Neat Experience

So I know we're a little bit crazy for joining the tens of thousands of other Utahns who went to President Hinckley's viewing but I'm so glad we went. It was such a neat experience and it was definitely worth it! It was really neat that they had it at the conference center. Even though it's such a huge place it still was very reverent and solemn. They had his casket up on the third floor(?) in the "Hall of the Prophets". It was really cool because you had to walk through pretty much the entire conference center before you got to the casket. It was neat to walk by all the Book of Mormon paintings and the paintings of the apostles and just soak up the spirit and reflect on the occasion. Right before you got to the casket we passed the wall size mural of Christ visiting the Americas. Seeing the Savior in that picture it suddenly hit me how incredible the reunion must have been between Him and President Hinckley. It was really neat to think about. It was also neat to see President Hinckley again. He looked so peaceful. It truly was quite an experience. As we were leaving we noticed Doug's uncle Bruce was right in front of us. It was good to see him and his son Taylor again and it was cool that out of everyone that we could have seen there we saw family.

As we were driving home Sophia said, "I want to see Jesus". I think since we've been telling her that President Hinckley is now with Jesus and we saw President Hinckley she wanted to see Jesus too. Doug told her that if she's a good girl and goes to nursery and listens to mom and dad she can see Jesus. Her response to that was, "no hitting Jesus". What do you say to that? I love how she is slowly trying to figure out how this life works. She definitely keeps us on our toes!

Hooray for Leda (and David)!

We are so happy for Leda and are excited about welcoming David to our family! They make the absolute CUTEST couple and we truly couldn't be happier! How cute that they got engaged while sipping hot cocoa in Borders. I love it! We're looking forward to July! Congrats you two love birds!

Leda just sent a picture of the ring so I had to include it. GORGEOUS!

I don't want to change the picture

I love this picture of our beloved prophet. My friend Nancy gave it to me when she got married almost 4 years ago and I'm not sure I'm ready to take it down quite yet. I'll probably leave it up for awhile before I replace it with one of our next prophet. We like everyone else were saddened by the news of his passing last night. We are also experiencing bittersweet feelings and are happy that he's been reunited with so many loved ones above. I told Sophia this morning that he had passed away not really expecting her to understand but just because I wanted to see what happened. I told her President Hinckley died and that we would be getting a new prophet. A few minutes later she said, "President Hinckley's our prophet." I then told her that President Hinckley went up to heaven to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus and that we'd have a new prophet later. She thought about that for a minute and then said, "President Hinckley wants a muffin." Okay sure. I think she gets it. I just turned on the news to watch more about him and she said, "Look mom! President Hinckley came back!"

I was talking to my little brother about it last night and he said he heard at ward prayer. He said that they were reading a scripture and someone said the had received a text message that said President Hinckley had died. He said there was this akward silence and then everyone's cell phones started ringing. My mom said that there stake was supposed to have a big youth fireside with his personal secretary that had been announced for weeks but the secretary cancelled yesterday without an explanation. I think they all understood why last night.

As a side note, has anyone else noticed that the weather in Utah goes crazy when a prophet dies? I remember there being a micorburst or something when President Hunter passed away (I've been informed that it was actually when President Benson died but I also thought I remembered crazy stuff when President Hunter died) and last night it was so windy all night long. Right now there is still tons of wind and crazy blowing snow. Kind of interesting.

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of what our girls have been up to. The other day while Sophia was having her "quiet time" since she refuses to have a nap, I thought she was playing or reading books or something without getting into too much trouble. After a little while I went to check on her and found that she'd gotten into her closet and into the baby stuff. She managed to take these bottle liners apart one by one and spread them all over her bed. That was fun to clean up!

Finally here's a cute smile that Doug got out of the Willers this weekend. I love it!

Necklaces and Bald Spots

We've had a pretty fun time here lately in our household and wanted to share.

Sophia kept sitting in her chair like this the other day when I was trying to feed her lunch. She kept saying, "Look! I'm like a triangle!" Kind of.

Here's one of our baldy. Poor little girl keeps losing her hair.

This one is for cousin Jane. Thanks for the cute jammies!

Aren't Sophia and her daddy so cute in their necklaces? Way to match Doug!

Finally, as I was getting the girls in jammies last night I got a little confused about which diaper belongs on which kid. You can tell that I'm a little worn out and tired with having a newborn.

In other news, I went to my first spinning class last night. I think I might make a habit out of it. What a workout! Have any of you ever been to a spinning class? It seriously is a full body workout! It was a lot of fun but holy cow it killed me! I really thought I was going to die. Marci, if you're reading this, I can't believe you teach those classes! You're amazing!

Attack of the Killer Squid

So Doug's parents sent Sophia one of those animals that you put in water and then they grow. We were a little skeptical about the claim on the package that the sea squid would grow 600 times its original size (it was originally about 1 inch long). Boy were we surprised! Apparently they make these toys a little different down in Brazil (or maybe there's something in the water here in Payson.) It's now Sophia's favorite new bath toy. She loves to ride it around the bath.


