Sometimes everything goes right

I've often heard people talk about how things go wrong every time they try to go to the temple.  Tires go flat, recommends are misplaced, kids get sick, and so on.  Hearing those stories makes me think twice about trying to attend the temple.

However, there is a flip side that I have now experienced two times in a row.  Sometimes everything goes right when you want to go to the temple.

Our friend Rob has asked me to be the proxy for his mother and help get all her temple work done.  A few weeks ago he went to the temple and was proxy for his father and grandfather.  I couldn't go at that time because I was still recovering from having a baby, and couldn't get in the font.  And in the weeks since then we couldn't get our schedules together.

Well yesterday Rob, Brandon, and I were all free.  I struggled to find a baby sitter at the last minute.  I finally called our Sr Missionary couple/ home teachers who I should have called from the beginning.  They immediately said yes.   Then I worried about Derrick because I hadn't pumped any milk and he is basically allergic to formula.  But I said a prayer and made him a formula bottle anyway.  I hoped that he would be blessed that it wouldn't affect him this one time.

I was also worried that the girls would have a hard time with us gone.  We didn't have an appointment and I worried that we would be stuck forever at the baptistery, and they would be flipping out wondering where we were.

But none of my worries came true.  Derrick actually slept the entire time we were gone.  Which wasn't long because the baptistery wasn't that crowded. Since we only had Rob's two family names and a few of my family names for Brandon, they bumped us up to the front of the group.  I've never had a quicker time doing baptisms.

When we came home the girls were in great moods.  Derrick woke up and I fed him.  When I was done doing that I sat him on my lap and the girls took turns hugging and kissing him.  There was such a great spirit in our home all evening.      

And best of all Rob's mother and grandmother are now members of the church along with their spouses.  Once Rob has been a member of the church for a year we will get they endowments and sealings done.  Hopefully the kids will be good for those temple visits too.

Let's talk about debt

Hi, my name is Valerie and I have a ton of student loan debt.  Well, actually it's Brandon who has all the debt, but we share all our money so it's my debt too.  

I wont depress you with the exact amount, but lets just say if it was a mortgage we would have a pretty decent sized home.  

The debt came from Brandon's dream to be a commercial airline pilot.  And for the amount of student loan money he spent he should have received his private pilot, instrument, commercial, multi-engine, and flight instructor ratings.  However, because USU has such a poorly managed flight school he only earned his instrument rating.  This is the main reason we hate USU.  If any other business had ripped someone off that badly they would be in big trouble.  But since it's a university it's considered okay and even normal.  

It's ridiculous that Brandon was able to get into so much debt.  In my opinion students should have to submit a "business plan" along with their applications for student loans.  Instead of being handed large sums of money for a dream they should have to actually calculate how much they expect to make in their chosen career.  But right now all they have to do is get a co-signer.    

Also schools shouldn't be giving out loan advise.  Brandon's adviser told him it was a good idea to take out student loans because once he was a pilot he would easily make tons of money.  That was misleading advise even when the economy was good.  

I could go on and on and on about how much USU took Brandon's loan money hand over fist - but I wont because it just makes me mad.  (I start considering arson and that's not good.)  Instead I want to talk about how we are motivating ourselves to pay off the debt as quickly as possible.  

Once all the student loan debt is paid off we are going to reward ourselves (and the kids) with a trip to Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.  This is where Brandon served his mission.  It's basically France's Hawaii.  We'll probably also spend a few days on the neighboring islands of Madagascar and Mauritius.  And since we have to fly to Paris to get to Reunion we'll probably stay a few days there too.

To help keep this goal in mind I made this collage out of a guide book Brandon had in his mission stuff.  

And I covered it with little tiny papers that represent how many payments we have left.  At our current rate of repayment it's going to take 15 years to uncover the picture again.  However, through the magic of double payments (when we can afford them) and the snow ball effect we hope be on vacation much sooner.  I'm hoping that we can have everything paid off by the time Brandon is done with active duty in 5 years.

So don't expect us to be living a lavish life style anytime soon.  We have bigger goals in mind.  

Silly stuff

In case you didn't know, blogging is about my only "real" hobby right now.  Everything else is pretty much stalled.  Even my compulsion to read has disappeared. I haven't read a book in at least a month and I only made it to page 12 of my June Better Homes and Garden's Magazine.  I didn't even know we had a copy of the June Ensign.  My conversations with Brandon at the dinner table usually include a description of the day's Sesame Street episode.  I frequently have the theme songs to Elmo's World, Abby's Flying Fairy School, and Super Why stuck in my head. If it wasn't for Chunga and Tysen in the morning and Anderson Cooper in the afternoon I'd feel like I was completely trapped in a toddler's brain.

