double what!?

What makes perfect strangers think it's okay to call my children "trouble"? I took Kade and Ky to Busch Gardens today. We had a great time, but at least five or six times, someone said to me something along the lines of, "Oh, here comes double trouble!" Now, today is certainly not the first time people have said that to us, but I heard it so many times today that it really started to bug me. I wanted to say to each of those people, "What makes you think they are trouble at all? And even if they are, they aren't trouble for you!" There have been lots of times when I correct someone who has made this offensive remark by saying, "No, twice blessed." But, sometimes their remark is made in passing, and I don't want to turn around and shout my response to them. So I am just left to wonder why people say things like that about twins. If a mother is walking with one adorable little boy, people don't stop her to tell her that her child is trouble. It was the same thing when I was pregnant with the boys. I would tell people I was expecting twins and they would say something like, "Oh, I'm so sorry for you!" or "Oh, that's going to be so much work!" or "I'm glad it's you and not me." Nobody says those kinds of things to a woman who is carrying one baby. I think the whole thing is just plain rude.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. I feel much better now. Plus, my not double trouble boys are asleep, so I'm going to have some "me time."

fun girly party

I made these fun, girly treats for a friend's baby shower this past weekend. I have been looking for a reason to make these cupcakes for a couple of years, but we don't have too many girly parties around here, so the baby shower was the perfect excuse. I decided to dip strawberries, pretzels and gummy bears in chocolate after my post about strawberries. The idea started with just the chocolate-dipped strawberries, but once I started, I couldn't stop looking for things to cover in chocolate.

go mitt!

Today is the primary election day here in Florida, and the boys and I voted first thing this morning. This is the first primary I have participated in, and it has been exciting to get involved. A few months back we bought Bart a Mitt Romney t-shirt, and put a Mitt Romney bumper sticker on my car, and last Saturday we went to a Mitt Romney rally. We were excited to vote for him before we went, but the things he said and the way he presented himself made us more sure that we want him to be our next president. Bart and I were interviewed by a newspaper reporter, and I even got to shake Mitt Romney's hand! Go Mitt!

Some of these pictures are blurry, there was so much light on the stage.

I swear I have seen this scene in movies. It was exciting to experience it live!

Bart and Kade and Mitt


I love how genuine and sincere he looks in this picture. This was moments before I got to shake his hand.

to our dear prophet

We will all miss our beloved prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. We will miss his sense of humor, his caring eyes, and his strength. I can only imagine the reunion in heaven, not only with his sweet Marjorie, but the welcome for an extraordinary man, a true prophet of God.

sun polish

When Bart's family was in town, we spent a day in this really fun, quaint fishing town. We had fun shopping in all the little souvenir shops. My favorite one had all these t-shirts that change color in the sun. They had a table that emitted UV rays, so you could test all the shirts to see how they would change. I had seen color changing shirts before, but they all seemed a bit tacky, but some of these were awesome. I didn't buy a shirt, but I did buy some color changing nailpolish. I just recently tried it out, and I love it. It starts out as silvery glitter, but when I go outside, it changes pink, and if I am outside long enough, it changes red. (Yes, it is nice to be wearing open-toed shoes in January.) I can't wait to try out another color. Check out the website here.

it rained on our parade

Saturday we went downtown for the annual children's pirate festival. Every year they have an air show, parade and fireworks to celebrate this area's pirate heritage. As we watched the parade, we saw lots of people dressed like pirates, throwing beads and candy. The boys loved to try to catch the beads. Well, the parade only lasted about 25 minutes before they had to evacuate everyone because of a tornado warning. As we were walking back to our car, we got to see all the (empty) floats that we missed. It sure looked like it would have been an awesome parade. They also cancelled the fireworks, which was a big disappointment. We are glad that they told us to leave when they did though, because just as we got to our car, it started pouring. We would have got soaked! So, instead of the parade and fireworks, we stopped off for some burgers and fries, and overall we had a great evening!

Arrgh, mateys!

