Abby and Bekah's Family 5th Birthday Dinner...

After the day of the birthday party, we had a family birthday dinner at Grandpatty and Grandpappy's house.

Grandpatty knows that fun candles and pretty frosting are important to girls...

Bekah...


Abby...



I love having family members love my kiddos. So fulfilling...

Paul taught them about making a wish and never telling it to anyone. Man, what excitement came when they got to make their wish! Abby still hasn't told me hers, but every now and then she'll say something like... "Mom! We got to have our favorite treat tonight! (with a sly grin...) But that wasn't my birthday wish... !!"

Blowing out candles...



And they know our family and share our obsessions...


Also from family members: cool crayons, markers, and paper! Tiny princess jewlry! Books! FUN!

This is the day they got to open their presents from us. Clothes, art supplies... and the thing that I talked Paul into... PAINT!! for their rooms. They got to pick the color, I got to pick the shade. And they were so, so, so excited to paint with mommy. (more to come on that...)

Orange for Bekah... (geesh!)

and purple for Abby...

During all the excitement, Ella decided to busy herself with her own project of changing the toy giraffe's diaper...


She was very serious and deliberate about the whole thing with the wet wipes and all.


What a sweet, funny girl she is.

Man, these girls are fun.

5th Birthday party!!!!!

Oh, Abby and Bekah... when did you get so old?? Certainly some days it seemed like this time would never come. That I would always be changing your diapers, nursing you, feeding you squishy food, or pushing that clunky double stroller everywhere. Now I am reminding you to flush the toilet, helping you clean the food you spill at each meal, perpetually restocking the markers and paper supply, reminding you to keep your seat belts on, and filling out your kindergarten registration forms. When did it all happen?? 5 just seems too old.


But you don't think so... 5 is just right!! You'd been anticipating birthday number five for months and months. In the fall, I would name all the holidays from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day, telling you that after the New Year and just before Valentine's Day we would get to celebrate. The cake choices ranged from Sleeping Beauty, Kitties, 5-tiered tall cakes with lots of candles, butterflies, flowers... then finally a few days before the big day... a decision was made: Rainbows. A big rainbow cake for Abby, and lots of rainbow cupcakes for Bekah. Thanks for giving me a couple of days to pull together a rainbow themed day.

But be forewarned that I will try to talk you out of any cake that requires me to mix and make 8 colors of frosting. It just takes too long...

But I didn't mind the extra late night too much. You loved seeing the finished products. And that is always worth it.

(with a "cloud" missing due to Ella's careful fingers...)

You invited some of your funnest friends to celebrate with you. They were a lot of fun.

We played the game you requested to play: Duck, duck goose... but we changed it to orange, orange, purple... your favorite colors.

Grandpatty made delicious flower sugar cookies to decorate in rainbow colors.


Aunt Hannah bought a rainbow of nail polish choices to decorate your fingers and toes.


You requested a dance party and chose your favorite songs. "Halo", "You are my only" (Down), "Single Ladies", and "Broken Heart."

We sang Happy Birthday to you, and your candle blowing was a success!





We enjoyed a rainbow of snacks and opened fun presents.


Then we ended with your most anticipated and favorite activity... a Pinata!!! I hope it all went the way you daydreamed. The rainbow unicorn delighted you both when we found it, and Bekah declared "this is the best ever!" as we filled it with the treats and toys we picked out. You planned for it to be the crowning event at your party... and I think it was!

And if you don't want to watch a bunch of kids whacking away at a pinata, you simply must see what a fun daddy these girls have. After resisting and resenting, Paul finally resigned and in the end REJOICED and fully embraced the joys of the pinata.


Here is a video of pinata time. I'm so glad no one got hurt! Phew! If you don't want to wade through all the kids and their hits, you smiply must go to minute 2:40 to see how Paul finally embraced the spirit of the pinata. :)



No wonder you girls love your Daddy.

