February Recap 2017

February Recap 2017

We finally scheduled it and Burke was able to go snowmobiling twice in February 2017.  Such a fun day for him and such a loooong day for me! :)  But we compromised with me having a "Blog Day" in return on a Saturday which is always so good for my soul.

1) Daphne and Darcie spent so much time with Sophie and Hayzlee Quintanilla (their best friends in the Cedar City) after Kindergarten would get out and Daphne often ending up reading to the whole crew on the couch most times.

2) Daphne communicating to Burke how badly she did NOT want him to go to his meeting that night.

3) Cousin Dax and Alan kept nuzzling and resting their heads against each other one Sunday night.

4) Hilarious landing place of Alan's binky one nap time.

5) My tenderhearted nephew Emmett's artwork cutout of Alan and Aiden holding hands.  Such a sweet, thoughtful boy.

6) Turban head baby.

Many long winter days spent with these three sweethearts.  Alan (besides being a terrible sleeper at night) was a dream baby during the day.  Always happy, always calm, always much beloved by his sisters.  

The girls were still getting along okay at this point, but starting to fight more and more which made the days spent cooped up inside seem even longer.  Darcie had transitioned at this point from being the cute baby sister to the demanding toddler sister and they were both having a hard time figuring out how to resolve their shifting rolls, wants and needs.

Darcie - Age 2.5

Daphne Age 5.5

1) Burkie and Alan cracking up

2 and 3) Daphne and Darcie touching snakes at the SUU Animal Ambassador display at the OSU Children's Jubilee concert.  The girls were AMAZED by the science experiments perfectly timed to have explosions go off during the William Tell Overture.  

4) Grandma Marie delighting Alan.

5) Alan was surrounded by admirers each time we were with the Bush Boys.

6) Alan peacefully burrito wrapped, but keeping his eyes on me to make sure I didn't walk away. Haha!

In February our sweet GG had a fall at Aunt Beth's house in Oregon.  They didn't know if she would recover and Mom sent a text to everyone to let them know if we wanted to call and say our goodbyes, now would be the time to do it.  At 98, GG's short term memory was basically shot and though she needed a lot of care she was still consistently her delightful grinning self.  When Mom went up to see her, she smuggled in mint chocolate chip Kit Kats and Grandma gave her this elated, "I'm in heaven!" reaction!  Mom was able to get her laughing and eating again and under Aunt Beth's impeccable care over the coming weeks and months she had a few months of recovery, enjoyed improved health at her 99th birthday celebration and then passed away in September (post coming).  What a joyful, refined lady she always was - even during times of pain and sickness.

Valentine's Day  was celebrated with our traditional heart breakfast and Daddy made chocolate covered strawberries for us at work with their wonderful secretary Vickie for the fourth year in a row and the girls were elated (observe Darcie!).  I especially loved the "Be My Ballam tine" that circulated on FB as Michael Ballam and his sweet family were in our home ward growing up.  I'm dying to know who put that hilarious meme together!

Daphne had her first elementary school experience with exchanging valentines and we had such a good time making her bee box and bee themed yo-yo valentines together a few days beforehand.  Our little bug enthusiast was beyond pleased with the final result.  

On January 20th, the kiddos had a chance to play with their cousins at the farm and were so excited for Grandpa Alan to raise them up in the telehandler.  I didn't love that so much, but these farm boys assured us they would be fine and they were. :)  Lots of fun hours afterwards at Grandma Marie's and lots of cousin love.



1) Static heads on a warm February day on the tramp
2) Daddy on the WhatsApp with the kiddos on a Sunday afternoon
3) Grandma Marie conducting Cooking Class with the grandkids (she held it once or twice a month all year long and they LOVED it)
4) Burkie practicing the Mac'n'Cheese song with Darcie belting out every word
5) Burke sending me Food Grams and making me jealous as he discovered a new favorite restaurant in Cedar - Chef Alfredos!  Spendy, but amazing!

Alan turned 5 months old in February.  At 5 months he was starting to get much more vocal, but was still the most happy, peaceful baby ever.  He rolled over for the first time on February 24 to our great delight!  Still not sleeping more than 3-4 hour stretches at time though.  The girls remained enamored with him.

A few shots of Al throughout the month.  Look how much bigger Isabelle (his cousin born on the exact same day!) was next to him!  I had to always remind myself the he was actually still 6 weeks behind her in gestation so I wouldn't worry too much about his tininess.

Although we all adored our Alan Bedelian Traherne (nickname derived from super lame John Wayne movie called "El Dorado") to the moon and back, these months were still full of much sorrow as we continued to process the loss of his twin brother.  My sweet friend, Amberlee Stephenson miscarried in January and we were able to truly mourn with one another and share similar thoughts and feelings.  She gave me the book, "Gone Too Soon" at a Relief Society Activity in February which was so incredibly touching to me.  I also was moved by a picture at her house (bottom right hand corner of the above collage) of the Savior holding up a laughing infant with the saying, "Lord, I wanted to hold my little one on my lap and tell them about you.  But since I never had the chance, will you please hold him on your lap and him about me?"  I spent a lot of time in the scriptures seeking peace and was touched by these verses in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 that reminded me that part of the purpose of Aiden passing was to teach me how to mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who stand in need of comfort as evidenced by my interactions with Amberlee and some other mothers I met through Mormon Moms of Multiples who had also lost one or more of their multiples.  I began to write our "Journey with Twins" whenever I had a spare moment and found so much solace in writing the details of our experience that others going through similar heartaches might not feel so alone.