The Frank Ohana

Mind over Mud at the Swamp Romp!

2011-03-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Brandon and I did a 5 miler race called the Swamp Romp last Saturday. It was on the marine base in Kaneohe and the track was part of their basic training corse. Swamp romp for sure. We spent at least half of the run slopping through mud or wading waste deep through muddy, stinky water. Within minutues of crossing the start line we were covered in slime and flith. I haven't been that dirty since I was a kid - actually maybe never. We had a rockin good time sloshing and jumping, crawling over obstacle walls, strugglng in sand, and then dipping in the ocean.

At about mile 4 I had so much mud in my shoes that I felt like my toes were sitting in a mud and sand mold. It became easier to run in the water (to loosen the mud) than to run with club feet on hard ground. At one point I got a rock in my shoe - which scraped up and down my heal with each step.

Toes sore, muscles tried, stamina gone, we crossed the finish line arm and arm. At that point we welcomed the blast of the fire hose, un-duct-taped our shoes from our pants and walked a mile back to the car barefoot.

Can't wait to do it all again next year. Enjoy the pics!

Yabadabadoo!

2011-02-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

Making up for lost time. This was Halloween 2010. Yabadabadoo!

Aloha!

2011-02-13T00:26:00.000-08:00

Aloha! We've officially been in Hawaii now for three and a half weeks. I've got my tan established:-). The kids love the beach. It's so nice not to be cooped up with them with tons of snow outside. We live 50 paces from a mostly deserted beach and it's wonderful. Even Kade is one happy camper in the sand. He loves to grab fistfuls of it and get a mouthful now and then. The amazing part is that he doesn't cry... it's as if he likes to eat it. Weird.

The first week Jack and Jaz were kinda spooked of the water. The waves are small at our beach, but it was definitely enough to get them screaming. It's amazing how quickly they feel comfortable. They like to swim with us and run in and out of the waves. Jack mostly picks up twigs or rocks or whatever and throws them into the waves. He wrecks the sand castles Brandon makes for them and enjoys digging. Jaz just wanders around. They like to jump in the waves. Kade likes the waves too. I hold his little hands and let the waves wash over his ankles and knees. He squeals with glee and jumps up and down. It's so dang cute.

Ploppers

2009-09-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

So, you know how once a baby figure out that they can control their legs they like to bring their legs straight up and then drop then back down? I call them "ploppers." I'll often listen at the cracked door of the twins room and know that they're not yet asleep or they just woke up by the "thud-thud-thud" of those leg lifts and drops. It cracks me up to watch them lift and drop, lift and drop. So, the other night I put the twins to bed and was brushing my teeth when all of a sudden I heard a really loud "thud-thud-thud," but this time it wasn't coming from the babies room. I peered around the corner to my bedroom to find Brandon lying flat on his back doing "ploppers" on the bed. I laughed so hard I literally cried. "Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it," was all he had to say. He gets a kick out of imitating Jack and Jasmine - as you've already discovered in the pic above.

Baby update

2009-09-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jasmine are 6 and a half months now. I can't believe time has flown by so quickly. They are both sitting up. Jasmine loves to try new foods, Jack is still favoring the bottle. Jaz claps her hands and rolls over. Jack says, "ba ba ba ba." They had their shots yesterday and Jack is super miserable - low grade fever and incessant crying. Poor little guy. Poor mama - I was up every half hour with him last night until 4:30 am when he graciously let me sleep two solid hours before waking me at 6:30 again. Brandon took the morning shift from there and I slept until 10 am!

Looking back at this picture makes me cry. They are so floppy and still furry and tiny here - just 7 days old and 6 and 7 lbs each. Little sweeties.

2009-06-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jasmine are almost 4 months. I guess I'm a quarterly writer.