In other news Lilly went to her first real church experience today. She slept through the whole thing and didn't wake up until there was about 20 minutes left in Relief Society. Sophia on the other hand only made it through about half of church thanks to her lovely ability to throw up whenever she gets herself worked up (she did not want to stay in nursery...again) Doug took her home early.

One more note about that crazy girl. Tonight while we were driving home from my parent's house she was getting a little restless so Doug told her it was time for quiet time where we don't say anything and just sit and think about Jesus. After about 5 minutes of this I started to say something (completely forgetting it was quiet time apparently) when Sophia piped up and said, "Be quiet mom. It's quiet time." Thanks for the reminder Sophs!

Okay, so it really didn't grow 600 times its size. Here's how big it really got.

I think I may be getting through to her?

So this morning while Lilly was in the swing Sophia kept touching her while saying, "don't touch baby Willy. It makes her sad." She also said, "I'm sorry baby Willy that I bonked you on head." (right after she had indeed bonked her on the head). Is this progress?

She also has recently discovered Dora and is a huge fan. She was watching it "On Demand" (thank heavens for On Demand) this morning and after it ended she said, "My Dora movie is over. Come on Dora movie. You are driving me crazy!". I think she's maybe heard me say that a little too much lately.

In other news I'm finally able to start exercising again and it feels great! Thank you Payson High School track. They open the indoor track at night for the locals. It's actually a little bit scary because it's this really old track under the gym and it's a little bit dark down there. I told Doug that someone could die down there and no one would know. Okay, it really isn't that bad and it's nice to have a warm place to run again. It's not as good as the old BYU track (especially because I don't have my sista to run with!) but it will do for now.

On a final note, Lilly slept 8 1/2 hours last night! I couldn't believe it! She would of kept sleeping more but I finally woke her up to feed her. We'll see if she keeps that one up! Here's a picture for Liza of the cute girl herself.

As a side note...

I should probably mention that Sophia really does love Lilly. She's always saying things like "I love Baby Willy" and "he's so cute!" She also gets so sad when I take Lilly to put her down for a nap. She usually tells me to not take Lilly or that she wants her. She really is a good kid and a good sister but we have our moments. She also told me today that I'm her favorite friend. What a kiddo!

He did it again

So in case you missed it the first time, here it is (scroll down until you get to the ball track videos). And last Sunday Douglas was bored again and so he decided to do a more awesome track. I think it turned out pretty good.

Ball Track from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.
Ball Track 2 from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

In other news, how do you get your 2 year old to not kill your new baby? So far she's been pretty good with Lilly and listens to us when we tell her to be soft. The other day however she bit her. I couldn't believe it! It was really hard to not bite her back for Lilly. She bit her right on her little finger and it was so sad. Lilly screamed and screamed. Today when I got out of the shower I found the bouncy chair tipped on it's side with Lilly still in it. Poor girl. She also has an abundance of scratches on her head from her lovely sister who loves to "rub" her head. Sophia also told me today, "Mom I have a problem." I asked her what her problem was and she said "Lilly." I'm assuming (and hoping) that it's all going to pass but it's hard to be patient!

Pay it Forward

You all know the concept behind “Pay it forward”, right? I think it is a really neat idea and I think it works. Even as a missionary tool or a “gospel principle”. My sister Melissa had this on her blog so I'm copying her. She saw it on her friends blog. I don’t know where it started, but I wanted to be a part of it. What you do is pay it forward with other fellow bloggers. I will send a gift (my sister said they had to be handmade but I don't think mine will be) to the first three people who add a comment and want to participate- then those three people have to send a gift to three people. Make sense? I think that the gift can be anything from a couple recipes compiled or a handmade craft or I think chocolate would count too (at least it would for me!) I already know what my gift is going to be and I know that all you moms out there are going to want it! I think you really can do anything as long as it fits in the mail. Then if you are the person who participates, you have to put it on your blog and try to get three others to pay it forward. Would you like to try it??

Animals and Cheesy Pasta

Here's a couple of the latest and greatest. Here's Sophia wearing daddy's snow hat the other day.

Here's one of Lilly. I was getting ready for the day and Sophia came up to me and said "Willy loves animals". I came to see what she was referring to and found this little mess.

All the Wilkins' kids got together last night to say goodbye to Aunt Leda who's been here for a few weeks on vacation from school in North Carolina. It was so fun to spend time with her the past few weeks and we'll miss her until we get to see her again in the summer!
While we were all together we got a shot of the 4 Wilkins' babies born within the last year. I'm not quite sure Lilly is fond of Carson trying to hold her hand.