That being said, I'm actually having a lot of fun with the kids each day.  There are some really fun and silly things going on around here.  Mostly I just enjoy the ride knowing that one day this will all be a distant memory.

The big news lately is that the girls are starting to talk.  It's a little tricky to understand them because so many toddler-important words start with the letter B.  Baby, block, bottle, binkie, ball, bubble, banana, blanket, etc but with the help of pointing I usually know what they want.  The girls have started noticing Brandon in pictures so they often point to them and say "Dah-dee."  They also shout "Dah-dee" when he comes home. They say "Dah-gee" for Doggy which sounds really similar so sometimes I'm not sure what they are referring too.  Other favorite words are, "tohs" for toes, "beeeee" for binkie, "bah-oh" for bottle, "show" for shoe, and "baby" for Derrick.  Lydia says something resembling "Sharet" for Charlotte, and Charlotte says some garbled sound that I can't even begin to sound out for Lydia.  Neither one of them has ever said Mommy or Mama and meant me.  Usually they point to themselves if I ask them where Mommy is.  That because I always point to myself.  They do know who I am though.  The other day Brandon asked them where Valerie was and they pointed to me.

The highlight of dinner last night was when Lydia learned how to say feet.  She says "fee"  here is a video of that along with some other pretty standard things.  (The cushion on the floor, Lydia dancing in shoes, Charlotte trying to grab the camera, Derrick being ignored, and so on)

Speaking of Derrick here is a little game that usually happens during nap time.  It's called "Find the Baby".  Derrick and I have fallen into the habit of letting him sleep where ever he happens to fall asleep.  If the girls are awake he usually goes down for a nap in his crib.  If the girls are asleep its where ever.  At night he sleeps on the couch.  Hopefully he learns how to sleep though the night before he learns how to roll.

The other day I locked up the emotional part of my brain and sorted through all of the clothes the girls have out-grown.  One stack of boxes I'm giving away now (they are waiting for you Kadee) the other one I'm saving for any future nieces.  The only things I kept were a few gender neutral things for Derrick, and the girls' blessing outfits.  It was hard, but I kept thinking about how cute other girls will look in them.  Plus I need the space to store the hand-me-downs I'm getting for when the girls are older (donations are always accepted). 

 The girls love to help me empty the dish drain.  The other day they kidnapped all the pots and pans and played with them for at least an hour.   

Both girls are sort of picking out their clothes right now - with a lot of help from me.  Lydia has let me know that she does not like jeans right now so she is always in stretchy pants.  She also loves shoes and always wants my help putting them on.

 Charlotte loves bows and always wants to wear one (though she isn't wearing one in this pic)  She's such a good helper.  I think her love language is acts of service because she always wants to help me.  She likes to throw away her diaper after getting it changed, she will wipe up spills, she puts trash in the sink, she brings Brandon's dirty socks to me so I can wear them (which I do because it makes her happy), and she likes to pat Derrick and Lydia on the back when they are crying.  She also likes to throw away trash when we are at the park.

 Here is Lydia with more of her shoes.  Her love language is physical touch.  This is one of the reasons I don't have hobbies anymore.  She wants me to hold her A LOT.  But for the most part that is okay.

Outside she is pretty adventurous as long as I am near by.  This picture was taken right before she fell down about 5 of these stairs.  

 Charlotte is very content to hang out by herself or with her Daddy.

 Derrick also likes hanging out with his Daddy.

 The girls also play together a lot.  They like to copy each other so I usually have to make sure I have two of everything.

 They love Derrick, but they also leave him alone.  They haven't tried to lift or hold him yet.  I think they know he weighs more than half of their weight.  He usually hangs out in his swing when he is awake.  The girls like to push him in it. If the swing is empty the girls will climb into it.

 On Father's Dad we had a rare treat.  Two out of three of the kids conked out on the couch after church. (Charlotte is actually trying to give Lydia a binkie - not stealing it like usual)

 I thought it was so funny how both Lydia and Derrick had their hands above their heads.  Both of them woke up as soon as dinner was ready.  My kids always wake up when I'm about to eat.

 But with a meal like this wouldn't you have woken up too?

One final story before I go get my kids out of their cribs (they are playing and laughing so I don't feel too bad ignoring them for a minute longer).