Introducing Jack & Jasmine

2009-03-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

Our twins were born March 3, 2009 by C-section. Jack Richard was born first and weighed in at 6 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long. Jasmine Elizabeth followed at an amazing 7 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. They are both healthy and mostly happy babies. Mom and Dad are doing well and adjusting to parenthood. Brandon has been an amazing dad so far - helping with late night feedings and pulling his weight in diaper changing. Grandma Weight is here too and helping keep the crying to a minimum, the laundry going and the house clean. She's been a life-saver so far. It's amazing to watch my cute Brandon love his little babies. They are our little miracles. I love you Jack & Jasmine!

We took these photos ourselves, but our friend Kris Doman of KD portraits took some AMAZING photos when the twins were 7 days old. Check them out at www.kdportraits.com, click on "blog" and Jack and Jasmine are the first photos featured at the top of the page. If I can get 10 of you to post comments, I can get an extra photo for free. Care to help me out? Thanks!

2008-12-19T21:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends & Family,

Well, our biggest news in 2008 is that we are currently pregnant with TWINS! (Well, technically Sarah is. She deserves all of the credit for what she is and will be going through in the coming months). We will be having a boy and girl around the first of March.

The days are ticking down and we are really excited for the new addition(s) to our family. We are jumping right into the family thing with both feet. We haven’t decided on any names yet, but the only ones that we both agree on so far are Pebbles and Bam-Bam. We’ll keep you posted!

Well, it has been another fun and eventful year in the Frank home. Sarah is about 2/3 done with her grad degree at BYU. She still teaches voice lessons and loves to see her students growing and making progress. She also started a new afterschool singing/dancing program at elementary schools called “Studio Kids.”

When she isn’t working or studying, she can be found song writing, singing, and a recent hobby called, “nesting.” Each night before bed, Sarah will gather all of the blankets from the house and make a large circle-like “nest” in our bed. She will then coo for a few minutes before snuggling in to sleep. Odd? Yes, but at least she’s not regurgitating worms! She has had a lot of fun quilting and getting things ready for the babies’ room.

Brandon is still building his real estate investment business. His company bought several houses this year, and amidst the turmoil and bad news about the economy and the real estate market, he has found many great opportunities and continues to push himself and his business to new levels. He loves what he does and has recently been involved in some land developing, commercial and land holding projects.

Brandon also competed in a triathlon recently. He pushed himself as hard as he could. The highlight for everyone was watching him exit the pool (three laps from the finish line) to stop, catch his breath, vomit, and then jump back in to finish the race. Although he lost some time in the puke-fest, he still believes he made up for it in increased speed, due to his lightened load.

Sarah and Brandon both turned the big 30 this year. They also took one more Hawaiian surf trip and spent time with family at both Bear Lake and the Oregon Coast.

We love you all so much and hope everything is well with you! We hope this year has been full of fun, love, joy and peace. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord, we wish you all the very Merriest Christmas!

Love,

Brandon & Sarah Frank
(and soon to be Peb’s & Bamy)

Kick Me!

2008-11-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Who knew that I'd ever want to be kicked? My little twins started kicking about a week ago and their little nudges and karate chops are getting stronger and more frequent by the day. They're not strong enough for Brandon to be able to feel yet, but my guess is pretty soon. I'm 23 weeks and since I'll be induced by week 38 (approximately March 7) if I haven't already gone into labor on my own, we're now on the 15 week countdown! That makes it feel so close! Check out my growing belly - not the best pic, but it's all I have right now. Check out my natural glow - j/k!

My Triathletes

2008-11-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Boys!

Brandon puking!

Bran biking!

My brother Hyrum and husband Brandon competed in a triathlon yesterday - the Turkey Trot in Orem, UT. It was Brandon's first race ever and Hyrum's second. I was so proud. They both finished in just over an hour and pushed themselves really hard. It was really fun to chear them on. They ran first (5K), the biked (10 mi), then swam (350 meters). It was so cool to see them in each event!

Brandon pushed himself a little too hard and had to take a puke break with only three laps to go in the final swimming event. I couldn't help but laugh, but I felt really bad for him at the same time. After a 5 minute ralphing session, he jumped back in the pool and finished his race. That's my baby! So tough! Loved it! Wish my belly would have let me join in.