And last but not least, here's the latest installment of the "Cheesy Pasta" (scroll down to the bottom of the link) dance. Lilly decided to get in on it this time. Enjoy!
Cheesy Pasta 2 from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

Lunch with the Girls

Over the holidays I got together with a bunch of friends from high school. It was so fun to see each other again and we had a fabulous time at lunch.

Here's some pics from the lunch. It's fun to see Kerstin with her new Asia. What a doll! Lilly was hiding in the other car seat.
A few of us remembered a time capsule we created our junior year. It was really just a page that we'd written lame (I mean cool) predictions on. Kerstin found it at her moms and passed it on to all of us. Much to all of our embarrassment I'm posting it here.

Alright girls - I found the time capsule AKA the sheet with our predictions
for the future we made for eachother our junior year of highschool. They
are listed in the supposed marriage order.

1. Joanna will be married at 19 and have 7 to 9 kids. She will be a full
time Mommy living in Utah all of her life, probably in the Provo area. If
she marries someone from Waterford it will be Jonathan Swinton. Her actual
husband will be a return missionary she meets during her freshman year in
college in the grocery store and they will be married in the Mesa Temple.

2. Nancy will be married at 20 and have 5 kids. She will work as a
volleyball coach and live somewhere in Idaho. If she marries someone from
Waterford it will be Matt Heyes. She will meet her actual husband while
playing volleyball at Ricks. He will be a potato farmer and they will get
married in the Mt. Timp temple.

3. Lisa will get married at 21 and have nine kids. She will be a mommy and
a teacher, most likely kindergarten. She will live in one of the suburbs of
Salt Lake and never leave Utah. If she marries someone from Waterford it
will be Will Wade. She will meet her actual husband at a BYU fireside and
get married in the DC temple.

4. Kristen will get married at 21 and have 4 kids. She will be a history
teacher at a highschool or community college. She will live in California
or on the West Coast somewhere. If she married someone from Waterford it
will be John Thackery or Bob Fredt. She will meet her actual husband during
a car accident in California and be married in the San Diego temple.

5 Kenna will be married at 24 and have three kids. She will be an exotic
dancer and possibly a zoo keeper. She will live in Southern Utah or
Henderson Nevada. If she marries someone from Waterford it will be Tim
Robins. She will meet her actual husband in a bar and they will be married
in Las Vegas.

6. Kerstin will be married at 24 and have one child. She will be an
independent film maker. She will live or intern in several big cities but
end up in LA or New York. If she marries someone from Waterford it will be
Adam Reeder. She will meet her actual husband while interning in Los
Angeles and they will be married in the LA temple.

7. Sarah will be married at 25 and have 6 kids. She will be a mommy and a
part time fashion designer. She will live in Utah. If she marries someone
from Waterford it will be Gavin Diaz. She will meet her actual husband
during a college summer job and leave her current fiance to be married in
the Salt Lake temple.

8. Arianne will be married at 26 and have 2 or 3 kids. She will work for a
large corporation and possibly become a CEO. She will live in California,
Chicago or Texas. If she marries someone from Waterford it will be Tyler
Fellows. She will meet her actual husband at the perfume counter in the
mall and be married in the Dallas TX temple.

P.S.

Sorry for two posts in one day but I forgot to add a big thank you to Jeffy for taking fabulous pictures! I also forgot to add a big shout out to Lilly who slept a full 6 hours straight last night! She then went down for 3 more! Thank you baby Willy! We'll see how she does tonight.

In other news, I think we've failed as parents. Sophia said stupid and crap today. Two new words in one day but unfortunately we're not so proud. Anyway to reverse the damage? (maybe don't say those words in the first place?)

More of the Blessed Child

We had another fabulous photo shoot in the blessing dress with uncle Jeffy yesterday. Here are a few of my favs.



Sophia had a great time running around a screaming the whole time (I was so glad we weren't at a photo studio) so I included one of her as well.

Let it Snow

We had a fun time playing in the snow today. Doug and Sophia built a snowman that was 5 balls high but unfortunately it tipped over onto Douglas before I was able to snap a picture. The final Frosty turned out pretty good though. The first picture was taken halfway through building the original 5 baller. Sophia also had a fun time throwing snowballs at dad. Dad did not think it was cool that mom taught her how to throw snowballs at dad.


Sophia in the Snow from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

Here's a picture of how Sophia fell asleep reading "Sleeping Beauty" the other night. Apparently that book really is a snoozer!

We love cousins (and David!)

What a fun couple of days we've had with cousins lately! We had a fun time celebrating New Years Eve with Miller cousins...
(Sophia and Kate)

(Ring around the cousins)

(3 of the 4 2007 Miller grandbabies)

and New Years Day with Wilkins cousins. We also had a fun time getting to know Leda's "friend" David. I think the nieces and nephews may have enjoyed him a little too much.



Here's the latest and greatest of cute Lilly. The first one is of her in a cute outfit she wore yesterday and the second one is how she fell asleep on the couch today. I wish I could fall asleep that easily!