B (2:11)

Yeah.

A (2:11)

But kids are kids. And even though it's a direct flight from. From LA to Arkansas, which is nice, it's about three and a half hours, right?

B (2:20)

Yeah.

A (2:20)

It's still just the fact of traveling is difficult.

B (2:24)

Exactly. I think the biggest thing is, of course, keeping the kids from putting their hands in their mouth at the airport, crawling on the floor.

A (2:32)

Yeah.

B (2:33)

And then once you get to where you're going, a lot of times the kids don't want to sleep because they're not in their own setup, in their own beds. Their routines are broken up, so usually they're a little bit more cranky. And I think those are a couple of the challenges that we. We're facing.

A (2:49)

Yeah. So we show up to Arkansas, and we were gonna stay with Joy and Austin.

B (2:55)

Yep.

A (2:56)

And there's always. Family is always inviting us to stay in places, and it's awesome. They're so hospitable. That's one of the things about Duggars is like, oh, yeah, you'll always have a place to stay, but just this time of year. And actually, this is, like, across the country, Everybody was getting the flu. I don't know if it's still going.

B (3:14)

Yeah, but it is.

A (3:15)

But we show up. Joy and Austin are literally moving. So we're gonna stay with Sy and Lauren. But we recognized pretty quickly that there was some stuff spreading through the family.

B (3:28)

Yeah. Different ones of the kiddos started coming down with stomach bugs. Some were getting sick with fevers, and people were dropping like flies. I think even at the big house, we had considered staying there, because it was like, there were a couple days where it was gonna be vacant. And so we're like, oh, maybe we could just pop over there. But then my mom and a couple of my sisters got sick, and so it was very quickly. That was out of the picture. We couldn't use that place. So we finally decided after moving, did we move the first two nights or so? How'd that work the first night?

A (4:06)

We moved after the first night because one of Sy. Lauren's kids ended up. They thought she was getting sick. She ended up not, which was really great. She dodged a bullet. But Lauren is so sweet, and she came and said, look, I think she might be getting sick. So it's like, we wake up the next morning, and she's really sensitive about that, which is so kind. So we say, thanks for telling us. So we get our bags, and we had determined we had other families to go to, but we didn't want to be. We didn't want to make them sick if we were gonna get something. And families left and right were just coming down with stuff.

B (4:40)

Yeah, everybody. I feel like there were so many that had sickness, and so we thought, instead of moving every single night, let's get a VRBO for a few days and see what happens. And good thing we did.

A (4:52)

Oh, my goodness.

B (4:53)

Good thing we got that vrbo. Because Jeremy ended up coming down with what we think may have been the flu. We weren't sure. So when I say this, I actually Put something on Instagram yesterday talking about how I was pretty certain I had the flu or Covid, I don't even know, but I had one of those. And I saw so many people say, well, why didn't you test? Why didn't you test for it? We did an at home test for Jeremy, but it came up nothing. It said it was none of the major.

A (5:23)

And it had like all of the flus and the.

B (5:26)

But all of the symptoms that you had were like flu related and that's what was going around. So had we taken you to like a. A real. What is that called? Urgent care or like a doctor's office there we may have gotten a better read. But also we didn't test until you were maybe three days into it.

A (5:44)

Right.

B (5:45)

We kind of wanted to make sure that whatever you had was not going to just continue to spread or what the incubation periods of that were were going to be. So, yeah, we did test, but needless to say, you were out.

