Christmas Morning!

Never a disappointment in our house! The kids had a great morning. Jordan went to work at 4:00 am just so he could make it home to see the kids reactions to what was under the tree. What a good dad! We were all spoiled and had a wonderful morning. The highlight was being able to head to a beautiful Sacrament meeting to really celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

A Year in Review

This year has been a busy one, but aren't they all. Here is a low down of what happened:

January: We decided to forgo finding out what gender our baby would be. I decided it was a boy to be named Andrew Paul.

February: Izzy started her first season of soccer and loved it.

March: We headed to Kiawah Island, SC for a conference where we went on a bike ride. And I went in to preterm labor. Not a surprise for those t

hat know me.

April: Jordan and I celebrated our 11th anniversary with him off doing interviews for a fellowship in Facial Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery. Caleb also celebrated his 5th birthday in Peter Pan style.

May: On the 11th at 7:oo am, we welcomed our third daughter, Emma Caroline. I was shocked and we were left to scrabble for a name since I was sure we were having a boy. Emma was a peanut weighing in at 6 lbs. But she was born a little more t

han three weeks early.

June: We were busy with visitors and finding out that we were moving the Gulf Shores, AL for fellowship. We are really looking forward to a year on the ENT department here in Winston-Salem. It has been an adjustment to have him gone ALL THE TIME. Seriously. It is all the time.

August: Izzy turned 12 and joined the Young Women program at our church. Are we seriously old enough for that? The kids also started school. Izzy started 7th grade, Abbi 4th, and Caleb got to get on the bus with his big sister and start kindergarten. Yep, just Emma and I home during the day.

September: Abbi started competing for the gymnastics season. She competed level 5. It took up several Saturdays through December. Emma and I were also able to make a trip to MN to see my sister and her family. It was awesome. Izzy and Caleb started a new season of soccer. Logistics were interesting since Dad was never home (see July).

October: Came and went in a blur. Halloween was a blast. We had a giant baby, a green crayon, a transformer, a ladybug, a guy from "Deadliest Catch" and his catch (aka crab). The candy came and went in a blur, too.

November: Abbi turned 10 and was still busy compe

ting. Of course, I love November for Thanksgiving and we had a truly awesome feast. I love being in the kitchen. We were also lucky enough to see a few of our friends become parents for the first time.

December: I celebrated the 3rd anniversary of my

29th birthday. My mom made it out. My birthday was also the weekend of NC state level 5 meet, which was in Wilmington. It was a lot of fun. I got to be on the beach on my birthday. Awesome. Can you tell we are really excited about moving to the beach?

We are so grateful for all that we have been bless

ed with this year. We have a lot of changes coming up in the next few months; some which make us quite nervous (like selling a house) but we have complete faith that our Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan for our busy family.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Healing a Broken Heart

It seems that life is full of ups and downs. This time the down is really, really down.

We have been so lucky to live next door to dear friends. Our kids play together often. We have impromptu Sacrament meetings at home when the roads become to icy for church. We watch our kids play in the rain. We watched our bellies grow together. We experienced the joy of adding new babies to our homes just a few weeks apart. And now, our sweet friends have had to say a temporary, but albeit, difficult good-bye to their sweet baby boy, Beckett. During this difficult time, I was so blessed to be the safe haven for their three older children. Because they were here, our home was filled with the Spirit of comfort and peace. When all of the children woke up this morning, I could literally feel the love that our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for each of us. I feel so blessed to be a witness to this.

I am so grateful at this time to know that my Savior lives. He love us and wants nothing more for us than for us to return home to him. I am grateful to know that all children who leave this mortal life before the age of eight, get to be by the Savior's side, basking in His love. I am grateful for the restored gospel and the opportunity that families have to be sealed together for all eternity. This brings me peace. To know that my sweet friends will one day be reunited with their sweet boy. The boy with a smile for everyone he met.