A few days ago I was trying to figure out what I could do to kill the last hour before Anderson came on at 4:00.  I decided to clean up the kitchen for the millionth time.  The girls helped me load the dishwasher, but then I discovered we were out of dish washer soap.  So I decided to wash dishes by hand with the girls helping.  This is what we ended up with.  It was fun, but not something I want to repeat anytime soon.

So that's us right now.  Life is crazy but fun.

Checking in on the Resolutions

Wow, we are already half way through the year, and what a year it has been?  On New Years Eve I was expecting a rather quiet year with a new baby added to the mix.  I had no idea that we'd make the major life altering decision to join the army.  Or that we'd do a minor life altering thing and move downstairs.  And that's only what's happened so far.  What do the next six months hold?

I thought I'd check in on myself and my New Years Resolutions.  Here's what I wrote down as my resolutions.

We are going to try to be a little bit more social with our neighbors - outside of church obligations.  I want to started getting up BEFORE the girls wake up so I can have a few minutes to practice my guitar.  I'm also really committing to making dinner a priority every night.  I started this last one this week and I've already discovered that it is going to take some major behavioral changes put it in place on a permanent basis.  

Here's how they are going so far:

1. Being more social:
           Moving downstairs helped this immensely!  Suddenly it became so easy to just walk outside and chat with whoever happened to be around.  We'll call this one checked off.

2.  Waking up before the girls to practice my guitar:
          What, I have a guitar?  Sadly this one has not happened.  I am waking up before the girls to nurse Derrick so that should count for something.  I think I'll wait to do anything with this until Derrick can consistently sleep through the night.  Right now sleep is too precious.

3.  Make dinner a priority every night:
           At the beginning of the year Brandon had been unemployed for 4 months and we'd fallen into a bad habit of just eating whenever.  He'd worked swing shift at his old job and so I'd never had to get dinner ready for him.  The girls didn't really eat meals yet so we just fed them on their own schedule and ignored creating one of our own.  We'd usually have good intentions of making dinner, but then the sister missionaries or Brandon's parents, or neighbors would stop by and we'd get distracted.  More often than not dinner consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 8:00 pm.
             So at the beginning of the year I wrote on the white board, "Dinner is at 5:30 no matter what."  And we've stuck to that pretty faithfully.  Just making that declaration reminded us to not schedule anything too close to 5:30.  It's worked out really well.
            Now that Brandon makes dinner we usually eat around 6:00.  We bring the girls' high chairs up to our little round table and we all eat around it.  We talk about our days and the girls show off the new words or tricks they know.  It's really fun.
            I'd like to get to the point where we can go a whole month without eating the same meal twice.  It would be cool to do that by the end of the year.  So we'll call this goal still a Work in Progress.

In addition to New Years Resolutions Brandon and I always make a list of things we want to do during the Summer.  We usually sit down and come up with the list in about February.  Doing this ensures that we get the most out of our summers.  This year the list is extra important because this is the last summer before Brandon enters active duty.  We are making sure that we do lots of things together because who knows where we'll be next summer or if we'll even be together as a family.  Here's the list:

Castle Valley Pageant:
      I've wanted to take Brandon do this for years.  It's held the first two weekends of August every other year.  So far we are still planning to go.

Camping in the Uintas:
      This one was unexpectedly checked off last weekend.

Branch Campout:
     This one is scheduled for a weekend in August.

Temple with Rob:
      We have a friend who has asked us to be the proxy when he goes through the temple and is sealed to his deceased parents.  I'm so honored to do this.  He'll have been a member of the church for a year at the end of July so we should be going in August.

Colorado:
    You're all probably sick of hearing about how much I'm looking forward to this trip.  So all I'll say is TWO WEEKS!!!!!

Brandon's work party rafting trip:
     Brandon's work has amazing company parties.  This year the employees and their spouses are all invited to participate in "Raft for the Cure" in Moab.  I've wanted to go river rafting for like ever so I went through the roof when Brandon told me.  This is actually how we are kicking off the vacation.  We'll leave the kiddos with my parents (thank goodness Derrick takes a bottle).  We'll go rafting AND stay in a hotel for TWO nights.  Then we'll come back, get the kids, do some laundry, repack the jeep, and head off again.

Summer Concerts in the Park:
    Bountiful park has some really good concerts on Friday nights through out the summer.  I took the girls to most of them last summer while Brandon worked.  We'll all go this summer as our Friday Family Dates.