A (5:57)

Well, this is where the disaster strikes because some of the family was traveling. Some of the family had gone through, gotten the stomach bug and they were saying to you, like, oh, Ginge, this is the worst I've ever had. Oh yeah, I threw up for 12 hours straight or whatever. And you're just like, are you kidding me? And so. And it wasn't just the family. Everybody, yes. Like we knew everybody over. Everybody's just dropping like flies. Right. So we're holed up in this verbo. And I don't know if it's verbo or vrbo, but I go verbo. And here's the thing about it, it's cold. You're sitting there in like Fayetteville. You can't see anybody because some people are sick, others it's just half of them were out of town for a few days. So we end up spending. I drop. Finnegan got sick too, but not as bad. So I am down for the cow. So I'm chills, you know, laying in bed. Not my Brooklyn bed with our cozy earth sheets, mind you, in a VRBO bed, which shout out verbo. You guys are great. It was fun, easy process. Yeah, fantastic spot. But you're away from home. I'm sitting there helpless as you are wrangling kids who, mind you, have no toys to play with. They don't have a playroom. Finn is getting into everything he shouldn't.

B (7:19)

There was a staircase and all Finn wanted to do was go up the staircase. And then he doesn't. He's not good with stairs. So we have stairs at our house.

A (7:28)

He's not good with stairs because he goes up five stairs and then stands.

B (7:31)

Up and turns around and he just goes to fall. So I was just doing that for three to four days, trying to chase him up and down the stairs. And then like you said, there were no toys. At one point, I was literally so tempted to just pull out their Christmas gifts and be like, have at it. I literally asked him, I was like, can I please just give them their Christmas gifts? One or two please, per kid, because we need toys.

A (7:56)

So I don't know if you as listeners can relate to this, but have you ever been in a scenario where your mind starts playing tricks on you and then you stop seeing like you stop perceiving reality probably the way it should be perceived? And I felt so bad for you, Ginge, because I could see this spiral happening where you're so frustrated. You, you were being so sweet to me, taking care of me and being really kind. I felt awful because I'm just like, chills. And then the other thing is I need to stay away from the kids. So we don't get it.

B (8:25)

You were isolated in the room and.

A (8:27)

So you're taking care of me. Being all kind, but also watching a little nine month old crawl everywhere in that stage of life, trying to stand but can't quite, you know, it's difficult. And then the girls, you know, they're pent up, so they're trying to get energy out, they're running around, they're doing whatever. Then they're watching Bluey and you can do an afternoon of that. Day two, day four, day three, day four, and we start spiraling where we're sitting there going, what are we doing here? And then we're thinking, so what's the plan? Jeremy's gonna feel better, probably another kid's gonna get sick or Ginger's gonna get sick. Even though you are like Ironman, you'd never get sick. But we'll get to that because you end up going down for the count. But what are we gonna do for Christmas? We're gonna show up to the big house with 40 family members. Like, there's not gonna be sickness there. Like, what are we signing ourselves up for? And so we're just in our heads.

B (9:34)

We were like, okay, So I think a lot of it was me because at that point I was like, what are we even doing here? Let's fly home. So I literally was looking at flights, like, let's just get out of here before we all come down with it. Because you were so sick. You were so sick for all those days. And the worst thing would be to have to just be in a VRBO and just paying for this. To sit there and be able to.

A (10:01)

Can I just say this? Yeah. So, okay, here's another piece of the puzzle that you just brought up. Joy and Austin were moving. One of the reasons they were moving before Christmas is because they really wanted to host us.

B (10:13)

Yeah.

A (10:14)

And they got a beautiful new house and they're working on this house and they have space and all this stuff. So they're working tirelessly. Austin is working his butt off. They're wanting to host us for Christmas. But their timeline, as it always does with things like that, is getting pushed back a little bit. But then we're pushing back, going over to their house because they got everything ready for us. But I was still sick. So we're like, okay, we're gonna go over to their house on Sunday. And then it becomes, no, we're gonna go on Monday. And it becomes, no, we're gonna go on Tuesday. But what happened was the vrbo. And I'd imagine, like, Airbnb is probably like this too. The price of the VRBO kept going up.

B (10:55)

We wanna take a break from this episode to tell you about Cozy Earth.