I loved seeing you both delight together as you shared your special day. You have become such good friends and special sisters. And while you know which buttons to push to send each other into a whirlwind of fury and emotional madness... you also know each other's favorites, save seats for each other, congratulate each other on the good things you do, and take turns being the princess or the mommy or the baby or the kitty.

As I watch the novelty of a twin sister relationship, I feel a little envious. Being raised as the oldest with 5 younger brothers, I always wanted a sister to pal around with and be friends with. You each declare the other as your best friend, and I always hope it stays this way. You deserve each other, and I hope you always look after each other and remain a blessing to each other.

You are definitely a blessing to me. You've taught me so much about myself. You've blessed me by showing me my weaknesses and giving me chances to make them stronger. You delight in girly things, and have opened up a world that was not fully discovered in a house full of boys... a world of embraced frills and fanciness and fun. We help each other to be emotionally honest, and deal with it all in a hopefully healthy way. I hope we always express and share in ways that help us become better.


Certainly the craziness of twin girls is still rampant in our home. I think I've become resigned to know that it always will be. But with the changing years, there is a change in which joys and challenges you bring. The last 5 years have been quite a ride... I can't wait to see where we're going next!

happy mexican anniversary...

after 10 years, a blown engine room, discounts and a postponement we finally did it. we celebrated our 10th anniversary in our 11th year of marriage. after the first cancellation it felt like it might never happen. and now that we're home and back in the routine of daily life i doesn't feel like it actually happened (aside from the occasional tricks my balance center plays on me as it tries to pitch my center of gravity forward to counter the coming wave...)

it was a beautiful time. great food. great company. great activities. one of a kind.

thank you amy for a beautiful trip and for 10 beautiful years.

beware of the video...it is longer than 10 beautiful minutes.

ironman bells...

two of the neighborhood boys came over to play with ells bells the other day and she took matters into her own hands. i am generally supportive of a healthy sense of self esteem and self defense in my girls and this was great.

she is so cute right now. her favorite part of bowling was the shoes. she's asked about bowling shoes several times since our bowling trip.



today at the grocery store she kneeled in the grocery cart on all fours and said she was a dog. she asked to be driven by different items so she could sniff them and bark at them. for her nap she has a set 'playlist' that i am to sing to her, 'rudolph', 'temple', 'church', and 'child of God'. i love it (and her.)

and the oscar goes to...

we were graced with the presence of a production/direction duo of nyc hipsters (stephen and hadleigh) on sunday night when amy and i held our first ever oscars party...it just randomly happened that they were out filming a documentary on the weekend of the oscars and we were lucky to find them at our house during the oscar night magic.

as the kids slowly went to bed one by one upstairs, i printed out the ballots and we fast-forwarded through much of the red-carpet hoopla to more award show hoopla.

our ballots can be seen below. a circle indicates one's preferred winner and a check indicates a prediction of whom the academy will choose. we will compare our award show to that of the academy...


the tick marks at the top of the page indicate the number guessed correctly. the night was tense as we vied for the top predictive position, but it soon became apparent that stephen was pulling away on the strength of his guesses in the shorts and documentarys. i barely pulled from last place to a tie for last with my wife amy (who had only seen 4 of the 9 best picture nominees.)



one caveat before we unveil the winners from our own prestigious academy, 3 of us had seen eight of the nine best picture nominees. amy had seen four. stephen is vowing not to see king's speech on some undefined, undecipherable moral stance. and the winners are...

on the strength of hipster voting, major discrepancies were found. winner of best picture to social network and best director david fincher (also social network.)

i voted for king's speech as best picture and amy voted for toy story (although she cynically predicted that black swan would win the academy's hearts.)


for best actress natalie portman was the unanimous winner in our balloting (although amy abstained not having seen any of the actresses ply their wares.)

and lastly, on the strength of resident highland voters colin firth took home the top male acting prize while the hipsters split for jesse eisenberg and jeff bridges (with a nod to 'the dude'.)

and there you have it. the moment you've been waiting for. do you agree? did the academy get it right. one of the best moments of the night came when trent reznor won an oscar for his score in the social network. it was sad to see the social network flounder so thoroughly. it was a unique and fascinating look at the rise of facebook and its founder that was probably deserving of a few more accolades...

that being said, the king's speech was the best movie i saw all year (followed closely by 'how to train a dragon')

Abby and Bekah: Violin Recital Debut...

