The Toyn Family

We have lived in Boise for a month and two days now and I just have to say I am loving it! My mom and Lynn have been so good to let us stay with them until we close on our new house, which should be no later than 3 weeks from tomorrow. They have been a tremendous help with the kids and I can’t thank them enough for everything they have done. We are under contract on a beautiful house in Meridian and we are very excited to move in. It is a new house, but the landscaping has been done and a fence has already been put in. They have neighborhood pools and parks that the kids and I are really going to enjoy (and Nick too on the weekends).
Besides being excited to move into a great house, we have been enjoying some of the wonderful things the Boise area has to offer. We have made quite a few trips to the library with Grandma. All there libraries here are interconnected so you just need one card to have access to all 13 of them! You can find anything you want or need. The parks here are amazing. They have that recycled rubber stuff on the ground instead of rocks or wood chips, they have parks with splash pads, and there are so many fun parks to choose from! The boys had a great time splashing around the other day at a park here in Eagle. We can always find something to do, which is important with 3 little kids. Also, yesterday we were lucky enough to have my brother Doug’s friend, Brooke, visit us. She is a great girl. She is beautiful, talented, fun, and great with my kids. It took Brayden a while to warm up to her, but Brennan loved her right away. In fact, I think he might have a crush on her. Her are some recent pictures.

Emma is six months old today. I can’t believe she is already half-way to her first birthday. She had her 6-month appointment today and her stats are as follows: Head-41 cm, 20% Weight-13 lbs 15 oz., 20% and Length-26 in, 70%! It’s strange to have one of my children be above average in height! We have really enjoyed having Emma in our family. She is a very happy and easy-going baby. She is full of smiles and absolutely adores her big brothers. The last 6 months have gone by so fast and it seems like she learns something new every day. She has been able to sit up unassisted for a week or two now and started pulling herself up to standing a couple days ago. Man, we love that girl!
P.S. I am really behind on my blogs. We went to the Oregon Coast on vacation with my family a couple weeks ago and had a blast! If you want to see pictures, go to my mom or sister’s blogs. Maybe I will catch up soon

Our happy Emma Joy.

Six month old beauty.

This past month has been a crazy one for our family. Near the end of June we decided it is time to be done with Melaleuca and to pursue bigger and better things. The first week of July was spent packing up all our belongings and moving them into a storage unit in the Boise area. I’m especially grateful for my Grandma and Aunt Karen and their help with packing. Nick and I also had our anniversary that week. 4 years and 3 kids, and we’re so excited for the rest of our lives together.

We are currently trying to sell our house in Idaho Falls. Until the house sells we are staying with my mom and Lynn. We are very appreciative of their generosity in letting us stay here. I am sure they are also excited for our house to sell so we can get a house of our own and they can stop getting early morning wake-up calls from our children. The kids are having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. The past week here has been a lot of fun, especially or the boys. They’ve learned how to ride bikes, they’ve thrown lots of rocks in the water, Grandma took them to the Library and helped them check out some fun books. They got to have an “Aunt Shauna” day, and we visited Grandpa Galloway in Emmett, and went swimming in the neighborhood pool.

Tomorrow morning my family (my mom and Lynn, siblings, spouses and step-siblings and children) are headed to the Oregon Coast for 8 days! We are so excited!

We are excited for this new adventure. I love the Boise area and have been hoping to be back here for the last 9 years now. However, it is also very sad to leave Idaho Falls. I already miss my dear friend Leah, and her family and it was hard to leave our first house. We lived there for four years and had our first three kids there. Well, here’s to a great adventure and being close to my family!

The boys had their 3 year wellness check yesterday. I was told they wouldn’t have to get any shots, but when we got there the nurse told us they each needed 2 shots. There had been a shortage on one earlier, so they didn’t get it when they were supposed to and the other one is a new one. I felt like a bad mom making them get shots after I told them they wouldn’t have to, but I know that it is best for them. I don’t want them to get some terrible disease if I can prevent it. The doctor says the boys look very healthy. Brennan weighed in at 31.8 lbs (56th percentile) and is 36 inches tall (54th percentile). Brayden weighs a whopping 28 lbs (12th percentile) and is 34 3/4 inches tall (15th percentile). I can’t believe they will be 3 years old 2 weeks from today! I am so glad I get to be their mom. They certainly are a challenge (as I imagine every set of 3 year old twin boys are) but they are so much fun and one of my favorite things is when they tell me they love me. It makes me feel like I am doing a good job as a mom.
Emma is 4 months old today! To celebrate, the first thing she did when she woke up this morning was to roll over for the first time! I missed it but Nick got to see it. We are so proud (parents get excited over the smallest things). Emma loves to sit up with the boppy and can even sit up all by herself for a few seconds. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for sending these 3 beautiful children to me. I feel so lucky! I hope I can be the mom they deserve.

Cowboy Brayden.

Brennan has been pretty sore from his shots.

Cutie!

Emma sitting up with the boppy.

I know I haven’t updated for awhile. Oops! I am such a slacker! Since my last update, we have taken two trips, one to Boise and one to Brigham City. We had a lot of fun! While in Boise, we went to an indoor playground, the boys and Nick went swimming, ate yummy food (as we always do), and visited lots of family. It was great! The indoor playground we went to is called Monkey Business. They have big inflatable toys and slides and a play house to play in. It was so much fun! We took the boys swimming at the YMCA, and that was fun too! Nick was a good sport and offered to swim with the boys since I had just showered and done my hair. Brennan is a little fish just like his dad. He could have stayed in the water all day! Brayden had a good time until he went down the big slide. They won’t let parents take kids down the slide-they have to go down by themselves. So, Nick went down first and waited. Brennan did great and enjoyed it. Brayden might have enjoyed it if he hadn’t flipped around and ended up going down the slide on his back, head first! He was scared after that, so he sat by me the rest of the time. We got to go visit my dad, grandma, and aunt Susan and Uncle Pete one day and enjoyed our time over there. The boys also enjoyed played with Uncle Brian, Aunt Shauna, Jeff and Brittney, and Grandma and Grandpa Watson.