A (10:58)

I already mentioned it in this episode, but this, this episode is the perfect endorsement for Cozy Earth. Because I was literally thinking, I just want to be in my bed as I'm sticking that VRBO with my Cozy Earth sheets, with my Cozy Earth blanket, with my Cozy Earth pillows, with. I mean, it was like, just get me back to Cozy Earth.

B (11:17)

Oh, yeah. And we've had Cozy Earth stuff like sheets and all of that on our bed for a long time in our pajamas. But when we got home, I was super happy because we had just ordered another pattern of the Cozy Earth sheets and we were able to put them on. And I was super excited because they're so much fun. And like we said, they're buttery soft, they make the best gift, and they have a hundred night free trial. So you can try out the sheets for 100 night, see if you like them.

A (11:44)

Okay, we got to talk to you about Cozy Earth's Baja bedding set. It's their first collection to have a complete matching set sit. And that's what we just got. So from matching sheets to duvet cover to matching quilt coverlet, it's inspired by the serene colors and dramatic textures of the Baja California landscape.

B (12:00)

And we love it.

A (12:01)

We love it. Okay, here's your call to action. Start the new year off, right? Give your home the luxury it deserves and make home the best part of life. That's got our full endorsement.

B (12:11)

So head to cozyearth.com and use my promo code ginger for 20% off.

A (12:15)

And if you get a post purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here on the Ginger and Jeremy podcast. So refresh your routine with comfort that makes every day feel like a new year.

B (12:28)

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about zocdoc.

A (12:31)

We love these brands and partnerships we do for the podcast, but all of them are lining up perfectly with the episode theme because zocdoc, I mean, we need zocdoc in moments like what we had. If you need to see a doctor, if you're unsure of what you got, if you're trying to get a prescription and you're, you are lost in the confusion of finding the right place, the right doctor, zocdoc is your solution. It's free and you'll find a doctor near you who can help.

B (12:58)

ZocDoc is a free app and website that helps you find and book high quality doctors that are in network so you can find someone that you love.

A (13:05)

We're talking about booking in network appointments with over 150,000 doctors across 50 states. So here's what you want to do. Stop putting off these doctor appointments. Go to zoc doc.com ginger that's z o c d o c zoc doc.com ginger to find and instantly book a doctor you love today. Zocdoc.com Ginger Thanks Zocdoc for sponsoring this message. We appreciate you guys.

B (13:28)

Now back to the episode.

A (13:33)

Because we kept rebooking it later and later and later. So I book it the day before, it goes up a little bit. And then the last time we rebooked it, it was triple the price because I booked it within like 10 hours of having to stay there again.

B (13:48)

Terrible.

A (13:48)

And so you're just like. So all of a sudden everything's compounding.

B (13:53)

Oh, yeah.

A (13:54)

We're sitting there in cold Fayetteville, which it was freezing.

B (14:00)

So later in the time around Christmas, it got warm.

A (14:04)

Oh, yeah.

B (14:05)

Like this was icy cold. I think it was in the 30s.

A (14:09)

Yeah.

B (14:10)

And at night it was even cooler. So we tried to go out a couple evenings, just like, let's drive around for a minute just to be in our car, be out.

A (14:18)

There was one day, you know how when you get the flu, like you think, oh, I'm good, I'm over it. You start to get Some energy. So you go out and we go to Marketplace for lunch, which is a favorite, you know, spot, classic spot of yours. And we're eating lunch and I can start feeling it. Oh no, getting the chills. I don't have an appetite now. I'm in this, you know, cold restaurant which everybody else felt normal, but I, I'm shivering. I'm going, this is just. We got to get back to the vrbo. So we made an attempt at going out. So we're sitting there going, we're just door dashing. Every meal it's cold.

B (14:51)

It was an expensive trip, that's for sure.

A (14:53)

It's getting more and more expensive. So we're just sitting there going, what are we doing? So you get to a breaking point on Monday night. This is the Monday before Christmas. Christmas is on Thursday. Right. And you're just like, what do we, we have to leave?

