Everyone asked me how I convinced Andy to dress up like this. It was quite simple, really: I keep him on a very short leash.
The twins are quite proud of their masterpieces and enjoy showing them off to everyone who comes to the door.
Today we went outside and played in the leaves. I was sad to see all of the red leaves fall off of my favorite tree, but all was forgotten as soon as I saw how much fun Brayden and Makenzie had playing in them.
Nonetheless, the transition had to be made. We’ve been talking up the new room for weeks as we slowly put it together and Friday night we read Bye-bye, Crib by Alison McGhee and Ross MacDonald and officially moved them in.
It’s a bit cramped with two beds and nightstands in there. But when we were building our house, we weren’t exactly planning on having twins. Our basement bedrooms are larger than our upstairs bedrooms and we thought our oldest kid would be old enough to move downstairs before anyone ever had to share a room upstairs. Silly us! So why didn’t we get bunk beds you ask? Let me count the whys: they are three-fold. First, Brayden sometimes kicks his legs when he is trying to go to sleep. I didn’t think Makenzie would particularly enjoy sleeping underneath that ruckus. Second, if Makenzie was on top, I had visions of Brayden pulling her off by her pigtails because he wanted to sleep up there. And finally, I don’t think they will be sharing a room for more than a few years and I wanted to buy pieces could be separated and would last for years to come.
Makenzie gave the ultimate approval on accessories. After I hung up the bulletin board, she was running down the hall and stopped dead in her tracks. “Mama, wooow!” she exclaimed. I was very excited to hear that. They both love the tree and frequently look at pictures, especially the ones I hung between the bed of the two of them together.
Instead of hair-pulling tirades, cries of displeasure and “no-no-no’s,” we were met with hair-raising slides, squeals of delight and “yeah-yeah-yeah’s!”
The fire-breathing Mom was replaced by a fire-breathing dragon slide.
Oh, and just in case you didn’t believe me about the hair-raising slides, here is proof. Andy convinced our little dare-devil, Makenzie, to try it before we left. And as soon as Brayden saw what she was doing he decided to try it too.
I’m not sure exactly how tall the slide was, but I’m thinking it was at least 30 feet. Andy is 6’1” and look how small he is in comparison. 
After the twins climbed up all those stairs all by themselves, they went down the slide on their bellies. Probably less scary that way. 
As soon as Makenzie got to the bottom she exclaimed, “More! More!” and went down it two more times. Brayden had fun, going down but decided once was enough.
Grandma Rhodes even came with us! Everyone had a paws-atively great time!
Camping
Andy with his nephew Dallin and sister, Jill, cooking hot dogs while Jenna watches. 
Of course no camping trip would be complete without S’mores. We use Fudge Striped Cookies and roast coconut covered marshmallows to put in between them. All I can say is D-lish!! 
I’m pretty good about rationing the amount of sweets the twins eat, but not my own. I ended up eating four S’mores, totaling approximately 900 calories. Yikes! Maybe that’s why my doctor told me that although she wasn’t worried (yet) I had gained a little more weight than she would have liked. In other words, lay off the S’mores! And brownies. And ice cream. . . 
Levi and I hung out in the mornings while Sonya took Ember to the hospital. We had fun doing craft projects and stuff. I even played video games with him once. But oddly enough, after he saw my shoddy performance, he never asked me to play again. What can I say? X-box is far too complicated. I prefer the simplicity of Atari.
Andy Stayed in Utah and played Mr. Mom for a few days. Both sets of grandparents also helped out. Thanks everybody for making my trip possible!
Everyone, that is, except the guests of honor. They kept taking them off and throwing them. And they really didn’t want to sit still for this photo, either. Especially Brayden. He was trying to run away. I guess they were hungry and wanted some food. Speaking of which. . .
The food was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Note to self: next year keep it simple!!
Brayden’s were crafted to look like a caterpillar. They both had candles for antennae.
The HaulAndy and I gave the twins their presents as soon as they woke up. They each got their very own car! Note to everyone: this will not happen on their 16th birthday! They were both very excited. So excited that Elmo ended up face first on the floor, which is unheard of!
In fact, Brayden was so happy that he didn’t even care that I took a picture of him sporting some pretty crazy bed head.
After breakfast, we took them outside and let them play with their cars. They had a hard time “driving” them Flintstone style, however. They could go backwards but not really forward. So they ended up getting out and pushing their cars quite a bit. And Mommy pushed them. And Daddy pushed them. They even pushed each other a little bit.
The kids made quite the haul at their birthday party. They are definitely spoiled by everyone. Here are a few pics of them opening presents.
All in all, it was a fun day. I can’t believe my “babies” are now two-year-olds! Thanks to everyone who helped make the twins birthday a very special day! 
