Easter

Some of the Higley cousins were down from Idaho so Grandma did an Easter egg hunt for them. It was cute to see them all running around together.


Glade was at the back end of the group. He found all the eggs everyone else didn't see.


Pictures of big groups of kids always make me laugh. There's usually at least one person crying!


The Saturday before Easter we went to the city egg hunt. It's pretty much mass chaos! Really fun mass chaos that is.


The bunny picture


Dumping out their goodies once we got home


I always enjoy dying eggs. Thankfully my kids do too. Too bad I'm the only one who will eat them.

Easter Sunday...Glade is so excited! :)

Ready for the egg hunt.

Jimmy snapped this one. I think Myra looks pretty sweet. I look pretty tired but that's just the reality. Counting down those days until Jarom gets back!

These 3 kiddos sure made Easter enjoyable for me!

Hanging out with the Lovelace's

Soon after Jarom left, the kids and I headed to Springville to hang out with my family for a while. Myra really loves grandpa. She actually lets him hold her....which is saying a lot for Myra! She is a momma's girl BIG time.


I have really missed the big family Sunday gatherings with everyone around the table eating, laughing, and playing games.


The boys had a blast playing with cousin Tyce and his baby brother, Kru. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to spend some time outside.


Tyce brought a few of his bikes over to share. The boys took turns pushing Myra around for a good hour.


My baby girl


All of my kids have become obsessed with drinking fountains. You hardly ever see a drinking fountain in Europe. Every time we find one they all have to stop and have several drinks. Myra thinks they are the coolest things ever!


My mom and I took the kids to the Bean Museum at BYU.


Jimmy the rhino


Then we stopped at McD's to let the kids run around.


Another day the boys went to Trafalga with Glenn, Amber, and their kids. They had a blast!


We also went to the Dinosaur Museum at BYU.


Of course the boys thought it was really cool!

Finally we said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a good time (and went back a few weeks later). :)

Saying Goodbye *Again*

Shortly after getting to the US, Jarom had to leave to go back to Holland to train his replacement. It was a very sad goodbye. He has been gone for 8.5 weeks and has 2 more weeks left. We can't wait to see him again!


The kids miss him so much and ask about him all the time. We've only been able to video chat twice since my internet is so unreliable. Other than that we've just emailed back and forth. It will be nice to have a husband once again!


Pretty much all Glade talks about in his prayers is his daddy. "Help daddy home from airport" repeated over and over.

June 1st can't come soon enough!

Settling In

Braelyn and Jimmy were so funny when they first saw each other. There was this awkwardness where they both just sat on the couch next to each other smiling, but not looking at each other or talking. It was like they were in junior high! They quickly got to playing and laughing and are best buds again. Not a day goes by where my kids don't ask to play with Braelyn and Ryker!


Myra and Tigger became instant friends. She loves to feed him all the food she doesn't want.


Ryker started calling Jarom "dad" while his dad was on a little trip. It was pretty cute.


The boys got new bikes since we sold theirs in Holland. Jimmy already has a flat in his!

And we tried so hard to catch up on sleep and get used to the time change. It took Myra a month or two to get all adjusted. I hate jet lag! It feels good, yet strange to be back again.

Moving Day!

We had SO much stuff to lug through the airports: 14 bags of luggage, 2 diaper bags, 1 backpack, 2 strollers, oh and 3 kids! Jarom somehow manned all the luggage and I took the kids, one of the strollers, and the diaper bags. It's exhausting just thinking about it all!

Our good bishop gave us a ride to the airport.

Last picture of our kiddos in Rotterdam. After being in the car for about 45 minutes Jimmy exclaimed, "Are we almost there?" We all just laughed!

I know this isn't the best picture, but it brings back memories of saying goodbye and our last few minutes in Rotterdam.

The last windmill I saw. :(

And then the bishop left us alone with all our stuff. I kept thinking, "I have no idea how we are going to do this!"

Jimmy was a good helper, of course. Keep in mind that even that little bag he's pulling weighed 50 pounds! We stuffed each one to their limit.

I don't have any pictures of us traveling because honestly, we were just lucky to survive. I didn't have an extra hand for picture taking. It was the most stressful day ever! The climax was when our connecting flight messed up our tickets and didn't have seats for 2 of us. They said we'd have to hold 2 kids on our lap. After personally delaying the flight an hour they finally got it figured out and found us seats. Our kids were screaming by the time we sat down because it was 3 am Holland time and the flight attendants expected the kids to stand in the plane aisle for 15 minutes while they figured out where to seat us. It was beyond stressful!

These last few pictures I snagged from my sister, Shelley. These were taken from their perspective as they waited for us to arrive in SLC.

I love this one...the anticipation!

FINALLY! We made it!

Lara and Glade. Glade was shy at first but warmed up quickly.

Myra was exhausted and didn't want anyone (except me) to touch her. Can you blame her?

Grandma Higley!

Grandpa Higley!

Grandpa Don!


...and now to get all of that luggage home! It doesn't seem like nearly so much stuff when you spread it out in our home though. It's a relief to have this move behind us.