we went to Craig's brothers for dinner. It was so nice to have visitors and to see family.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Shane and I celebrated our eighth anniversary with the twins. We had a nice evening which started with Shane coming home early from school and helping hang pictures in our apartment. Then we went to the Claim Jumper for dinner. It was our first date out to eat with the twins together. Shane and I were reflecting at dinner and entertained with the fact that not much changed from our first anniversary... we are in school, no money, limited resources but one dramatic change was of course the addition of the twins. Cheers and here is to another eight fun-filled years plus many, many more.

Time in Bend

After we found housing in Portland the babes and I went to Bend from July 4th-18th to stay with my mom and get some additional help while Shane got settled into his class routine. My mom was amazing and sleep with me every night that Shane was gone to help with the night feedings and give me support. I am truely fortunate to have such an amazing mother. Did I mention that she stayed with us for the first 8 weeks of thte twins lives to help in any way that she could. I think that I would have died without her help. I was so emotionally and physically drained that had she not been there it could have gotten pretty interesting, even more so then it already had. Adjusting to motherhood has definately had its trying moments. I went from working full time in a career, going about my schedule spontaneously, and living next to family and friends to working harder than I thought was possible and being emotionally tested beyond comprehension in a new living environment without my network of support. Anyway, while staying in Bend, Shane came to visit on the weekends and it was so uplifting to have him present. Although my mother was amazing I felt guilty relying on her to help whereas Shane was their dad and it just felt like a different kind of help and I didn't feel bad relying on him. When Shane came to Bend to visit we went running for the first time together as a family out at Shevlin park, went on walks, and went downtown to the Bend summer festival. Also we went to Eagle Crest for our first water adventure. My sister's friend Marie got us tickets and it was a lot of fun. While i was in Bend I was able to get caught up on bills, hang out with my family, and take the babies to thier first movie. My sister, Abbey and I went to see New Moon which I am embarrassed to admit. Although it was the best of the three movies thus far. Thanks again mom and dad for taking such good care of us and loving us up!!!