At the beginning of the month, Abby and Bekah premiered at their first violin recital. The past 5 months have been spent learning about posture, bow hold, and fingering. It is a detailed process just to hold everything correctly. Their teacher is Ramona Stirling... and she is wonderful with them. In her 30+ years of teaching, she has never had a set of twins, and we are always experimenting with how to structure lessons and practicing to see what works best.





We are learning the twinkles right now (variations of twinkle twinkle little star), and for the recital they had "polished" some pre-twinkle songs: The E String and A String Concerto, and "I'm A Little Monkey." What fun!

They loved practicing for the recital. They would walk in from the other room... with a very serious face, announce the piece, and play it with various degrees of refinement, and take a deep bow to my applause. It was fun to see the fruits of practice and anticipation displayed on the stage of this little recital hall.

They are lucky enough to have a daddy who can accompany them. They love playing with their daddy.

I was sitting to the side, and should have moved to get better video. You can barely hear a little voice announcing the songs, then Mrs. Stirling (who is sitting right in front) gives them reminders about their posture, etc.

Here is Bekah playing E String and A String Concerto.



Bekah playing I'm a Little Monkey



Abby playing E String and A String Concerto and I'm a Little Monkey



Grandpatty came, and so did Aunt Melinda and cousins Aaron and Baby J. It is always fun to have a cheering section.

As practicing with the kids takes up more and more of my time, I am realizing the value of having this one-on-one time with them. Time working toward goals. Time being productive. Time doing hard things. Time to motivate and inspire, and exercise patience and long-suffering. It is bonding and it is meaningful.

It varies in success. Sometimes there are tears and grumpy faces, but often there is willingness and excitement. It is always work for me. It is usually emotionally draining. It is always hard to fit it into the schedule... between Michael's cello and piano, and Abby and Bekah (who need separate practices now) it should all take around 3 hours out of my day--and some days it just doesn't happen. Because sometimes we skimp... and sometimes we just skip. But I am always remembering the scripture that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass (Alma 37:6).

I love seeing their confidence bloom. I love cheering for them. I love sharing hard work and success. I love that they love music. And I love that they can make music.

michael's final b-ball game...

michael's final basketball game is tonight! i will try to get a great shot of him in his junior jazz outfit to add the this video-post. it has been a joy to watch michael play this year. he is a kinder player than i was at his age. he still has a competitive streak in him, but it's kinder and gentler. he passes more, cheers his teammates on, cheers when they score etc. i have lots of b-ball footage, but i focused on a single game for the video below. this is the game after the SDSU game where we saw jimmer drop 43 on the 7th ranked team in the country. we hadn't discussed before the game, but michael decided he should take long jimmer-length shots early in the game.

we talked at half-time about how he is more of a brandon davies type because of his height compared to teammates. we discussed the meaning of 'high-percentage' shots and that until he's made over 1,000 three-pointers in the gym he should work for the higher percentage shot. he took it to heart and the video shows his progression during the game as he moved closer to the hoop.

he's a sweet kid and loves this game...

New Year's with the Frandsens...

The day my family left we started a packed few days with Paul's family.

Our time together began solemnly and sweetly. Just after Christmas Paul's Uncle Ron passed away. It was expected, but sudden. He had ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and had been slowly declining, but we all simply thought he had more time than he did. As his son said, he left on his own terms... without the need of a ventilator, feeding tube, or hospitalizations. He passed away just after a Christmas holiday when he was surrounded by those he loved the most. He had spent time with each side of extended family, and had all of his children and grandchildren in his home Christmas Eve and Day. The tender mercies that surrounded the circumstances were faith promoting, as were the words and attitudes of his family.


