We're having a.....

...very active baby! We went and had our ultrasound this morning and we definitely have an active child on our hands. It was so fun to see it move around all over. Much to everyone's disappointment I'm sure, we did not find out the gender. The ultrasound tech couldn't have even found out if she'd wanted to. She said the baby was keeping it's legs crossed very close to it's bum and so it was hard to see much anyway. We hope you enjoy the picture. The baby was definitely giving us plenty of profile shots and not too many of anything else. I've also included a picture of the pregnant Wilkins' clan (4 out of 5 of us are expecting right now). I've also included a very sleepy picture of Sophia. She has lately been a very defiant girl when it comes to sleep and is greatly refusing naps until she finally passes out on one of us or on the couch. Hope you're all well!

We're home!

We finally made it back! We had a great drive today and got to Utah around noon. It's great to be back! We unloaded, did laundry, went grocery shopping, and spent time with Jeffy and Grandma and Grandpa. We also went and looked at the house we're looking into buying. We're now a little skeptical about it. It really is a great house but there is a lot more to "fix up" than we'd originally thought. We're having it inspected tomorrow and we'll see how that goes. We're supposed to close Monday so we'll see. We'll keep you posted! I've included a picture of the house as well as one of a quilt mom made for Sophia about our trip. It's so cute! She mapped out our whole route and everything. It's the perfect keepsake for this trip! Now that we're home I can't guarantee that I'll be updating the blog as often so you can all go back to your normal lives. Have a good day!

Total mileage for today: About 450 (It was about 670 yesterday)
Highest gas price for today: $3.49! I think that was the highest for the whole trip

P.S. Do you think it's time that we start getting serious about getting rid of Sophia's binkies?

We're coming home!

We made it to Denver today and are looking forward to heading home tomorrow. We were so sad to leave OK. It was especially hard to leave that sweet Jacob! We had a pretty good day and are excited that tomorrow is our last day of driving! We had a fun night tonight. We were able to meet up with some old ward friends the Setelins who are currently living outside of Denver. It was so fun to see them again. We went to Texas Roadhouse and then played Settlers with them. It was just like old times. It was great! I've included a picture of them. I also included a picture of Lissa and her family as well as some of Sophia and Josh swimming yesterday. Hope you're all well and we'll see all you Utah folks tomorrow!

OK City, OK

We went into town (I mean the city) today and saw a little bit of Oklahoma City. It was pretty cool! We went to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial It was really cool. They had this gorgeous reflection pool between the survivor tree and rows of chairs representing each person that was killed. There were two big gates on the side with 9:01 and 9:03 on them representing the time before and after the bombing. It really was cool. Then we went down to Bricktown and walked on the riverwalk for a little while. It was pretty cool. Then we went to a really yummy BBQ place for lunch called Steve's BBQ. It was great! We also drove through Edmond a little bit and saw Shannon Miller's house. It was pretty cool. Then Brandon drove us a little around Stillwater and the OSU campus. We got to see the 1st Sonic ever. That was cool too. I had no idea Oklahoma was home to so many things! Garth Brooks. Shannon Miller, Sonic, Reba.... It's a pretty cool state. We're off to Denver tomorrow and then heading for home! Enjoy the pics! I've included one of what Doug looks like without shaving for 3 weeks!

ABC's and 123's

Here's the videos I said I'd try and get of Sophia singing and counting. I think it's cute but then again, I'm her mom. I've also added a new element to the bottom of our page. Most of you know this already but in case you don't, surprise!



Sophia ABC's from jmwilkins10 and Vimeo.



123's from jmwilkins10 and Vimeo.

Memphis, TN and Stillwater, OK

We had such a fabulous time in Memphis! It was so great to see Arianne again! We went to a really yummy authentic Memphis BBQ place and had yummy BBQ nachos and pulled pork sandwiches. It was fabulous! We then went out and got a concrete. It was great!

We left early this morning for Stillwater and have had a great time here so far. We went to Eskimo Joe's tonight for dinner. It was great too! Sophia has had such a great time playing with cousin Josh thus far and I have had a great time holding Jacob. We're looking forward to the rest of our stay here.

