Our outing to the palace

After New Years, we ventured out to the palace to see the Emperor and Empress and listen to their New Years message. 

The grounds were very pretty, and the event was very well organized. 

The boys enjoyed waving their Japanese flags (with Tommy reminding them every 5 minutes that we are Americans and love America:). 

I'm glad we did this and that the boys are enjoying different cultural experiences.  

11 months old

11 months old already! This last year has flown by:)

Never in our wildest dreams did Tommy and I ever think that we would have twins. But now that they have been with us for almost one whole year, I can't imagine it any other way.

I always thought that having twins would be fun. They would always have a playmate, you get 2 babies from one pregnancy and dressing and buying clothes for them would be exciting:) 

All of those things are true. These little guys love each other. 

And we love them!

This video is after bath time. I let all of the water drain out of the tub and the twins were happily playing. The next thing I knew, Cooper was cracking up at Nixon. Nixon in turn was thinking it was pretty darn funny too!

Update...

Sorry, I guess the music video isn't viewable in the states right now:/ I will try and figure something out! I have gotten a lot of questions about if this was for the DVD cover that he was on. The DVD cover was for the famous Japanese rock band Larc-en-ciel. The music video was for The J-pop artist Fumika. So these were 2 different jobs. Both very fun though! 

LARC-EN-CIEL COVER JOB

(IN THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN)

SHOTS FROM FUMIKA MUSIC VIDEO JOB

It's finally out!

Ashton was chosen to be in a music video in early December. Ashton, Nixon and I woke up early and were driven to the shooting location near Mt. Fuji. He and another girl spent the morning shooting the different scenes for the video. The little girl is portraying Fumika as a little girl, and Ashton is her best friend/first true love. They had fun doing this job together and did a great job. The song is very beautiful too! It was funny because after we watched the video together as a family, Weston started teasing Ashton saying that "he liked girls!"

Enjoy!

Just for fun

My little Weston started back at school today. I will miss him and his funny personality.

Yesterday while Ashton was at a friends house, we were in the playroom eating a snack. Weston was eating cheese pringles and I was eating Craisins. On an attempt to get him to eat some Craisins, I told him that pirates used to eat them. To that he replied "Well I'm a pirate!"

So I said that he would like them because they are pirate candy.

He took a bite and reluctantly chewed them trying to keep a happy face as if to not disappoint the so called pirates. I asked him if he liked them and he happily grabbed another chip and said

"Yes, but pirates eat these chips after they eat those red things to get the taste out of their mouth!"

 I was rolling on the floor :)

Ashton is quietly playing with his legos in the office and he will start school next week (his school is doing kindergarten admission interviews for next year this week). I will miss him and his smart, bright personality. He is my big boy and sometimes I wonder if he is 25, instead of 5. The other morning before church I was getting the twins in the bath. I asked Ashton if he could go get me a water from the kitchen and when he came upstairs, he had a chocolate treat for me too. He said "I knew you would like this, and you didn't get breakfast." 

What a sweet boy. It really made my day.

I am looking forward to summer vacation already. It will be here before we know it! And even though we have decided to probably not go back to the states over the summer, I am looking forward to a lot of time with the boys. We have lot's to explore here in Japan :)

Our Christmas 2012

Christmas eve presents

New Pj's!!

The twins opening their pajamas

Christmas morning wresting with all 4 rugrats

Santa was very giving

Christmas morning breakfast

Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. The twins devoured the cinnamon rolls!

Gifts from my family

BYU shirts from tommys parents

Skyping with my family. They got to watch us open our gifts that they sent, and then on their Christmas morning, they videoed with us again and let us watch my siblings open their gifts from us! I am so thankful for modern technology:)

Opening gifts from Tommys parents and skyping with them.

Daddys new watch

 Opening presents really tired the twins out!

The twins helping me make apple pie

 Yummy pie!

Tommy enjoying his new gaming chair and headphones

Happy boys with their walkers

Checking out the tent from Santa

Weston and his transformer 

More opening 

New tent from Aunt Shantel and Uncle Dallin!

Our Christmas break was perfect for us. Tommy took 2 weeks off of work and we enjoyed every minute he was home. I think we watched every super hero movie imaginable-it was really fun. Every night we looked forward to a new family movie! We tried to do a new activity every other day. And on the off days, we happily stayed in our pj's  and played the x-box and the Kinect that my family sent us for Christmas. 

Some highlights...

Round one (arcade and play gym)

Krispy Kreme doughnuts 

Finding and eating at new Japanese restaurants

aquarium 

Ferris wheel that was 384 ft. tall

shopping

Talking to family on FaceTime 

I'm sure I am forgetting some activities but all in all it was a great 2 weeks. I am already looking forward to our next Christmas break!