Build Dad's house:
     Brandon's Dad is sooooo close to starting construction on his dream home.  Once that gets going we plan to help out.

Nickelback concert:
    Every year for years we have talked ourselves out of going to a Nickleback concert.  This year I said, "forget the cost.  We have to do it."  And we did.  We went on Tuesday and it was AMAZING.  Even in the cheap nosebleed seats we could still feel the heat from the 40 foot flames on stage.  At one point the band even came down to our side of the arena and got on a rotating circular stage that was suspended from the ceiling.  And of course the songs were awesome.  My favorite was the encore of "Gotta Be."  Here's a link to something I did with that song.  The only song they didn't play that I wanted them to was "If Everyone Cared."  Here's a link to a post about why that song is special to me

Anyway, this year may be halfway over, but I have a feeling the fun is just beginning.

Testing out a few things

Last weekend we decided to go on a "test run" camping trip to assess what we needed to know for our road trip in a few weeks.  We were specifically interested to know if we could get away without bringing two pack'N'plays along for the adventure.  The plan was to pick up Brandon at work, drive to the Spruces campground up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and stay over night.  Here's what we learned.  

1. Reservations are VERY important. The Spruces campground didn't have online reservations available until the day after we planned on going.  I figured that was because there just wasn't a lot of demand, and we would have the pick of the place.  Boy was I wrong.  We got to the campsite and it was full!  Undaunted we continued up the canyon to the Redman campground which was still closed for winter?!? 

2. Jeep's are awesome.  Redman is the last campground up the canyon.  Instead of turning around we decided to go over Guardsman  Pass and go into the Midway/Heber Valley and then go to the 

Uinta Mountains.  Neither of us had ever been on Guardsman Pass, but we weren't worried about it because we were in a jeep.  It actually turned out to be paved all the way to the top and then a really good dirt road on the other side.  My mom would have hated the drop offs, but I've been on worse roads.  

3.  The girls love trains as much as I do.  Once we were in Heber I made an executive decision and declared that we were going to eat dinner at the Dairy Keen.  This restaurant has a train that goes around the ceiling.  The girls LOVED this train and pointed it out every time it went around.  From where we were sitting we could see the train in 3 different spots.  The girls were so enthralled with the train they hardly ate their hamburger.    

 4.  Bottles continue to be wonderful.  I'm nursing Derrick and enjoying more than with the girls, but nothing beats a bottle of milk in a crowded restaurant.  (4.a. Pumping while riding in the car works well too)

 5. Too much soda can be a bad thing.  As we were driving up the Mirror Lake Highway Lydia made the tell-tell leaky sink sound.  Perhaps we shouldn't have put her into her car seat with half a cup of orange soda for company.

6. Our new tent is perfect!  There were lots of campsites in the Unitas, and we opted to stay at Mirror Lake.  We were just down the road from where I stayed for my favorite youth conference weekend ever (all we did was talk and eat.)  Brandon and I set up our new Embark 9 person Cabin Tent.  This thing is huge.  It really could fit 9 fully grown people (but not all their stuff)  We had two queen size mattresses in it and still had plenty of room to walk around.  And we could walk around because the ceiling is higher than I can reach.  It even has a porch which is awesome for keeping mosquitoes out and kids in.   Best tax refund purchase ever!

 7.  The girls are good around fire.  The girls liked watching Brandon make a fire, but they understood they needed to keep away.  To be on the safe side we opted to not make s'mores.  I didn't want them to see us sticking things into the fire.  We all had a nice moment sitting in the dark around the fire.  The girls and Derrick sat on our laps and watch the sparks fly out of the fire.  The stars came out and the girls saw them for the first time.  It was wonderful.

 8. Trust my instincts.  As I was packing for this trip I kept adding more and more blankets and sweatshirts to the bags.  I chided myself and thought, "It's not going to be that cold.  It's not like we are going to the Uintas."  Oh am I glad I didn't put back any of those blankets.  I think this was the warmest night I've ever spent in the Unintas, (too bad it also wasn't the most comfortable)

 9.  Pack'N'Play's are probably a good idea.  Aside from being a very cute picture this is also the most deceptive picture ever taken.  According to this picture the girls slept soundly together on their own air mattress.  The truth is that they were in this position for maybe 45 minutes.

