Seeing double: Life as, or with, twins

Being that it’s not an official holiday, few may know that Aug. 3 is National Twins Day. But for a trio of Boulder City residents, they definitely know a thing or two about twins.

It’s been almost five years since Cristin Kennedy was told by her doctor that not only was she pregnant but that she’d soon be seeing double.

“Honestly, I wasn’t that surprised because twins run in my family,” she said, noting that her fraternal grandma is a twin. “So, it was definitely something that could happen but it still took time for the news to settle in. My first thought was, ‘How am I going to carry two babies?’”

Kennedy said she doesn’t have a word to describe what it’s like raising her twin daughters, Laya and Eva, who turn 4 in September.

“Every single stage I say it’s the hardest stage so far,” she said, laughing. “The most difficult part would be pleasing both of them – making them both happy at the same time. That’s challenging. They both want attention at the same time, or are pulling me in both directions.”

While the girls are fraternal twins, meaning that they are not identical, at first glance one would think otherwise. But Kennedy said that’s not an uncommon assumption.

“All the time,” she said if people mistake them for being identical. “Especially people who have never seen them. If we’re out in public, few people can tell the difference. When you look at them for the first time, they have the same facial features. But their personalities are very different. When they were younger, it was even more difficult to tell them apart. But it’s getting easier as they get older, which I think is important as they grow into their own person and establish their own identities.”

As a single mom, Kennedy, a 2001 BCHS grad, relies upon her family and her 12-year-old son, Brenner, for assistance. She said without them, she’s not sure what she’d do.

“It would be impossible without the support of my family,” she said. “It’s very hard with just one let alone two or three kids. Plus, Brenner is the best big brother.”

And while having twins is a handful, both literally and figuratively, at the end of the day, she said it’s all worth it.

“Some of the best things are two smiles, two giggles, two laughs, two hugs, two kisses, two times the love,” she said. “That’s probably the best part, as well as their impact on other people. When we go out, the people we come in contact with, the girls bring smiles to other people’s faces. That’s pretty cool to watch.”

Life as a twin

“Growing up as a twin you always had a buddy and someone to hang out with,” said Angelica (Gomez) Moorhead, who along with her sister, Antonia Carpenter, grew up in Boulder City, and were members of the BCHS class of 1987. Their family has owned the Western & Mexican Center for more than 50 years.

“Antonia and I are pretty close considering we are the only girls in our family with five brothers,” she said. “Our mom dressed us the same until fifth grade, we couldn’t take it anymore. Being fraternal twins, we definitely were/and are our own person but still alike in many ways, if that makes sense. We did a lot of the same things in school, like student government, athletics, cheerleading/dance team (Antonia), and enjoyed every moment. We loved being involved in school and our community. We both went to college to become teachers. Myself a high school teacher/coach and her a kindergarten teacher.”

Moorhead said she never thought about the fact that if someone is a twin, it increases the chances of them having twins when she and her husband, Bill, decided to start a family.

“Neither did Antonia, but she did have twins,” she said. “Great boys. Sam and Diego will now be sophomores in college this upcoming year. I have three amazing kids myself, Ryan, Noah, and Jordan. All single births, no twins. Who knows, maybe I’ll get twin grandkids one day. All I can say is that God blessed me with an amazing twin sister and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

Daddy’s girls

Roger Hall, longtime Boulder City Parks and Recreation director who retired earlier this year after more than four decades with the city, is the proud father of twin girls, Kristin Pallotti and Kim Hall, who graduated from BCHS in 2002. They gained their 15-minutes of fame as soon as they came into the world being they were the first test-tube babies born in Southern Nevada 40 years ago.

“I must say during their birth at the Boulder City Hospital, we were astonished about the media coverage,” Hall said. “The television stations were all reporting on the progress of the births throughout the day and night. The delivery room was filled to capacity with doctors, nurses and support staff to witness this historic occasion. Mayor Joe Hardy was our family doctor and was present for the birth of our twin daughters.”

Hall said raising twins in Boulder City was a blessing because the small-town atmosphere offered a variety of positive benefits when raising a family here.

Like the others who were interviewed, Kristin and Kim are fraternal twins.

Hall said as they grew, the girls played basketball at Garrett Middle School and were varsity letter holders for Boulder City High School in basketball, soccer and softball,earning several awards.

“Growing up we tried to allow them to have their own identity,” he said. “They were very close as children and hung around with a variety of school friends. To this day they continue to associate with many of their school friends attending sports activities for their children in Boulder City.”