i said 'tentative'

holy smokes, before we get any more comments on our trip to germany, i must make an ammendment to that post. yesterday, bryan was accepted into the army's aegd (advanced education in general dentistry) program. he applied a while ago and we thought he was not going to be accepted. due to other participants in the hpsp (health professions scholarship program) declining on the offer, bryan was accepted. the program is for one year and afterwards we will fulfill our 4 year commitment. after much thought, prayers, and list-making, we have decided that we will participate in the aegd program. it was quite a tough decision to leave germany and the thompson's (who knows if we will ever have the opportunity to serve overseas or with them again), but we both felt like the aegd program will help bryan a great deal as a dentist and that it was the right choice to make for our family. we feel very fortunate to have been accepted and to have so many opportunities made available to us. thank you all for your support on our trip to germany! we will now be headed to fort sill, oklahoma. go sooners?!?

taylor and aubree get hitched

this past weekend, we attend the sealing of taylor and aubree in utah. we drove to las vegas on thursday night (poor gracie threw up in the car on the drive). we stayed with aunt pam for the night, then we drove friday up to utah. friday night, raegan threw up, so on saturday morning, i stayed with the kids, while bryan attended the sealing. i was very sad to miss it, and bryan said it was excellent. after the sealing, i met up with them at the temple to take some family pictures. aubree and taylor looked so wonderful. (p.s. grace did not want to smile again, she was being very stubborn... note her closed eyes).





after the temple, we headed to the luncheon. grace and raegan were dropped off with some babysitters and we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch and program. it was very touching to hear so many comments about taylor and aubree. when we went to pick up the girls, we found grace outside throwing snowballs at this truck.


doesn't she look lovely in her dress? and look at her throw that snowball! she really loves to play in the snow.

after we got the girls, we picked up aaron and ran a couple of errands before the reception. the reception was great. we saw lots of family members that we haven't seen in a long time. we left a bit early to put raegan to bed (she had a very high fever and was not acting her normal active self). we headed back to the condo to play guitar hero (courtesy of aaron) and wait for the rest of the crew to arrive.

sunday, we wished mom horspool a happy birthday and headed back home to california. we are so grateful that we were able to make the trip to utah. we are utterly happy for taylor and aubree and wish them the best!

ich liebe deutschland!

translation, 'i love germany'. ok, well, maybe we aren't there just yet. for all of you waiting and waiting we have finally received a 'tentative' army assignment. drum roll please, we are headed to storck barracks in illesheim, germany. we have been assigned for 3 years. are we excited? (yes - for bryan, sort of - for jamie, we're moving? - for grace and raegs). we will be relatively close to many things... italy, paris, london. we are looking forward to the experience. also stationed at storck barracks are our good friends, the thompson's (bryan and nate carpool to school together.) we are grateful that they will be there with us! we'll keep you updated as to when we will be leaving and any other exciting news that comes our way regarding germany. hopefully that semester of german i took at byu will come in handy. i just know i will be using the phrase 'when is your birthday' oh so frequently. auf wiedersehen.

the escape artist

well, as many of you know, raegan has been climbing out of her crib for the past little while. she doesn't know how to climb back in, but she gets herself out after every nap and in the mornings. recently, she has found that climbing out when she is supposed to be asleep is a pretty fun game (not so fun for mommy). she would climb out 4 or 5 times before she would finally give in and stay in bed and sleep. this is how we found her the other day (well, way back in january since i haven't posted in forever)...


she climbed out and managed to fall asleep next to grace's bed. what a silly girl. i'm mostly surprised that we never even knew she climbed out. usually, as soon as she is out, she races for her door and starts to open it... maybe this time she was too tired to make it!

here is a little picture update for grace and raegs. i wanted to take some pictures before grace went to school and this was the best one that i managed to get.


raegan thinks it is funny to say cheese and grace never wants to smile anymore... all the other pictures i took had raegan in motion trying to get off the couch. oh well!

mom, i don't want to be called the 'h' name

ok, super funny story. the other night me and the girls were at dinner with alison, jax, nik, and kenzy (our husbands were m.i.a.). as we were leaving, grace says to me, 'mom, ms. barbara called me the 'h' name.' i asked her what the 'h' name was, but all she kept saying was that ms. barbara called her the 'h' name and she didn't like it. i said, ok, when did she call you the 'h' name. she then managed to tell me that ms. barbara called her the 'h' name, then they washed their hands and ate their snack, then they lined up and went outside to play, then they came in and read a book and did crafts at their stations, then they sang abc rock (a complete listing of her daily activities after 10:30 that morning). i was completely confused. so, i asked alison (she had worked as a helper in the class that day) what she was talking about. before they have their snack, they clean up and sit on the carpet. ms. barbara has a flash cards for each child with their name on it. she holds up the card and then spells the name and that is how she dismisses them to wash up for snack. well, apparently, one child said something about his last name and so ms. barbara decided that she would dismiss the class by spelling their last name. so, when she got to grace, she said 'h-o-r-s-p-o-o-l' and grace didn't realize that was how you spell her last name. that was the 'h' name that she didn't like. how silly. we had a long talk about her first and last name and now i think she likes the 'h' name again.

elephant girl

ms. barbara forwarded this picture to me that she took of grace in school. they were learning about the letter 'e' and elephants. i thought it was pretty cute!