2 More

Here are two more for you, Jarom.

I got to hear the baby's heartbeat at 16.5 weeks along. I wish you could've been there for it. I am now 18 weeks along.


Here is a cute one of the cousins (Jimmy, Glade, Braelyn & Ryker) making noise together. You may want to turn the sound down for this one! :)

2 Videos for Daddy

We miss you and love you. We have more videos coming.

What We Did in May

Here are a bunch of pictures to show you what we've been up to since coming to the US. I'm going to post lots so Jarom has many to look at. Poor guy is home all alone. We miss him. Playing with Renae's water frogs just minutes after arriving from the airport. It was about 4 am Holland time when we finally were done traveling.
Both boys love playing with the kittens. I'm not sure the kittens like it so much!

Jimmy opening the door to see his cousin, Braelyn, for the first time in 9 months.

Hugs for Braelyn.

They kept running up to each other and giving each other hugs throughout the day. It was so sweet. Braelyn kept saying, "Jimmy I missed you so much!"

Cousin Ryker has grown lots in the past few months.

Visiting with Gma Kim, Gma Vickie, Aunt Kali & Cousin Ryker

Mean Mommy gave Glade a lemon to taste at Matt & Nikki's wedding luncheon!

Drinking a Root Beer just for you, Jarom...because I love you so much! (They don't have RB in Holland and it's Jarom's favorite.)

At the temple after Nikki received her endowments.

Late night walks with Renae, Grandma and Lara.

The Newlyweds...Nikki & Matt. I was thrilled to be there for their sealing.

My poor boys both woke up throwing up the morning of the wedding. Horrible timing. So sad.

Amber is glad only one of those boys is hers!

With some of the family after the wedding reception.

More pictures to come from June...

4 Weeks

I can't believe we've been in the US for 4 weeks now! Things have been a little crazy and turned out differently than planned, but we are still having a really good time. I suppose I'll just start from the beginning...our 22 hour journey from Holland to Utah.I was glad Jarom was able to get us from our house to the airport. It would've been so hard getting on and off the train with all that stuff if I was alone.

We walked to the metro station, took a metro to the train station, took the train station to another train station, took the second train station to the airport, flew from Amsterdam to Chicago, flew from Chicago to SLC, and finally drove from the SLC airport to my parent's house. It was quite the day!

I was actually very amazed at how well the boys did. I am absolutely NOT looking forward to the trip back but I hope they do as well on the way back as they did on the way here. We only had a few meltdowns and they didn't last too long. I was incredibly stocked up on all sorts of fun things so I know that helped. I also prayed almost nonstop that we would all make it through alive and as sane as possible.

The last leg of the trip was the hardest. We stopped in the Chicago O'Hare Airport and I hope I never have to fly through there again. The delays were horrible. I swear almost every single flight was either delayed or cancelled. By that time it was already midnight or 1 am Holland time and we were all exhausted. The airport was so crammed because of delays that there wasn't even anywhere to sit. Glade fell asleep in the stroller and Jimmy fell asleep in my arms. I stood in that airport for the 3.5 hours in between our flights.

Thankfully my prayers and pleas were answered when a nice couple came over and asked me if I needed any help boarding the plane. Boy did I! I almost started to cry. The man carried sleeping Glade. The woman carried all my carry-ons and pushed the stroller. I carried sleeping Jimmy. Then while on the plane the woman even came over and held Glade for about an hour so I could have a break and a chance to go to the bathroom.

After getting off the flight they both helped me carry all my stuff, including children, and even walked with me to the baggage area and helped me get my bags. What amazing people! I was so thankful for them.

I wish I would've been able to take more pictures, but come on....I had enough on my hands without pulling out the camera. One annoying thing is that in between flights they made me recheck all my bags. So I had to pick up all our checked bags, carry them from that point through security, and check them again. I sure wish I had a picture of me doing all that...I was pushing the double stroller with Glade and Jimmy in it. I had the two carry-ons on my shoulders. I had one duffle bag balanced on the top of the stroller and I was pulling two suitcases. Talk about a scene, eh?! I felt like supermom!

Oh and to top it all off, I am unexpectedly (but excitedly) pregnant and was still going through the fun morning sickness phase. I know, you're all amazed now, right?!

Jimmy's Countdown Chain

Jimmy was with me when we bought our flight tickets to the US months ago. He has been asking me EVERY day how long until we get to go. We made a countdown chain when there were 21 days left. We're so excited because now there are NO chains left! We leave early tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Please pray for us...seriously...we're going to need it. I am worried about traveling alone with the two little boys for so long. I have many fun things packed to hopefully keep us all entertained. If there are no delays then we will be traveling for 22 hours. That makes for a very long day for all of us. We can't wait to see everyone in just a few hours (I wish I could beam us there...or at least Glade. He is anything but a good traveler!). Okay, off to bed. My goal was to be in bed by 10pm. I have 3 minutes...I may actually make it!

Keukenhof & Efteling

So you probably know that Holland is famous for its tulips. Keukenhof is the world-famous 80-acre park. Each year 7 million flower bulbs are planted! I thought it was amazing how they have the whole garden planned so there is always something blooming. It was gorgeous and my pictures really just don't do it justice.

My favorite part was the smell. Too bad there's no way to capture that and send some to all of you. The whole park smelled so good! The little boys' favorite part was the petting zoo (okay so that area didn't smell so nice).

We also recently went to Efteling with some of our friends here (the Peck family). Their daughter, Abby, is so sweet to Jimmy and he just adores her. I loved watching them run around the amusement park holding hands! They had all these little houses you could walk through...like Snow White's house, Sleeping Beauty, Red's Grandma, etc...they were so cute.

These mirrors that contort your image kept the kids giggling for so long. Jimmy thought they were absolutely hilarious!

Can you find Jimmy in the maze?

This was taken before a really cool 3-D show called PandaDroom (Panda Dream).

Both boys loved this little train ride.

Jimmy's favorite was this train one. You have to pedal to get your train moving. Kristal and Alex Peck are in the train behind Jarom and Jimmy. Alex was so good at pedaling that they kept catching up to Jimmy and running into him. Jimmy thought it was so funny!

I loved Jimmy's expression on this little rollercoaster. Normally he is pretty expressionless on rides but not on this one! After this ride he saw a very big boat ride that he desperately wanted to go on. Jarom and I could tell it was just for older kids (think Tidal Wave at Lagoon...but I swear this one went higher) but Jimmy was determined so I took him on it. The poor kid was so scared. He hid his face and whimpered. After the ride he said, "I not like the big boat. It go too really high and make my sad." Poor thing. We had a great time with the Pecks and were so glad we went together. I hope we all go again next year too. I thought I'd end this long post with the gorgeous picture above. I'm flying to the US with Jimmy and Glade on Friday. I'm sure Utah will look even browner now that I'm used to such a gorgeous green place. It's even green here in the winter.

Gratis Suikerspin!

A few days ago there was free cotton candy at Hesseplaats.

This was Jimmy's first time eating cotton candy...can you tell? He thought the best way to eat it was to lick it!

I'd say not much beats gratis suikerspin op een warme dag!