 I've already started blocking out memories from our night, but highlights include:

• Charlotte squalling in my ear as Brandon tried to get her to lay down between us
• Lydia falling asleep laying directly on me
• Realizing that Lydia's diaper had started falling off her, and trying to fix it without waking her up (She woke up, but at least she didn't pee on me or her)
• Nursing Derrick while sitting on an air mattress
• Lydia trying to climb in my lap while I was nursing
• Lydia gradually scooting off the air mattress all night
• Being cold because Lydia and Charlotte were taking up most of the covers
• Worrying about Brandon's back which was pressed up against the side of the tent
• Rocking Derrick in his car seat with one hand and rubbing Lydia's back with the other

10.  Morning does come.  The only think that go me through the night was the mantra that gets me through every trip to the Unitas, "It's only one night.  It's only one night."  The sun did come out and the trip was fun again.   

11.  Bucket lists are a good thing.  By the way, this whole trip was probably the most spontaneous thing I've done in a long time.  We'd decided to go camping only the Monday before.  And we hadn't anticipated the Uintas at all.  However, earlier in the year we'd made a list of things we wanted to do this summer, and a camping trip in the Unitas was on this list.  So even though it wasn't planned for that weekend it was something we wanted to do.  And with scenery like this it was easy to forget any worries about not having planned very well. 

 12.  The stroller can't go everywhere.  After breakfast we decided to take the girls on a walk around the lake.  It started out innocently enough with a nice level trail and an occasional board walk.

 However, it eventually turned into a trail where Brandon had to do this more and more often.  We were past the halfway point so we ended up getting the girls out and folding up the stroller.  They walked/we carried them the rest of the way.

13.  The kids can sleep in the car. For lunch we ate the hamburgers we meant to eat for dinner the night before.  Then we packed up and drove out.  The girls fell asleep right away.  We decided to take the long way home through Evenston because I'd never been that way before.  The scenery was worth the distance.

Brandon and I got ic ecream cones at the McDonald's drive through in Evenston.  Then we drove home.  We stopped one more time at a rest stop to pick up a map of Wyoming for our vacation, and a pepsi to keep us awake (it had been such a long night) All the kids slept for the whole 3 hour drive.

The whole way home we talked about what we learned and how we can make our real vacation even better.

Video of the Kiddos

Derrick had his 2 month check up today.  Here are his stats with numbers that just astound me.  Keep in mind that Charlotte was 10 lbs and 10 oz and Lydia was 9 lbs 12 oz at their 4 month check up.

Height     25 inches         98%
Weight    12 lbs 12 oz    77%
Head       40 cm             50%

It's kind of weird to be hanging out on the other end of the bell curve. In addition to growing and eating a lot Derrick has started smiling too.  I just love to see him smile.  Here is a video of that. (It's kind of long.  I figured that since all my siblings live out of state they would want to see as much of their new nephew as possible.)

The girls also had a doctor's appointment not too long ago.  Actually between my drs appts, the labor and delivery class, WIC re-certifications, and the kids appointments we have had some sort of health related appointment every week since the beginning of February.

Here are their stats

Charlotte


Height     31.5 inches      40%
Weight    24 lbs 8 oz       51%
Head       48 cm             85%


Lydia


Height     31.25 inches    33%
Weight    21 lbs 13 oz    13%  This is way up from the usual 5%
Head      46.5 cm           47%


They have started copying whatever I say, but usually they can only say the first syllable.  Charlotte has discovered the word "no."  So all day long I hear random outbursts of "No, No, No" as she tells Lydia to keep away.

Here is a video of some of the things they can do.

(Confession: All my kids have been crying loudly as I work on this post.  That's what happens when nap time ends sooner than I think it should)

Derrick's Blessing Weekend

 Ideally I would have liked to wait until Derrick was 3 months old before we had him blessed.  I feel hosting a party/open house for all my relatives is stressful enough without adding sleep deprivation and hormone changes into the mix.  However, we will be on vacation when Derrick is 3 months old.  And I just couldn't justify waiting to do a "hard" thing like bless a baby until after taking 3 babies on an inter-state road trip.  So we decided to have him blessed on Sunday June 3rd.  

It actually was a good decision to bless him that weekend.  Brandon and I took advantage of Memorial day weekend and cleaned the apartment from top to bottom.  Then all I had to do was maintain the cleanliness.   Which with toddlers is easier said than done.  Still I think I did an okay job.  Here are the girls chilling out in their TV watching chairs (both of which technically belong to Derrick)

On Friday I packed the kids up and took them out to my parents after dropping Brandon off at work.  My Mom had a kiddie pool waiting for the girls.