B (15:07)

Yeah.

A (15:07)

And I'm sitting there going, you know, I'm thinking the kids are going to have this Christmas memory of being with the Forsyth and then going to the big house is going to be a lifetime memory for the kids. So core memory formation. But then the gamble is, are the kids going to be throwing up all through Christmas because are we going to get sick? Are they going to have the flu? Wouldn't we rather all of us just be sick at our house? Mind you, this is just to make it even crazier. There's like torrential flooding like never has been seen. Like record breaking here in la.

B (15:42)

Yeah.

A (15:43)

So we're gonna fly back, but it's like the next 10 days are gonna be floods.

B (15:48)

Yep.

A (15:48)

And infrastructure destroyed, homes destroyed. Like so we're gonna come back to a house spending Christmas as a family but alone with no other family, with torrential downpour. Half the gifts we got the kids, we're gonna have to leave them in Arkansas. So it was like a rock and a hard place. What do we do?

B (16:10)

Terrible, terrible. So as we're sitting there, I was like, let's go. Like we literally had 30 minutes to decide if we were gonna buy that flight because we had flexible flights that we had bought, by the way.

A (16:21)

Always book flexible flights, always get insurance.

B (16:24)

Usually we do insurance, but not flexible flights. And this time the only reason we did flexible flights was because that was the cheapest option. And because I always book, I always book the cheapest option and I do get insurance. But this one, for some reason it was like the next tier up, that was the only one that was available for our days that we wanted to fly. So we Paid that amount, which wasn't insane. It was actually pretty decent. And then we got flexible flights, which we ended up changing our flights a couple different times, which we'll get into.

A (16:58)

So flexible flights. So it was. I had never done this before, so I. You're sitting there saying, why don't we go home? I'm sitting there going, because I was starting to feel a bit better where I'm like, okay, I think I'm over this so I can fly. Because you wouldn't want to fly with the flu and get everybody sick. So at that point, Monday night, I'm like, yeah, I can do this. So you're saying, okay, you're feeling better. Before any of us gets hit with this, let's just get home. We have this short window. The torrential downpour starts on Tuesday, so flights are going to be canceled. We had Monday night. So I look at the flights. There's a cost to change the flights. Typically $300 a person, $200 a person. So it's going to cost us at least a grand on top of the. Probably cost us a couple grand to fly everybody that time of year anyway. So I'm like, are you kidding me? Well, at 7:30 at night, we're talking about this at 5:00', clock, at 7:30 there's a flight and it's gonna cost us $5 a person to change it. And so I'm like about to click the button. We FaceTime. Joy. Joy, we're thinking about going home. She's like, no, don't go home. No. We're so close. We're ready for you guys. And we're like.

B (18:09)

She said, come even if you're sick. Come even if you're sick. Cause they already had the flu a week before we got there.

A (18:15)

Yeah.

B (18:16)

So.

A (18:17)

So we're sitting there but like, it was an impossible situation.

B (18:21)

It felt just. We were all so confused and we were sleep deprived. We were just frustrated.

A (18:29)

Sick of ordering out food. Like, yeah, they put a new potbelly sandwich in Springdale. I love potbelly. Like, potbelly is the greatest. I'm like, I can't do another pot belly sandwich because it's just everything is order out.

B (18:47)

Yeah.

A (18:48)

And I'm like, I just want lasagna from. I just want Ginger's lasagna or something. Like just some home cooked something. And it was just really. So we're sitting there going, like, do we press this button? Change our flight crazy fast.

B (19:05)

Throw everything in the suitcases.

A (19:06)

Throw everything in the suitcases.

B (19:07)

But we had a Lot of packages too, that were sent to my family's house.

A (19:11)

Oh yeah, we would have had to go around your wedding ring. I'm like, I gotta go to Josiah's and get the wedding ring.

B (19:17)

Wow.