Overall we have loved are trip and our so glad we did it! We've definetely had our moments (getting lost in Illinois and driving through Canada) but other than that things have been great. Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Sophia have been good travelers too. We've really seen both sides of our girl on this trip. At times she'll be totally calm and mellow and even break out into song. She recently has started singing her ABC's (or maybe it's Twinkle, Twinkle, we really can't tell). She's definetely got the tune down though! She'll start singing "A b c d a b c" and then we can't tell what she sings after that. It's pretty cute. She's also been really into counting. She counts like this, "one, two, three, sick, seven!". If you prompt her she'll also say eight, nine, and ten but for some reason four and five are never included. It's pretty cute! We'll try to get it on video and get it posted on here. When she's not calm and mellow she's usually screaming at the top of her lungs. She's developed this really annoying sound that she likes to make. It's kind of like a low, hard growl. It's pretty bad. The other day we were singing Old McDonald in the car and it was the sound the horsey made. We're pretty sure it was a possessed horse. We're trying to encourage her to use her nice words to communicate instead of that weird devil sound. We'll try and get it on video too so that you can see what we're talking about. Apparently the trip is really getting to her. Luckily we only have two more days of driving left on this trip!

Total mileage for today: About 400
Lowest gas price for today: $2.89 (we're definetely not in the Carolina's anymore!)
Biggest surprise of the day: We're on the last stop of our trip! It's gone so fast!

St. Augustine and Atlanta

We had a great last couple of days and have made it safely to Memphis, TN. Our last day in Jacksonville was great! We went to St. Augustine (the oldest city in the U.S.) and had a yummy lunch at Tijuana Flats. St. Augustine was cool but very hot! We went to this huge fort that used to protect the city and heard about the whole history behind the thing. It was cool. We then mainly walked around the rest of the city. It was really cool with a bunch of fun shops and old buildings. We saw the oldest school house in the U.S. that was pretty cool. We stopped at Tijuana Flats on the way home for lunch. It was pretty good. They have this hot sauce bar with about 20 different kind of sauces. The owner has invented the hottest sauce in the world. Doug and I tried it thinking that it wouldn't be much and we ended up paying for it the rest of the day. It was soooooo spicy! It was like nothing I've ever tasted before. The food was great and so were the rest of the sauces.

We then had a great time relaxing with Stu and Hiromi (the boys actually went to go see Transformers while us ladies relaxed) and we enjoyed a great homemade Japanese dinner of cabbage pancakes and gyoza. It was great! We went swimming one last time and then went to Atlanta the next day.

When we got to Atlanta we went to check into our hotel. We had booked a Super 8 online (we stayed at a really nice one in Aurora, IL so we thought it'd be great) but it was the spookiest hotel ever! It was surrounded by a bunch of strip clubs and the place smelled like cheap cologne. We decided that it wasn't worth it to risk our lives (or to have our car broken into) and so we quickly booked another room in a better part of town. The other hotel we booked was just as run down but it was in a much safer part of town. After checking in, we went to dinner with Doug's friend Taylor and his wife Jessica. We went to Ted's Montana Grill (it's one of Ted Turner's restaurants). They specialize in Bison and everything we had was fabulous. We then hung out with Taylor and Jessica for awhile and watched "The Messengers" (it had moments of scary thrills but overall was pretty lame). We then headed back to our crap hotel for the night and left bright and early this morning. We made it to Memphis this afternoon with a quick stop at Graceland (only to find that our camera was out of batteries so sorry no pictures!). We are now at our hotel and we're going to go to dinner with one of my old high school friend/college roommate Arianne who is here working in Memphis. I'm excited to see her again. I'm also excited to be in a nice, clean, and safe hotel! We're heading off early tomorrow to Stillwater, OK and I'll post more then!

Total mileage for today: about 400
Lowest gas price for today: $2.74 (but don't worry, we got it for $2.88)
Biggest surprise for today: I didn't know that the Talladega Motor Speedway was in Alabama (or "Bama" as all the signs indicated). Apparently I haven't seen the movie!

Jacksonville, FL

Well we made it safely to hot and humid Jacksonville. I never thought I'd admit that I actually miss the Utah heat. At least it's dry heat! I don't think I've ever experienced weather like this before. You literally start sweating the minute you step outside. It's great. We haven't let it stop us from having a good time though! We got here yesterday and hung out with Hiromi for a little while and then went to the Mall to wait for Stu to get off work. We let Sophia play for a little while until she got leveled by some kid in the play area. Then we went and took her to a puppy shop in the mall. She loved it and it was so cute to see all the little puppies! Then we met Stu and went to Clark's Fish Camp for dinner. It was quite the authentic Florida dining experience! It was great! It was right on a big pond where we saw a few sea turtles and tried to spot a gator. Apparently the owner has the largest taxidermy collection in the country or something like that and the animals we scattered throughout the restaurant. It was pretty incredible! We had a fabulous meal complete with fried pickles and gator tail.

