Hip hip hooray: we finally found our USB! We completely tore our house apart, opening every single box, only to discover that the naughty USB was hiding at my parents' house. We're just glad we found it!
December was a big month for us. It was the month in which Adam perfected the "No Look Carrot Dump",
And it was also the month in which Haley had her first piano recital. Here she is playing "Hoedown":
After a year-long process, we finally made it into our new home. I think the kids liked it better before we got all of the furniture in. They spent an entire evening racing back and forth in our bedroom, which was a hoot to watch.
Everyone in the shower! See Carter? He's about to turn on the water. Luckily everyone made it out dry except Carter. Serves him right. (Sorry that our crappy camera's refusal to focus made Haley look like a corpse.)
I just think this picture is funny. It's something about the way Drew is running (he's on the right), but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is.
We had the unfortunate experience of taking the boys with us to the closing. They ran around the title office like a pack of wild warthogs until the receptionist produced a bucket of ring pops. I've got to remember that trick.
Next up: Christmas!
Christmas was challenging for me this year. I wanted to keep all of our traditions alive for the kids, and yet this year it all kind of felt like added stress to an already stressful month. However, with "a little help from Jack Daniels" (just kidding - my family likes to incorporate quotes from Christmas Vacation into every conversation) we managed to get mostly settled into our new home and still celebrate Christmas to the fullest.
We made a gingerbread house,
We visited Temple Square, where our crappy camera struck again,
We decorated cookies for Santa with our cousins (notice we're all in our Cougar Blue 'cause it was game day!),
And we were treated to more of Haley's mad piano skills.
And we enjoyed our usual Christmas morning mayhem.
Last year Santa stuffed my stocking with an Edward poster, and this year he treated me to some wolf pack eye candy. I keep threatening to hang these posters on the ceiling above our bed.
Tonight's Family Home Evening lesson consisted of a discussion of the messages found in the song I Am a Child of God. Haley was rattling off a laundry list of the things we learn in that song, and said, "... and it teaches us that I'm a stew, but I've never known what that means." We figured out that she was talking about the line "Teach me all that I must do"! We had a good laugh.
Whew! That might have been my longest dry spell ever. Sometimes I think that I blog too much and that people must be tired of me. But then I think, well, I'm not really forcing anyone to visit my blog. I remind myself that I am doing this for my kids so that someday their future spouses can waste far too many hours slogging through every second of their beloveds' childhood.
So, here's what we've been up to:
1. Packing.
2. Spending $96 to have our 80,000 lb. piano moved by professionals. Totally worth it.
3. Moving all the rest of our worldly possessions into my parents' garage.
4. Loading all of our worldly possessions into a moving truck. In the snow.
5. Unloading all of our worldly possessions into our new garage. In the snow.
6. Unpacking.
7. Trying to figure out the best places to put all of this stuff.
8. Frantically trying to get up all of the Christmas decorations before it's time to take them down again.
9. Considering trying to get out neighbor gifts and Christmas cards. Thinking better of it. (Sorry, neighbors and usual Christmas card recipients. We still love you.)
10. Hooking up far too many electronic doohickeys. Putting together far too much furniture.
11. Making about 60 trips to Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe's, Macy's, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Tripling the GNP in the process.
12. Standing in a six-mile Christmas line at the Post Office for the key to our mailbox. With the twins.
13. Realizing yesterday that the Christmas shopping is not quite done. Panicking.
14. Climbing the walls, running, yelling, screaming, nearly wetting ourselves with excitement. (The kids, not me. Except the yelling part.)
15. Staying in our pajamas until noon every day. Still waiting for the blinds to be delivered and installed. Sorry, neighbors.
16. Enjoying Haley's first ever piano recital. On moving day, no less. Loving Haley's teacher, Aunt Kallie, for being the kindest, most patient teacher ever. Thank you. (We can't find the USB for our camera, so I can't post videos yet. But you can see Kallie's pictures here.)
17. Collapsing into bed in exhaustion every single night.
18. Feeling happy to finally be home.
...or Utah. We spent another splendid Thanksgiving in San Diego last week. I'm afraid that I can't do the trip justice in words since a certain 2-year-old allowed me only three hours of sleep last night, so I'll just post pictures. But trust me, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
"The Polar Express" in 4D at Sea World. Somehow they made the theater smell like hot chocolate during the hot chocolate scene. Freakin' amazing.
Terrorizing stingrays 
La Jolla Shores at (very) high tide. Our favorite beach was under about 20 feet of water, which was a bummer. 
Aerobee in the park
San Diego Temple
Chris & the big kids creeping toward their doom
Polar bear
Sea World's baby pit. I think the twins could play in there all day.
Pick-up basketball at Thanksgiving dinner. And by pick-up, I mean "Mom, pick me up over and over again so I can shoot baskets."
The kids swam in the jacuzzi for about two hours even though it was only 50 degrees outside. It allowed us to watch most of the BYU-Utah game in peace, so that was awesome.
Thanks again to Steve and Pat for having us. We miss you already!
P.S. I posted pictures of our (almost) finished house over at the other blog for anyone who might be interested!
Predatory criminals often mark their victims as a warning to others who would incur their wrath. Well, around here we fear one particularly terrifying "dark mark": the dreaded Smiley Face of Doom. 
Biting is the twins' preferred method of expressing their most extreme displeasure, and the irony is that their bite marks look exactly like smiley faces. It's the bruise that warns, Don't ever steal my Hot Wheels car again or I'll kill you. Have a nice day!
I loved playing with Play Doh as a kid, which was fine except that I was terrible at it. The only thing that I could ever make was a bird's nest. I'd roll out a big ball and press it on my chin to shape it into a bowl. Then I'd roll up some smaller balls, drop them in the chin-depression, and voila: a remedial bird's nest. Seven-year-0ld me could have learned a thing or two from seven-year-old Haley.
Haley displaying her wedding cake
The matching bridal bouquet
Today is Adam & Drew's second birthday! How time flies. I was thinking back today on the chaos of their birth day. There were so many people in the delivery room: a team of NICU nurses for each baby, a cardiologist because boy multiples have a higher risk of heart problems, the anesthesiologist, my doctor (who ordered an extra shot of epidural for me in case he had to "go in there and get the second one"), and a bunch of random nurses who came to watch the show. All of the comotion had me expecting some kind of crazy complication, and when it was go-time, I braced myself for several hours of pushing as had been my experiences before. But the doctor stopped me halfway through my first push, saying "that's good", and out came Adam. Two mintues later Drew followed, without a single push. It turns out that all of the extra precautions and commotion was unnecessary: they were healthy and beautiful, and everything went exactly as it should have.
I think of our experience that day as a metaphor for life with twins. We have experienced so much chaos, and so many things can potentially go wrong, but everything is working out the way it should be in spite of all that. I am so grateful these two are in our family. I'm grateful that they came together. These two will always have each other, and that thought brings me peace.
These days, Adam & Drew love Hots Wheels cars more than life. Still, I don't know what possessed me to spend my Halloween making not one but two Hot Wheels cakes for kids too young to appreciate them! Maybe I wanted to redeem myself after my laughable attempt at a Noah's Ark cake last year. All I know is this: you boys better hook me up with a sweet nursing home someday.
Adam & Drew enjoying their new car table
Mmm ... cake
Aunt Jen gave the boys the most adorable dinosaurs ever. I'm sure they'll love them once they get used to them!