A (19:18)

Like, we have all these gifts because we'd sent, we had sent Christmas to Arkansas.

B (19:22)

And we also were buying gifts for some of like the nieces and nephews, you know, you were buying for Pops, I was buying for Jana. So like I had gifts that we needed to wrap, put together. So then we were just thinking through it and I'm glad you were the one who ultimately was level headed in that moment and just said, hold on, we need to pause and think about what we actually want. What is the worst that can happen? And I think you started saying, like, if everybody comes down with something, like our entire family, then we come down with something. But at the end of the day, is that gonna happen? We don't know.

A (19:59)

And so the risk reward. Right. Like I was looking at. And honestly, it was a lot of my. I get real. I don't know if nostalgic's the right word.

B (20:10)

Yeah, you do.

A (20:11)

But like, I, I want certain, like birthday or Christmas morning to be very special. And so I, I don't want. And our kids have never been ungrateful. Like, they've never been like, oh, we don't have gifts. They've always been like, really sweet when they get anything. They're really grateful for it. But I want it to be memorable. And I was thinking we're gonna fly back to la, have kind of a makeshift Christmas, you know, try to bring some of these gifts. They'll be devastated. Cause they've been so excited to see their cousins, to be with everybody. And it'll be like, it might be a core memory, but like the opposite kind of core memory. Like, remember that Christmas? And so I thought, we're going to get sick, we're going to get sick. At some point we need to just trust the Lord. Not in like a. Not saying, like, he's going to spare us sickness because, you know, he allows, you know, science to work, but in the sense of like, hey, we've paid all this money, we've come all this way. What's the worst that can happen? So it was literally, I mean, I'm not kidding. We called joy on FaceTime probably three times. I think you might have cried. Joy was upset because they had done all this incredible work on this house. I'm sitting there going, I don't know what to do. And so we decided we're gonna stay. We're gonna stay.

B (21:39)

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Article.

A (21:42)

You might notice something different about the studio today. New year, new studio. Not a new studio.

B (21:47)

New furniture for sure.

A (21:49)

This furniture is awesome and it comes right from Article. When we were told that Article is interested in working with us on the podcast, we were over the moon because we buy their stuff all the time anyway.

B (22:01)

Oh, yeah. And so does our family. I mean, I remember the first time I heard about Article. I think it was from my sister Jessa. She ordered a couch or two. And then my sister Joy got something from Article. They're big fans. And then we got on the Article game and started ordering stuff from them.

A (22:16)

It's high quality white glove delivery and it's fast. We ordered these two chairs. They showed up, they said, where do you want it? The guys brought it in, delivered it right here to the studio. Convenient, fast, high quality furniture. And here's the deal for our listeners, we are offering $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit article.com ginger and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. That's article.com ginger for $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. Take advantage of it today, guys, really.

B (22:50)

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Function Health.

A (22:53)

Here's the thing about New Year's resolutions, which I know a lot of you guys have made them. 80% of them, they say fail by February. But if you make a resolution to own your health and to really understand what's going on with your body, if you take the plunge, you sign up for Function Health, which is, by the way, cheaper than it's ever been. That's a resolution that won't fail because you'll have it for the year. And check this out. I'm going to actually open my Function Health app and I'm going to show you. This is one of the best parts. It tells me my biological age based on my markers. I'm 38. Look at this.

B (23:27)

This is Jeremy's favorite part for sure. Look at that age.

A (23:32)

It says I'm 33.9 years old. I'm 4.3 years younger than my calendar age. But that's. I mean, that's insight, but it tells you everything that's going on. You get your labs checked and function gives you insight.

B (23:45)

So own your health for $365 a year. That's a dollar a day. Learn more and join using my link.

A (23:52)

Visit functionhealth.com ginger or use gift code ginger25 for a $25 credit toward your membership.

B (24:00)

Now back to the episode.