I have experienced loss with my grandfathers, and I simply cannot imagine reasoning death without the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Knowing that there is Life after death, and that there is a way to have eternal happiness with our family members, our Savior, and our Father in Heaven helps takes the sting out of death. For those left behind, it will always be hard, but at least there is true hope with this faith. Paul and I love Ron's family so much. They are good friends and we look up to all of them in so many ways.

Paul's dad and Aunt Shauna

I will never forget the sweet spirit in the funeral service as Shauna and her three children Jill, Nick, and Peter all shared their love and fond memories of their husband and father, and the journey they traveled together through this experience. From sorrow came inspiration and powerful testimony. I am so grateful for the gospel and a Savior.


It was truly bonding talking through it all and feeling the emotions and spirituality with Paul's family. That is the wonderful thing about funerals and coming together to grieve and hope. I think it makes those left behind closer and gives clarity to the purpose of life. And there is much to be learned from a life like Ron's.

The funeral was on the day of New Year's Eve, and there was definite soberness as we gathered at Paul's parent's house. We didn't throw the New Year's bash we had previously planned with balloons, noisemakers and firecrackers... but sat down to a thoughtful dinner.


We went around the table and shared our favorite parts of the year, and had the "unveiling" of a new family theme: "We Are All Enlisted" in God's army... complete with t-shirts and dog tags. We quickly put the kids to bed, and stayed up and talked about parenting, family, and plans. Paul's cousin Gabrielle was there to add to the dimension of the conversation. Luckily Stephen gathered noise making apparatus so that we could properly bring in the New Year.



I definitely have more pictures of this gathering. It does help to have a professional photographer for a sister-in-law who kindly sends a cd of all the pictures to us. (THANK YOU Libby... every picture in this post is from you!)

The next morning, Paul's mom designed to have a New Year's morning of opening family presents together. But make no mistake... With a big yummy breakfast and all the feelings and joy of giving and receiving, it was just about as exciting and special as Christmas morning itself. Minus the Santa stuff. :) I love the thoughtfulness of Paul's parents and siblings to each other. So much love is poured into each gift. It was a fun morning.

We enjoyed watching our nephews, and the kids basked in all the attention of beloved aunts and uncles, Grandpatty and Grandpappy.

Cute Aaron and baby J... I love that you can still see the hospital band on Jonny's wrist, even though baby J is over a month old. :)

The girls loved these headbands that were part of a new outfit...

I wonder how long we were there all together just opening presents and enjoying them together??

And the girls all got new boots from Hannah and Lafe. Oh, the excitement. They also got Michael a byu ball set and a Jazz wristband that he wears every day. So thoughtful.

Later that day, a birthday celebration for Libby Lou.

Sunday we celebrated the newest addition to the family. Sweet baby Jared. Can you believe these precious cheeks?? He is a sweet little man, and Jonny and Melinda are genuine, purposeful parents.


What a sweet experience to gather with the same extended family that just grieved the loss of one member, to now welcome the newness of another. It was a poignant way to bring in a New Year.

Four Generations of Frandsen Men. A Force to be reckoned with... :) DJ fits right in, of course.

And Four Generations of the women who love them. Guest appearance by Hillary, whom Ella absolutely loves.

(Yes, I feel sheepish that my girls are without tights and shoes in this important family picture. But all I can say is that they had switched to dress up mode (dance costumes and animals...) so we are lucky we got their dresses back on... )

And I love this picture of my girls getting loves from Great-Grandma Frandsen and Grandpatty...


What a wonderful holiday season we had this year. Filled to the brim with family and experiences together. Between Christmas and the New Year, we felt a whole lot of love.

Does it get any better than this?? I always want to be surrounded by family during the holidays.