Today Doug and I took Sophia to the Jacksonville zoo. I think it's the best zoo we've ever been to. It was awesome! Sophia loved it! I've included pictures of her playing in the "Splash Zone" (such a good idea for a zoo!) as well as one of the gators we saw in the "Wild Florida" part of the zoo. It's a little hard to spot but you should be able to pick it out.

On the way home from the zoo we stopped at Atlantic Beach. It was so beautiful and so fun to be right next to the ocean! It felt so cool and it felt good to put our fee in the water! We swam in the pool in Stu's complex last night and that felt great too. I'm pretty sure if I lived here I'd swim every day! Doug and I also decided we'd probably visit the beach every day too because it was so beautiful! We had already changed Sophia out of her swimsuit by that point because we didn't think she'd get in the water but unfortunately the waves kept taking her off her feet so eventually we stripped her down to her diaper. It was great! Enjoy the pics! We're headed to St. Augustine tomorrow and I'll be sure to post more then!

Tega Cay, SC!

We have had a great past couple of days in Tega Cay. Last night we enjoyed a wonderful southern BBQ dinner from Sonny's. It was fabulous! We also had a great time watching the Live Earth concerts. We had a great time at church today and overall have had a wonderful time relaxing here. Bud cooked us a fabulous steak dinner tonight and Kim made tremendous home-made ice cream! It's been so nice. Sophia has definitely enjoyed playing with cousins! Unfortunately she likes to "play" with Elizabeth a little too much but has only managed to knock her over a couple of times. Elyse can't seem to get enough of Sophia and that has been fun for her too. We have loved being here and are so grateful for Bud and Kim's hospitality! We're looking forward to heading to Jacksonville tomorrow! Enjoy the pics! The first one is of what it looked like to drive through Virginia. It was beautiful! We also had to get a pic of the bathing beauties in their fun animal bath towels! I also had to include one of "Bubs" and the wonderful family we've been fortunate enough to spend the past few days with.

Total mileage for the day (yesterday): about 400
Lowest gas price: $2.73 (here in Tega Cay. So much cheaper than the $3.19 in Utah!)
Biggest surprise of the day: Charlotte (which is only about 20 mins away) is the Nascar capital of the world. Who knew? I sure didn't. Thanks for passing this along as well as the Nascar goods Bud!

Our Nations Capital

Well, we had a pretty good day in DC. I think you can say that we just about saw it all! We left our hotel this morning and headed on the metro toward DC. We went to the Holocaust Museum first and we were really glad that we did because we didn't know that tickets were give on a first come basis. We were able to get some for a few hours later. While we waited we went to see the Washington Monument, the new WWII Memorial (it was pretty cool), the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Monument, and the Korean War Memorial. I think my favorite was the Korean memorial. It was really cool!

We then went back to the Holocaust Museum. That was quite an experience! I was so glad we went! I'd highly recommend it to anyone who comes to the area. Just be sure to get there early to get your tickets or get them online in advance. It really was a cool museum and we both learned a lot. At one point they have a walkway through one of the cattle cars that took them to the concentration camps. There's luggage on the side of the car that really helped make it real. At another point you walk through this corridor that has piles and piles of shoes on both sides. That was pretty incredible too. There was a cool poem on the wall about how the shoes were able to remain because they were made of leather and string and not flesh and blood. It was pretty moving.

After that we went to see the White House up close and then went to see a few things in the Smithsonians. We were able to see the hope diamond and some dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. We really wanted to go to the national archives but the lines were too long for our liking and we were beginning to have enough of the day. We made one last stop at the Capitol Building and then grabbed dinner at Potbelly's before heading back to the hotel. We made one last stop at the Arlington Cemetary to see the Kennedy's graves and the Eternal Flame before we made it back to our hotel. Unfortunately we didn't quite have enough in us to make it to the tombs of the unknowns. Maybe next time. Also unfortunately, our camera batteries died halfway through the day so we weren't able to get pictures of everything. We did get pretty good video footage everywhere we went though. We're now just relaxing and recovering from the day. We're looking forward to heading to South Carolina tomorrow!