Emma Caroline Wallin

I guess this is a pretty important event so I should probably blog about it.

On May 11, we welcomed another sweet little girl to our family. I was shocked that she was a girl because I was certain that we were having another boy t

o keep Caleb company. I hadn't even really foc

used on girl names! She was born just before 7:00 in the morning. All 6 lbs 1 oz of her. She is by far the smallest baby I have had. She is also one of the best. She has the sweetest disposition and has got all of us wrapped aroun

d her finger.

She is now eight weeks old. My how time flies.

She has finally passed the 8 lb mark and no longer fits into newborn clothes. She has beautiful blue eyes (yes, that is two blue eyed kids from two brown eyed parents) and dark hair. Everyone that sees her says she looks like Abbi, but I see a lot of Izzy in her. What do you think?

Jordan, Emma, and I with my OB, Dr. Mims

A Proud Daddy!

Meeting Emma!

Our Busy Lives

I had aims of updating all of the past year, but I think I will just plow ahead with the latest happenings.

First, the kids all started school. Izzy is in middle school and in 6th grade. Abbi is in 3rd. Caleb is going to preschool everyday. While I get to enjoy being school free! I was released as primary president in October only to be called to teach Gospel Doctrine. Terrifying! Jordan has decided to do a fellowship in facial plastics so we will be leaving our home in 2012 to go somewhere for a year before settling down in a practice, aka real job.

My favorite holiday is coming up...Thanksgiving! I can't wait to cook! Yum!

Life is good!

ORLANDO!

Which of course means a trip to my happy place...DisneyWorld.
For Thanksgiving, we decided to surprise the kids and take them to DisneyWorld and SeaWorld. It was a great surprise. We told them that we were going to go to New York City to see the parade because we haven't done that since 2004. So we loaded up the car and started driving. It wasn't until we were in Georgia that Izzy said, "Hold on, we are going south not north. Where are we going?" We told them when we were crossing the Georgia/Florida border. We first we said we were going to GatorLand. They weren't thrilled. But they were thrilled about DisneyWorld.
We had a blast. We stayed in a nice hotel courtesy of Priceline. Well we paid for it but Priceline helped us get a rockin deal.
We arrived late Wednesday night so we spent Thanksgiving in the park. Which sounds kind of crazy but it was actually pretty deserted until 3:00 pm. We were able to walk onto Splash Mountian, Dumbo, Peter Pan's Adventure. It was great. The kids were in heaven and so was I. Jordan endured to the end.
On Friday, we made the bold move to not go to a Disney Park. I know. Amazing. Finally our our third trip to Orlando we left the beautiful world of Disney and went to SeaWorld. Now I know there has been a lot of controversy around animals in captivity, but the truth is these animals can't just be released into the wild. Anyway, I am really glad we went. I love dolphins and killer whales. I used to want to work as a trainer. My kids loved the shows and were amazed at what the animals were capable of. We even paid the big bucks to feed the dolphin.
Our last day was spent at the Wild Animal Kingdom. Let's just say Mt. Everest is an awesome coaster. Abbi loved it! Izzy didn't dare go on it. This park is just amazing. Rides and the best zoo ever.
The drive home was LONG. I think we won't ever make that trip on the Sunday after Thanksgiving ever again.

Abbi's Eighth Birthday and Baptism

Abbi turned eight last November. Which is a big deal because that is when we baptize our children. She was so excited. My mom and Jordan's mom were both able to come out for the baptism which was on December 12th. A day I will always remember because it was the day after my 30th birthday.
Abbi wanted a Hawaiian Luau for her party which is great in theory but hard to pull off in November. We bowled with a coconut. Wore leis and grass skirts. Basically had a blast.
Abbi is an amazing, wonderful girls with a quick sense of humor and a hot temper. I have been very blessed to be her mother. She is incredibly talented when it comes to bending, flipping, and stretching and she is excelling in gymnastics.I love you Abbi!