A (24:03)

If we have to, we can take a 6am flight tomorrow on Tuesday, but let's stay. So the next morning, and this is where, like, the sun breaks through, right? Like, we go to Joy and Austin's, and they're finishing stuff up in their house. I'm back. I'm feeling.

B (24:21)

It was impressive for them to host us, by the way, because they are doing a complete overhaul remodel of their house. You guys can go follow on. Follow along over on their pages. But, like, Joy, it's incredible. It's wild. Like, they are doing a complete overhaul. So we showed up when they had. They were, like, putting in can lights that day.

A (24:43)

They're putting in lights. They're putting in flooring.

B (24:45)

They're putting in flooring.

A (24:47)

I said it was the most Duggar thing ever.

B (24:49)

That is a Duggar thing.

A (24:50)

Like, I remember when we moved into this house, I'm like, I could not have hosted people for seven days.

B (24:56)

And our house was moving ready.

A (24:58)

Yeah.

B (24:58)

And their house wasn't. And so it was actually quite impressive. So unbelievable. They had the guest room ready for us, and then they realized right as we got there, they were like, oh, no, there's a couple can lights above our bed that needed to be installed. So the guy went in there, installed the can lights, and then came back out, and then they went and did the rest of the house. So literally the day we showed up, it was like they had workers everywhere doing their stuff. But then the kids, our kids and their kids had literally the best time. They were just playing nonstop. They went outside and they have, like, beautiful, you know, area for the kids to roam, play in the backyard, trampoline. They had a big playroom that was just like. It feels like a sun room. It's just so nice. Big windows everywhere. So the kids finally got to play with toys, spend time with their cousins, and they were just. I mean, we felt like we were hardly even having to watch them or do much because they were just playing together for, like, 12 hours straight. And then they would just sleep hard, go right to bed because they were so exhausted. And, like, that was. Yeah, it was a rough road to get there, but once we made it, we were like, it was worth it. Oh, my goodness, I'm so glad we stayed.

A (26:20)

And that's the best part of, like, the kids together when they're with their cousins, Forsythe, Seawalds, whoever. You almost don't see your kids like, they're there all day, but they're just so consumed in building worlds together.

B (26:35)

Yeah.

A (26:36)

So, like, they went into the Forsytheis playroom and they set up. They made a restaurant one day, and the whole day. Felicity, Evie. Evie May. Evie. Joe, Gideon. Gideon. Less so. Gideon was, like, outside throwing rocks and, like, attacking squirrels and stuff. Like, he's. He's an Arkansas boy. But they had a restaurant, a functioning restaurant, you know? And what was really sweet is they would make you a dish, and they would bring it up to you.

B (27:02)

Do you remember the sushi?

A (27:04)

Yeah, I do.

B (27:05)

Sushi. What did you do? So Jeremy was taking a nap. I don't think I told you this. You were taking a nap. And I had I had been around watching them make some snacks, and they decided that they were gonna make sushi. So Evie Mae asked me, aunt Ginger, do you like sushi? And I said, you know what? It depends on the sushi. But I know Uncle Jeremy loves sushi.

A (27:32)

Oh, my goodness. You did that?

B (27:34)

Well, she made me a coffee every morning. It did a great job.

A (27:37)

You know, they would ask me every morning if I wanted coffee. I'd be like, oh, no, no, no, I'm good.

B (27:41)

Well, I go up with them. I don't ever leave anything unsupervised. But it was sweet. Evie Mae made coffee, and then she'd ask her mom if she could have some, too. So she'd give her, like, a little bit of steamed milk with a little coffee, you know, it was cute. But, yes, I told them that Uncle Jeremy loves sushi. Cause you do. And when he woke up from a long nap, what was waiting for you?

A (28:03)

Yeah, it was. It wasn't sushi. I think they thought it looked like sushi. I forget exactly what it was. Pickle. Pickle. Oh, yeah.

B (28:13)

It was like lunch meat, like turkey. And it had probably. Was it pretzels on there, too? And then, like, cheese?