This last weekend we went to Brigham City to celebrate Mother’s Day. We had a great time. The weather was nice and we were able to get outside and play a lot with the boys’ cousins. Sadly, the only picture I got was of Tyler dressed up like a red-neck. He looked like he belonged in Tennessee where Doug is! It was so good to be able to see all of our family. Thanks to everyone that came to see us while we were in Boise and Brigham. Love you guys!

P.S. On Monday, Emma turned 3 months old. I can’t believe how fast the time is flying! We love having her in our family. I weighed her this morning and she weighed 11.2 pounds! She is growing like a little weed!

My little brother Doug entered the MTC on Wednesday! He will be there for 3 weeks and then it’s off to the Tennessee, Knoxville mission. We are all so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord. It is so hard to say goodbye for two years. Well, Nick and I came up with an idea to get our boys dressed up as missionaries and get some pictures of them. We bought a black picture frame and Nick wrote “I Hope They Call Me On A Mission” on it. Then we put a picture of the boys in there and sent it to him, along with some chips and dip, cookies, letters and some other pictures of the kids. We sent the package off to the MTC so it would be there when he arrived. Hopefully it will make him happy. We wanted him to know we appreciate his example to our children. I think the pictures turned out pretty good, considering how difficult it is to do a photo shoot with 2 little boys! I hope Doug is doing well and I can’t wait to read his letters and hear how things are going for him!

Ok, so my mom’s comment on the last post made me realize that I haven’t been taking as many pictures of the boys lately as I have of Emma. I think the reason for this is that Emma is growing so fast, I feel like I need to capture all of the precious moments before she isn’t a baby any more. But, the boys are growing pretty fast too, and they have been a lot of fun lately. They are both wonderful big brothers and have helped me out a lot in the last 2 months by grabbing diapers and wipes for me as well as picking out clothes for their sister to wear. They have also started to want to pick out their own clothes that they want to wear, which means they don’t always match each other, but I knew that would happen one day. We have been doing “school time” in the mornings and they have really enjoyed that. I pick a letter of the day and print off some coloring pages from the internet. I let them color and we practice writing that letter a couple of times and go over the sound that it makes. I have realized that next year they will start preschool and I have mixed feelings about that. It will be nice to have a break every once in awhile but I am kind of sad that they are growing up so fast. The boys have started to spend hours playing with legos, and they have started to be really creative with what they build. The other day, Brennan brought me an airplane he had made, and it really looked like an airplane. They also like to build houses and trains. I love my boys so much! This year with 2 two year olds has definitely been a challenging one, but a lot of fun at the same time. Love you boys!

P.S. Today I took all the clothes that are too small for the boys and put them away and put all of their new summer clothes in their drawers (even though it probably won’t be warm enough to wear them until July). They wanted to wear some of them. That’s why they are in summer clothes.

The boys with their Easter baskets.

They really are best friends.

Little goof balls!

We had a wonderful Easter. Everyone woke up bright and early (a little too early for me). Nick and I took the boys into the kitchen where their Easter baskets were waiting for them. They each got some peeps, a chocolate bunny and a movie. They were so excited! Then, we told them how the Easter Bunny had hidden some eggs for them downstairs. They had so much fun finding the eggs. If I hadn’t been so tired, I probably would have thought to get some pictures! After all the eggs were found, they actually listened to me try and teach them about the reason for Easter, the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I told them that we use eggs at Easter to symbolize new life and that the chicks coming out of the egg reminds us of Jesus leaving the tomb and being alive again. The rest of the day was spent watching General Conference and concluded with an Easter feast of ham, asparagus, and my mom’s famous orange rolls! After dinner, we decided to put Emma in her Easter dress and get some pictures. It was a great day. I am so grateful to my Savior for the atonement and what it means for me and my family. It’s wonderful that we have a day set aside just to celebrate this and remember everything our Savior did for us.

Yesterday was Emma’s blessing day. We were so appreciative of all the family that traveled a great distance to share this special day with us. Emma looked beautiful and Nick gave her a wonderful blessing. Of course, I bawled like a baby. I know that Emma is a special spirit and I thank our Heavenly Father every day for sending her and our wonderful boys to us. After the blessing, we headed over to our house for food. Everyone that came brought something to eat and it was all delicious! We had about 35 people over and it was so much fun. Thanks again to everyone for coming to celebrate our new baby with us and for bringing the yummy food. It was a great day! (Oh, and thanks to my mom and Lynn for taking some beautiful pictures so we will always remember this day.)

My little baby girl is a month old today! I can’t believe how fast the time is flying. The first month after the boys were born seemed to take forever. I think I may have been a little overwhelmed the first time around. Things with 3 kids under the age of 3 have gone much better so far than I have expected them to. The boys are finally potty trained and only have to wear diapers at night. Brennan and Brayden adore Emma and we really haven’t seen any jealousy from either of them. They love to give her kisses, show her their toys and tell her everything they are doing (ie “See Emma Joy, I take tiger bites!”). I love my children and I am so grateful to have them. I am also grateful for all the help that Nick and I have received over the last month. I don’t know what we would do without all of our wonderful family members. We love you guys! I took some pictures of the kids today to show how much Emma has grown in the last month. The pictures aren’t great, but I have to say, I sure have cute kids!