Derrick enjoyed being outside.

Then I picked up Brandon and we took the girls out to eat at In'N'Out burger.  We hardly ever take the girls out to eat and I was a little worried how they would act.  But they are now old enough that they can sit in the regular chairs and eat.

They were so cute acting like big girls and eating fries.

Then on Saturday we went to enjoy free fishing day at the Bountiful Pond.  The girls and I fed the ducks.

We were at the pond for a Branch activity that Brandon planned.  Throughout the morning there were about 12 participants in the activity which was great.  However, for the amount of work that Brandon put into the activity (scouting the location, buying food, helping with fliers, going door to do to invite people, getting up early to get a good spot, etc) that number was kind of a let down.

We decided on a new family rule: "No more killing ourselves for church activities."  We also decided to not get reimbursed for all the food Brandon bought and just use it at the luncheon for Derrick the next day.

We spent Saturday night straightening up the apartment and rearranging furniture.  Then Sunday morning we set up everything for the luncheon. Brandon's parents came early to help prep the food and help with the girls. I'm so glad we live on the bottom floor because we were able to use the lawn right outside our apartment.

Well actually there is a bunch of dirt right outside our apartment.  On Saturday I added 4 paving stones to the 4 that were already  there to create a better walkway out to the grass.

We also got our wedding backdrop fountain up and running for the event.

Charlotte and Lydia couldn't resist it.  (Charlotte went to church soaking wet)

Oh and on top of everything else that was going on, I somehow found time to sew Derrick's blessing outfit.  I made the jacket out of one of my dad's old dress shirts.  The romper was from a pair of my office pants that had a busted zipper.  I already had the patterns and a zipper.  This whole outfit didn't cost a penny!

I finished putting in the zipper (it was easier than stupid snaps) on Saturday.  The whole outfit turned out really cute.

At 11:00 people started arriving for the luncheon.  We'd opted to do the luncheon before church for two reasons.  1. Our sacrament meeting doesn't start until 1:00 and 2. Brandon is the Elder's Quorum president so we couldn't just skip out after sacrament meeting was over.

It was really nice to have a relaxing luncheon.  Everyone admired Derrick.

And lots of people enjoyed lunch on the lawn.

One person almost missed out on the whole luncheon though.  A half an hour before people showed up we put the girls down for a nap in the hopes that they would at least get some rest before the party started.  Charlotte was really grumpy so I thought she would fall asleep for sure.  Instead it was Lydia that conked out.

She slept for about an hour with 30 plus people walking through the apartment.  Eventually I woke her up and she groggily joined in the fun.  

At 12:30 we cleaned up and walked across the street to the church.  Brandon gave Derrick a beautiful blessing.  Once again I thought about how just two years ago I was wishing it was my turn to have a baby blessed.  And now it was my third child being blessed.  It was nice to focus on the blessing and not worry about the party anymore.

Derrick's full name is Derrick Thomas Illguth.  Here is how we came up with his name.  

We wanted to continue our tradition of the first initial being a roman numeral.  So we were focusing on names that started with I (1), V (5), L (50), C (100), D (500) or M (1000).  

One day, before we found out the gender, Brandon quoted a line from the movie the Swan Princess which reminded me of the name Odette which is the Princess's name. I asked Brandon if the baby was a girl would he like to name her Odette.  He said no way, but he did like the name Derrick which was the princes's name.  I liked the name too.  Neither of us knew anyone named Derrick (so the name hadn't been ruined), and it started with a D so we decided that was the name.  

The middle name took a little bit longer to decide on even though it shouldn't have.  When Brandon was born his parents named him after the prophet of the church at the time, Spencer W Kimball.  So Brandon's middle name is Spencer.  We eventually decided to continue the tradition by naming Derrick after the current prophet, Thomas S Monson.  It took a little bit to decide to do that because I'd dated a guy whose last name was Thomas and I didn't know how I felt about my son having that name.  But in the end Derrick Thomas sounded so good that I decided to go with it anyway. 

After sacrament meeting (which by the way was so easy because we had so many helpers) most people left.  My parents and Brandon's dad stayed for the rest of the meetings and then came home and helped us clean up and put the furniture back.  

After they left we collapsed on the couch and watched the fourth Shrek movie.  Then we put the girls to bed and we went to bed ourselves at the unheard of time of 9:30.  As we fell asleep I kept saying, "today was such a good day!"  And it was - even if it all happened a month earlier than I would have liked it to.