A redhead in the family!

           In a week and a couple of days, our family will grow again!

We are so excited that Sarah has found such a great companion

in Josh.  She met him around the time that AJ was born.  

The family's first meeting was at the baby blessing of AJ in April.

He willingly subjected himself to the chaos of immediate and extended family

craziness over the weekend.  He didn't run away! That alone says a lot about him. 
He loves horses too!!

He proposed to Sarah in front of her Whitaker grandparents in Arizona, since

they wouldn't be able to attend the wedding because of health reasons.  Sweet!

They came to LA for Sarah's first time in the temple.

 And of course, we had to expose him to our love of Disney.  He likes it too!

And his last exposure to our family was a sweet trip to Maui.

He was only able to come the last couple of days, but certainly

fit right in.

 It is evident that he loves and cares for Sarah so much, which makes us thrilled.

I'm confident that they will find great happiness together.

They will become a forever family December 15 in the Mt Timpanogos temple in Utah.

Then, we'll finally have a redhead in the family!!

Rachel's engaged!!!

I'm so excited to announce that my daughter Rachel is

entering a whole new phase in life by being engaged to this groovy guy!!

Andrew and Rachel have known each other since Winter semester last year (same ward) but

only started dating this semester.  They had the opportunity to serve together

by working for BYUI "I night" (a night of activities to help college kids get adjusted to their

new surroundings).  They found that they got along really well, so of course, they spent

a lot of time together.

We had the chance to meet Andrew when we traveled to Utah to help Bekah prepare

for her mission by going through the temple (I'll post about that another day).  Andrew was kind enough to drive our girls down from Idaho then spent time with his cousin while we did family things. Our first meeting was in the parking lot of the temple.  He was quite shy (understandably so).  But we got to know him better the next day when he joined our family as we listened to our church leaders speak at

General Conference.  He fit right in, jokes and all!

The picture above is of our "between meetings activity".  We went to a fabulous vintage 

thrift store where we had a blast trying things on.

Believe it or not I almost bought this hat!!

After getting to know Andrew, Joseph and I both agree that Rachel chose well.

He was very respectful to us and considerate of Rachel's needs.  He served the Lord on his mission in Peru and has a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  

Many of you have asked about Rachel's mission, "What about Mongolia?"

Weeelll, basically she 's not going.  But, of course she and Andrew can go on a mission

to Mongolia together when they are much much older (like 70-something). But for now,

no big fur hats or throat singing. 

We were so pleased that she wanted to serve the Lord on a mission in the first place.

We are also so pleased and thrilled that she wants to make sacred covenants to a wonderful guy for all eternity.  It will be the start of a different kind of mission, for raising

a family who loves the Lord is a mission indeed!!

Because short engagements are optimal ;) aaaannnd because Bekah IS leaving on her mission to Ohio in January, the wedding date is set for December 19 (yes, in 2015) in the LA Temple.  I've always told my kids if they wanted a short engagement, that we would be supportive and up for the challenge of planning.

Soooo, here we go!!

Our first engagement!!

Last year while we were skyping Jacob on his mission, we were telling him that his cousin, who just got off his mission, was getting married.  It officially put us the last family on either side, to have a wedding.  He reassured me that when he came home, he would be the first in our family.  We all laughed.

Well, it must have been a premonition cause he was true to his word.  Three and a half months home and he's engaged!!  We couldn't be happier!!   The highlights are that it all started when he got home and attended his first singles' ward (church) activity.  He met a very cute girl named Lisa.  They hit it off and ended up talking for two hours that very night.  Jacob started a job that had him working 12 hour days but he made an effort to see her at "Temple night" (good choice!).  When the job ended, time allowed their relationship bloom even more.

Jacob says he was shocked at the rate they clicked (not quite 2 months) so when he went back to BYU in January, he decided to make sure it was right by dating other girls.  That lasted a week! When it's right, it's right!!  Right?!  So we encouraged him to go for it and the rest is history.  Dad, me and the older kids spent the last couple of weeks helping him plan everything out. Sarah even became the ring model, which she relished so much she tried on a few for future reference.

Since Lisa is a competitive surfer and loves the ocean, Sarah suggested the aquarium where she works for the proposal backdrop.  Sarah pulled strings to be there after closing and it would all happen in the shark underwater tunnel.  I panicked a little when I realized that's all they had planned. How could they be alone?  Where would he put the ring box where she wouldn't catch on? Pictures?  Surely they'll take pictures and video!

True to Whitaker form, they flew by the seat of their pants.  It's hilarious to hear them all tell the story of how Sarah's heart leapt when Jacob secretly passed the ring off to her and that she was sure her nervousness would give it all away.  Then when it came time, she was so nervous, she was oblivious to his hand in the "give me" position behind his back till Joseph pointed it out.  And then Joseph didn't catch Sarah's clue to leave them alone because they hadn't planned an excuse to leave.  Lisa thought Jacob was acting weird and wondered why his hands were so cold.  Finally, Joseph and Sarah hid around the corner and awkwardly waited to film the right moment.

I made the mistake of asking to see the video while we were shopping in Walmart.  I began to cry when I saw him get down on one knee.  Lisa then realizes what is happening and she squeals with joy and wraps her arms around his neck.  It was so sweet, I was a mess.  It chokes me up just writing about it.

Outside the aquarium.

Dad and I wanted to celebrate with them so we booked a flight for the weekend.  The festivities began when we took everyone to Walmart to buy groceries as our Valentine to them.

Jacob the joker, riding his brother's cart while pushing his own.

 That night we took everyone to a sweet Italian restaurant, Gloria's Little Italy, in downtown Provo.  The food was delicious and they even had an accordion player who came to our table and played whatever Disney song we asked him to play.

For those who are wondering (cause it seems everyone is asking), there's not a date set for the wedding but generally it will be this summer, sometime.  We'll let ya know....

Just a little silliness where ever he goes.

Lisa, Jacob did great by choosing you!  We are so happy for the both of you and can see that you go so well together.  I look forward to you being a part of our family.  This is going to be a great year!!