Thursday, January 30, 2014

my date night with krew: mickey mouse style!

Last week, I went on a really fun date, with a really fun guy!  Bart bought tickets for Krew and I to see Mickey Mouse Live!, just the two of us.  Krew is a big fan of Mickey (and so am I) and he's just the right age for something like this, so I knew he would love it!
We got there just a few minutes before the show started, so we took some pictures!
 Krew insisted on bringing his Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck from home.  He held them the whole time, and whenever either (or both) of them were on stage, he would shake them up and down, so they were dancing just like the ones on stage.  He was pretty serious about it, too!


 He was not very happy to have to wait during the intermission, but I assured him that Mickey and his friends would be back soon!
We both had a great time, and the show was pretty cute.  It was fun to have a night out just the two of us.  Yes, we get to spend all day most days just the two of us, but we rarely go anywhere more fun than Costco or Target.  We are desperately waiting for some warmer weather so we don't have to hibernate indoors anymore!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

baptism day, a.k.a. one of the most special days for our family!

This is the invitation we sent out prior to Kade and Ky's big day!


In order to make the invitation, as well as have some nice pictures of the two handsome boys, we had a photo shoot in the kitchen.  Aren't they handsome?











By the end of the photo shoot, they were tired of smiling and holding still (because that is seriously difficult when you are a soon-to-be eight year old boy), but we did get some great "silly" pictures!

The big day finally arrived, and boy were these two ready and excited.  We had been talking in Family Home Evening for several months about baptism, and about the Holy Ghost, and about the covenants that they would be making with their Heavenly Father.  Even before we talked about some of these things, they already knew their stuff.  I attribute that to great primary teachers, and the fact that they remember everything!
The program
We had to take pictures in front of the font before the baptism started.  We had so much family support there for their special day, and I'm glad we got so many great pictures of them in white with some of the people who love them most.
Dad & Kade
Dad & Ky

Ky, Dad, and Kade
Ky & Kade
Ky, Kade & Krew
Ky, Grandma Kathy, & Kade
Ky, Mom, & Kade
Ky, Mom, Kade & Krew 
Okay, taking this picture is when I lost it.  I knew I was going to be emotional on such a special day, but taking a picture with my three kids, with the oldest two dressed in their baptism white, brought me to tears.  So, I laughed out loud when I saw this picture and the funny pose that Krew is in, knowing that I was starting to cry, and he was just being his silly self!
Our whole family!
Ky, Grandpa Zen, Grandma Denni, & Kade
Ky, Cooper & Kade
Ky, Cooper, Lynndon, & Kade
Ky, Sadie, & Kade
Ky & Kade holding McCoy
Ky, Bret, Charise, Kade - We are so happy that they came so far to be with the twins for their baptism

The service itself was perfect.  There were so many people who came to support Ky and Kade on their special day that it makes me emotional just thinking about it.  We were so happy that my mom would come all the way from Utah to be here, and she gave a great talk about baptism.  She spoke right to the twins, had visual aids, and even had the boys participate in the object lesson.  It was perfect.  Ky and Kade sang a song that made me cry the whole time!  They did such a great job and the Spirit in that room was so strong!  It was amazing seeing them be baptized by their dad.  And when they were done, Krew asked if it was his turn!
While they were changing, I played a slideshow I made with some of my favorite pictures of the two of them from the time they were born until they turned eight.  While that played, everyone there wrote something for Ky and Kade to read later.
Then, Grandpa Zen gave a great talk about the Holy Ghost, and Bart confirmed them.  Seriously everything could not have gone more perfect.  It was just exactly as I had hoped, and prayed that it would be.  (With the exception of a few people who we wished could have been there with us!)

Refreshments!

My super talented friend Brittney made these adorable tie sugar cookies.  The twins had requested them, and I knew there was no way I was going to be able to make them with everything else we had going on, and Brittney totally came to the rescue!  They were a huge hit!
I had the boys each write down their testimonies about being baptized and draw a picture to go with it.  They are so precious!

Ky after the big event
Kade after the big event


Above is the video of the boys singing "When I Am Baptized" before they got baptized.  All I can say is there were a lot of teary eyes in that room by the time they were done.  In fact, at one point Kade looked over and saw that I was crying, and he smiled bigger, because he loves when he makes me cry happy tears!

Congratulations Kade and Ky!  We are so proud of you for making the decision to be baptized, and we know that your Heavenly Father is happy about it too!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

eights!

 My twinners are eight!  Where did that time go?
 These two boys are the most fun, smartest, most energetic boys I have ever met, and I am lucky to be their mom!
 Plus, they are best friends and watching them grow up together is one of the things I cherish the most about this life!
Because their birthday is so close to Christmas, that it practically is Christmas, the boys have been talking a lot the last several months about how unfair it is that they get their Christmas presents, then four days later they get their birthday presents, and it just seems like more Christmas.  Then, they have to wait an entire year to celebrate again.  So, we are trying something a little bit different this year.  We didn't get them any birthday presents, we didn't have a party, and other than some cake and ice cream, we didn't do anything special to celebrate their birthday.  We are going to wait a few months and do all of that to see if they like splitting things up a bit.
 They did get to open their baptism present from us on their birthday: new scriptures, of course!
 Plus, they got presents from their grandparents and aunt and uncle, so they weren't totally neglected on their special day!

 Apparently if you want to make eight year old boys happy on their birthday, just send cold, hard cash!



 We sang happy birthday to Ky first, he got to blow out the candles, and then we did the whole thing a second time with Kade.  I think some sets of twins would do this based on birth order, but since we still haven't told Kade and Ky who is older (love that they still don't know!), Ky went first because Kade always makes Ky go first. Always.



Some fun things about each of them, according to themselves:

Ky:
What is your favorite food?  Burgers
What is the best thing about school?  Gym
What is the worst thing about school? Math (but he seriously rocks at math!)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Engineer
What are you really good at? Typing (By this he means he's really good at creating illustrated stories on the           computer!)
What is your favorite movie? Tron Legacy (This has been his favorite movie for years!)
Who is the coolest person in the world?  Steamboat Willie
If you could do one thing all day, you would...Play video games
The best place in the world to be is: Disneyland

Kade:
What is your favorite food? Potstickers
What is the best thing about school?  Writing
What is the worst thing about school? Math (He may not like it, but he is so good at it, they put him in a                gifted and talented math program once a week!)
What do you want to be when you grow up? A cashier (He's dreaming big, that one.)
What are you really good at? Running
What is your favorite movie?  Frozen
Who is the coolest person in the world?  Jesus & Heavenly Father
If you could do one thing all day, you would...Play video games
The best place in the world to be is: Disneyland