Part 2

The next part of our trip we spent in Utah with my family. It was also very enjoyable and our kids were able to see more cousins. Here is a picture of me and my sis, Ann. I'm actually 4 months pregnant! See the bump? One of our kids favorite parts of the reunions in both AZ and UT was that they got to dress up like Alvin and the Chipmunks and preform 3 of their songs. They hardly know any of the words to the songs, so they were barely recognizable to others, but they had a blast.

Wonderful Sunday!

Since Derek's schedule has taken an unexpected turn for the worse, we have seen little of him this week. We miss him and we were SO thankful he had Sunday off! This past Monday I was in a fender bender where a young girl turned left into our van AND AMAZINGLY none of us were hurt. The van also had minimal damage. I know Heavenly Father protected us!! So I promised some trip details (a little late? yeah): We had a lot of fun down in Arizona with Derek's family. All together in 2 houses in Peoria. WOW! It was so good for all of us and we know we can't stay away from family for very much longer than we have to. We spent one afternoon in the Children's Museum in Mesa. (It's amazing what you find when you don't live in an area anymore.) The kids are still talking about a kitchen area where they could pretend to make meals--simple things entertain the most!!

More to come!

Okay, we just had an amazing vacation for over 2 weeks. We were able to attend Dallin (Derek's youngest brother)& Julie's wedding, go to a Higgins family reunion in Arizona, and go to a Whitmer family reunion in Utah! We are still recovering a little, but I have so much to write about! Unfortunately I cannot find our card reader to take the pictures off the card in our camera and put them into the computer. Derek just started his 2nd year at this hospital--officially his 1st year of Residency, so he's a little too busy to find it. I will find it soon and post some of the fun pictures we took during our time in AZ & UT. For now, have a GREAT day!

Official Announcement!

Since I haven't really shared this blog with people other than my closest friends and relatives, most of you already know....I'm pregnant for the FIRST time ever! I can't even begin to explain how excited we are. AND it's not just one, but TWO! Despite my certainty that they were fraternal twins (since two of my sisters have fraternal twins), two doctors have now told me that they will be identical twins...another surprise! Derek said he thinks it happened this way so there would be no doubt in our minds that this is definitly a miracle from Heavenly Father! For answers to the common FAQ: No, we weren't taking any fertility meds(which would have made them fraternal twins), Yes, we're a little scared to have 6 kids 6 years and younger, and Yes, we are SO VERY BLESSED!! This is me taking one of my many naps (on the time-out pillow) with all of the kids coming over to join me!! :)

Joseph's Quote

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSEPH!! He's now 6. Big Boy! As some of you know, a big part of the reason we named Joseph his name was after Joseph Smith, the first prophet of our church. Ever since then Joseph has had this GREAT love for anything that has to do with Joseph Smith. On Sundays because we only watch church stuff, his big request is to watch anything about Joseph Smith, documentaries, movies or whatever. So, yesterday I was watching a new DVD by Rob Gardner (excellent) about Joseph Smith. At first the kids thought the person narrating the music was Joseph Smith and I explained to them that Joseph Smith was in heaven with Grandpa and Jesus. So as we were watching Joseph turned to me and said, "I can't wait to see Joseph Smith and tell him that we have the same name!" :)

Charlie's Quote

Derek took the kids to the High School to run around on the field a little. When I picked them up they were talking about the two dogs they met while they were there. All of them are a little scared of dogs, except for Josh. Charlie was quiet for a long time and then said, "I want to get a baby dog so he won't have teeth." :)

Emma's Quote

The other day we were dropping off kids for school and it was quite a windy day. Well, since Emma is the only one not going to school right now, she gets frustrated sometimes with the quick "pick ups" and "drop offs" without actually going somewhere. So despite gas prices, many times when she asks we will go for a longer drive which is something she thoroughly enjoys. We had the radio playing and Emma announced, "Look Mama! The trees are dancing!!" (to the wind) :) She cracks me up! Along with her love for going for drives, she's extatic whenever we go on the freeway. Can you imagine me in the doctor's office trying to bribe my children to be good and saying, "Emma, if you can be calm, we can go on the freeway today." My friend Cortney thinks she will be a good skydiver in the future. One more thing along those lines, when we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for Joseph's birthday, Derek had Emma on his lap playing a car game. Emma insisted she drive the entire time, and instead of trying to avoid the other cars, her goal was to knock all of them OFF the road! I can't wait for her to start practicing for her driver's license!