The Salyers twins are in what’s known as a ‘quaternary marriage’ — and all live together in Virginia with their sons, whom they are raising together
When identical twins Brittany and Briana Salyers were growing up in Delaware, Easter often meant the entire family trekking to a cousin’s ranch in rural Virginia for a giant family celebration with scores of relatives from their mom’s side.
The last time they attended was in 2016, before they met identical twin brothers, Josh and Jeremy, now 39, at the 2017 Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio, where they returned a year later to marry in a joint ceremony.
And it was also before they welcomed sons Jett (born to Brittany and Josh, who announced the birth in January 2021) and Jax (born to Briana and Jeremy approximately four months later).
Now, Briana and Brittany are making their return, this time with their husbands and kids in tow.
On Sunday morning, the Salyerses, who share the expansive country estate Smith Mountain Manor in central Virginia, are packing up their Volkswagen bus and making the three hour drive to the ranch outside Richmond, to spend time with an expected 60 relatives at the celebration.
“I am so excited to introduce Jeremy and Josh to this side of the family for the holiday,” says Briana, 37, “and to have them be part of the Easter tradition.”
That tradition includes a visit from the Easter bunny and Easter egg hunts. To prepare for the latter, Jett and Jax have been going on practice egg hunts in the manor house’s library.
“The babies are very excited about the trip,” says Briana, who adds that “us parents are excited, but a little apprehensive.” Although there’s worry about how the kids will do in their car seats for such a long trip, she hopes the VW’s mini-TV (and naps) will help.
The boys are cousins but more genetically similar to siblings — and considered quaternary twins — because their parents are identical twins married to identical twins (a rarity called the “quaternary marriage).
Jett and Jax are often dressed alike, like their parents, and on Easter they will be wearing matching outfits of pink khaki shorts as well as blue short-sleeved shirts and vests.
“We do everything as a family, we’re really inseparable,” Briana previously said. “It’s like this magical existence.”
After their Easter holiday, the manor house, which doubles as a wedding venue that Jeremy and Josh run, is expected to become busy with weekly nuptials as the season begins. Brianna and Brittany, both attorneys, now work from home and can spend more time with the boys.
The family eats a primarily plant-based diet, and will soon be dining from a large vegetable garden and varied fruit-tree orchards of apples, peaches, pears, kiwis and blueberries that Josh and Jeremy have been planting.
“We’re hoping to just replace our entire diet really with homegrown foods and fruits,” Jeremy says.
In a nod to Briana and Brittany’s first memory of going to the circus, they recently took the boys to a local circus, which included many non-homegrown goodies of cotton candy and popcorn.
“They talk constantly about it, they say ‘Can we go watch the jug (for jugglers),” says Brittany. The boys, who share a bedroom, also pretend a circus is under their makeshift circus “tent” (a.k.a. their covers).
“Even when life is quiet,” she says, “it’s still pretty chaotic around here.”