Simply Peachy!

2008-10-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

Peaches, Peaches and more Peaches (oh and some apples, bananas, mangos and strawberries too)! My sister-in-law and mom-in-law went peach picking and brought home 9 boxes of ripe and incredibly sweet peaches. We went to town canning and did over 150 jars! Last night, I decided to keep up this week's domestic theme and dry peaches, apples, mangos and strawberries. My back hurts from peeling and slicing, but the results are literally sweet!

Pickle me sour! So Brandon and I planted a garden with my sissy Hannah this year. We have cucumbers out our ears. So, Brandon gets this bright idea for me to can and pickle cucumbers while he watches the BYU game with a buddy! Just did 12 jars and I smell like vinegar!

Just got a call - the in-laws picked a tomato patch and the canning begins again tomorrow. Oh and they picked 6 more boxes of peaches too! Holy crazy! I've never canned or dried in my life so I guess I'm making up for it all in one week!

The Bump Says Pink & Blue!

2008-10-03T19:59:00.001-07:00

So, we endeavored the Fetal Photo at the mall at 15 weeks to see if we could discover the gender of our babies. The technician was positive that we were having a boy, but was struggling to see the gender of the second baby because the umbilical chord was wrapped around the legs. After drinking some sugar and walking around the mall for an hour, the baby still hadn't changed position. So, we had to go back another day. To our absolute delight, the baby had changed position and low and behold - we've got ourselves a boy and a girl! We're elated! It's perfect! I can't wait to meet them and I'm so excited to get started on a pink and blue Hawaiian-style baby room. I pulled my sewing machine out yesterday for the first time in years and have already started making selves for baby bumpers!

I'm officially 17 weeks tomorrow (sorry for the belated news!) The bump is officially making an appearance! Love you pink and blue!

Finally Flipped!

2008-07-25T23:36:00.001-07:00

We went out wakeboarding with the Hambletons (some of the coolest people in our ward), and Ryan and Hannah (bro and sister-in-law) and Brandon FINALLY FLIPPED . . . on a wake board that is! I'm so proud! I was so bummed to discover that his best flip was blurry on the camera, so I had to add a not so perfect flip too! Anyway, check it out!

Bees, Pioneers and Little Men

2008-07-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

Brandon and I went to a Bee's game (Bees) on the 24th - Utah Pioneer Day (Pioneers) for those who are unfamiliar. It was my first time to a baseball game and I loved it. We showed up to buy seats and some girl handed us her extras. We were pretty stoked to get in free and sat right behind the pitchers mound just 12 rows back. It was awesome! Oh and they won too! As you can see, Brandon had a little too much fun with the camera (Little Men)! The fireworks show was pretty sweet too.

Running on Water

2008-07-23T13:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R67Rg51xrjs
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I laugh myself silly when I watch this video of Brandon trying to run on water - what a crack up. Missing the Hawaii days!

There's a Bun in the Oven!

2008-07-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Alright ... there's a bun in the Frank family oven. Actually, more like an orange seed - actual size since I'm only 6 weeks. After trying for too long, five magic pills and a turkey baster we find ourselves positively pregnant. We're excited!

Alvin and the Chipmunks... and Bubbuh

2007-12-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, Brandon got the crazy idea to make a music video to Alvin and the Chipmunks with his dad and brothers. You'd expect to see Dave Seville, Alvin, Simon, Theodore... but there's a new addition to the chipmunks this year - Bubbah. Yup, since the Frank's have 4 boys, they had to improvise and thus Bubbah was born. It was such a crack up watching the boys act, dance and talk like chipmunks. So our Christmas day was spent watching director Brandon set up lights and scenes and listening to that silly chipmonk song play again and again and again. Do a search for Frank Chipmunk Christmas on Youtube and you should find the video!

Hope you're Christmas was as fun as ours!