Total mileage for the day: We're pretty sure we walked about a total of 10.
Biggest surprise of the day:Just how much there really is to see and do in DC.

Take me out to the ball game (and then some)

What a fun 4th! We made it to New Jersey and then headed to the Bronx with Ben, Jenn, and Henry for the Yankees game. It was a really neat and fun experience even though they lost. It really was cool to be in Yankees Stadium. It was fun to think about a few of the "greats" that have played there. They did a little replay of Gherig's famous "luckiest man" speech that he gave on there on the 4th of July however many years ago. It was cool. Sophia even got a free "Where players become lengends" T-shirt. It was fun. After the game we headed back to Ben and Jenn's and had a really nice dinner that Jenn made and played games. It was such a fun and relaxing evening and just what we needed!

Today we left early and drove through Pennsylvania. We stopped in Hershey and had a fun time on the tour at Chocolate World. I don't know if any of you have ever been there but it's kind of a little ride that they take you on and show you how they make the chocolate. It's pretty kid friendly with a bunch of singing cows and everything. Sophia loved it!

Then we headed to Gettysburg. That was quite an experience as well. It was so neat to drive around and see all of the historic sites. It was also cool to be there at this time of year when the battle actually took place. It made it a little more real to think of them fighting in that hot humid weather. Doug and I weren't sure we could have done that! We did part of the "Auto Tour" and drove around to see a few things. It was fun.

We then made it to DC and are having a great time relaxing in our hotel. Tomorrow we're going to go into the city to see a few sites and then we'll head for South Carolina the next day! Hope you're all well!

Total Mileage for the day: about 400
Lowest gas price for the day: $2.71! and we got it in Allentown, PA
Biggest surprise of the day: How big Gettysburg is. I thought it was a little field!

New York!

We have had a good and busy couple of last days. On Sunday we went to church with Liza and Brad, took naps, and then headed up to Niagara Falls! It was so great and sooooo beautiful! We had such a great time and had a very nice picnic dinner on the Three Sisters Islands. It was great.



On Monday we welcomed the arrival of Baby Kate (or Baby Cake as Sophia more affectionately calls her). Liza and Brad left early in the morning to head for the hospital and Doug and I took the kids down to East Aurora to the Toy Museum. Unfortunately the Fisher Price factory and toy store were closed but it was still neat to see the museum part. We then had a fun lunch of official New York style pizza with tiny pepperonis and all and then went back to Brad and Liza's. Brad came home in the afternoon and we all headed to the hospital to see Kate! She's such a sweet, peaceful baby! It was so fun to see her and hold her. I'm so glad we were able to be here for that!

Today we woke up early and headed out to see some church sites. We went to Palmyra where we saw the Palmyra Temple, the Smith farm including the Sacred Grove, the Martin Harris Farm, the Book of Mormon Publication Site, and Hill Cumorah. We also went south to see the Peter Whitmer farm where the church was organized. It was all so neat! Because we were there so early and before all the pageant crowds, we practically had the place to ourselves! It was so neat. We were able to be in the Sacred Grove all by ourselves and you could truly feel the spirit so strong! The only problem was all the bugs. They were not so fun! It truly was all so beautiful and I was glad I was able to see so many church sites in one morning!


















We then headed off to Cooperstown to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was great too! Cooperstown was such a quaint, beautiful part of town that it was difficult to imagine it had the Baseball hall of fame! The whole town was packed. We greatly enjoyed the museum and it was fun to see all the plaques in the hall of fame. After that we grabbed some ice cream and Sophia's "First Yankees Tee" and then headed for Albany. We made it to Albany in good time and are looking forward to a relaxing time in the old Econo Lodge. We're planning on leaving early in the morning to head to the city for the 4th and the Yankees! We are greatly looking forward to it! Hope you're all well! We're doing okay. I've caught a little bit of a head cold which has not been too pleasant but I've been able to manage okay. Doug puts up with me anyway. I just hope Sophia doesn't get sick!

Total Mileage for the day: About 350
Lowest gas price for the day: $3.09
Biggest Surprise of the day: How little driving we did. It was really nice!