Ky and daddy watching the parade

A sample of the fun floats

My sweet little pirates

strawberries

This is what we have been doing the past few weeks...eating strawberries. One of the advantages of living here is living near the "Winter Strawberry Capital of the World." Which means that we get to buy strawberries in January that are better than any I've ever had, for $2 a pound. Depending where you are from, that might not sound like a big deal, but groceries are quite expensive here, so when I consider that a pound of potatoes costs $4 per pound, it's a great deal. I would much rather eat a pound of strawberries than half a pound of potatoes! So, for the past few weeks, I've bought a pound of strawberries every few days as we run out. I fully intend on keeping our fridge stocked with strawberries until I can no longer get them at this price. We love to eat them plain, or with a little whipped cream. I've tried to think what I could make with strawberries, like a pie or tarts or something, but I think that they are too good to be messed with and they deserve to be eaten just as they are! Although, everything is better dipped in chocolate, so I think I am going to have to get some nice dipping chocolate and have some fun.

miller boys

Bart's turn to post!
For me, the best part of family visiting over the holidays was being able to spend time with my brother and dad. What with school, missions, and the long distances between us, it has been a LONG TIME since the Miller boys have been able to hang out together for more than a week. While they visited, we found time to watch football, play whiffle ball, throw the baseball, go deep sea fishing, wrestle, watch more football, make some minor repairs to the cars, and just have some "guy time." We spent one day with ALL the Miller boys as the girls went shopping (7 &1/2 hours at Ikea) and left Kade and Ky with us. It was a good feeling to have all of us together. I feel lucky that although we are far apart, we are still close and great friends.

Somehow, the only fighting Bret and I did was when we boxed on the Wii. You can ask Bret who won. Some things never change!


You thought I was kidding when I said we wrestled, didn't you!



The best part of their stay was our fishing trip. Here is a sample of what we caught. We want to thank our friend Steve White for making it happen! It was a trip we will remember forever.

Bret, Zen, and Bart

Hard to say who the best looking Miller boy is!

Zen's not used to having his boys around. Looking good Grandpa!

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While I'm here, just want to say how excited I am that the Packers advanced to the NFC Championship game. I felt confident last week when Ky walked up to me and said, "Packers gonna win daddy!" I guess somehow he knew. Wow! Snow, Favre, Lambeau Field, under-hand passes ... I love all of it. Go Pack!

tumbling

I'm not sure how it got started, but the other night, Kade and Ky decided to do somersaults in the living room just before bathtime (hence the whole no pants thing). It wasn't long before Kade was doing some pretty straight somersaults, instead of just flopping over to the side. I thought it was pretty funny, so I had to post a short clip.

photo shoot

On New Years Day, between brunch at a friends and the men watching as much football as they could, we all dressed up for family pictures. We saved money on a photographer by making our friend Tyson snap pictures with our own cameras, and took them at our apartment complex. I think they turned out pretty nice for free!














Oh, and in case you are wondering, yes my hair is brown again. My amazing sister-in-law Charise (the one in the blue polo above) cut and colored my hair as a Christmas present, and she did an awesome job! Thanks again Charise!!

ending 2007 on the beach

Last Monday, the 31st, we all went to Clearwater Beach to enjoy the warm weather. It was really foggy as we drove over to Clearwater, but it cleared up shortly after we got there, and we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach. We swam, walked along the beach and gathered sea shells, we played wiffle ball, made sand castles, and buried Sadie in the sand. It was a great way to spend the last day of 2007!

The men playing wiffle ball
Ky and Kade digging in the sand with Aunt Charise

Kade pitching to Uncle Bret

Denni and Charise burying Sadie

Two happy boys at the beach

Me pitching to Ky. He hit the first five pitches!

happy birthday ky & kade

Last Saturday, the 29th of December, was Kade and Ky's 2nd birthday. We celebrated by opening presents, playing with balloons and their new toys, and eating cake.

I cried on their birthday as I rocked them to sleep that night and thought about how blessed I am to have these two sweet little boys. I thought about how excited Bart and I were when we found out we were pregnant after seven tough months, how excited we were when we went to have an ultrasound to find out if we were having a boy or a girl, only to find out we were having TWIN BOYS! I thought about the day they were born, the first time I looked at their faces, and the first time I held them. I thought about how crazy and how special the first year was, and how fun and exciting the second year was. I thought about how I cried for the same reason last year on their first birthday, and how I'm pretty sure it will become a habit for possibly the rest of their lives.

I had fun making this super easy birthday cake, and the boys loved it!

Kade decided right away that these balloons should be bats!

Ky joined in the fun

Opening matching presents together

Riding their new bikes from Grandpa Zen and Grandma Denni

Ky enjoying the "tractor" cake

What a sweet, chocolaty smile, Kade!