A (28:22)

Yeah.

B (28:22)

Just it was a strange combo, maybe on, like, a cracker or something. Or seaweed. They had, like, one package of seaweed, and I think they thought that was the sushi. So.

A (28:30)

But then they want they sit there and go, is it good?

B (28:32)

Are you gonna eat it?

A (28:33)

Yeah.

B (28:34)

And you don't know where their hands have been, especially with all the sickness going around. So Jeremy may have pocketed some. I think I l literally looked across the room. Probably have a video of it, actually. And you're pocketing. You're just going like this. As they turn around, you grab it and put it in your pocket. And then you later discarded a lot because it was. It was quite the combo. So cousin Creations there, that was a lot.

A (29:00)

But they were in paradise. I mean, they were just.

B (29:02)

They were. They were having such a great time with their little restaurant.

A (29:05)

So I'm glad we stayed because. And the saga's not over yet because there's a backend saga to this thing, which involves more of Ginger. But it was the eye of the storm. Like, we had an absolute tornado. We showing up to Arkansas within a few days, we're like, we gotta leave.

B (29:22)

And wait. We have to take a pause real quick because my birthday happened somewhere in there.

A (29:25)

Oh, that was on the 21st. Oh, my goodness.

B (29:27)

And on my birthday. Yes, it was really. I called James, or James called me. Well, this is the thing. James called me the night before. Yeah.

A (29:35)

James is a student.

B (29:36)

And I was very sad. I was very sad because I love my family. I love my birthday. And I was literally, like, really, really sad. Even though I wouldn't have told you that. I told you. Oh, it's okay. It's fine. Like, it's not gonna matter that, like, it was my birthday and I was. You were sick on my birthday because there's nothing you can do about it. It was like, day three of your sickness and you were still just knocked out. So tired. And so James had just called me out of the blue and, like, was seeing how we were doing. And he's like, I think I heard you were in a, you know, VRBO or whatever. And so I told him, I said, yeah, it's such a bummer cause Jeremy's not feeling well. And I said, we're just thinking, you know, do we just go home, whatever. He said, that's so terrible. I hate that for you. You shouldn't have to, you know, celebrate alone on your birthday. Buddy's like, I hope you get to do something fun anyways and celebrate tomorrow anyhow. So then I said, well, I'll probably just hit up like a coffee, drive through tomorrow for my birthday and do something fun like that. And so he said. He was like, oh, yeah, okay. So I talked to him probably for an hour, plus, I don't even know. And then that night, little did I know. 2:00am, by the way, at 2 or 2. Yeah, 2:30 in the morning or so. James showed up at our vrbo and he had my location on my phone. And he showed up and put up a birthday sign out in front. It had balloons that said Happy Birthday. And it was like, really, really fun. He put up, like, a big, big sign in the yard. And then he Had a basket full of, like, my favorite snacks and treats and stuff with, like a coffee mug, a candle, like a throw blanket, all the things. And a mini Christmas tree with, like, sparkles everywhere. It was so cute and so fun. So when I woke up in the morning, I came down wrangling the kids and opened the blinds, and I was like, what in the world is out there? I was so surprised. So James had dropped off that package and the sign and everything. And it was. It just meant the world, like, to have that little birthday surprise waiting and. Yeah. Anyhow, so that definitely brightened my birthday. And then you started feeling just a little bit better. But we still, you know, we weren't able to do a lot.

A (32:11)

Well, I was good enough to like, take the truck out and drive. And then what you did, which was really special, is you took Felicity to Locomotion.

B (32:18)

Yes.

A (32:19)

Which is where you used to go on your birthdays.

B (32:20)

So I used to go to Locomotion on my birthday. It was like a place where you could do mini golf, you could do go karts. They even had like bumper boats and arcade inside and laser tagged. But that place was so run down. It was hilarious. Because when I went back, I knew it was not the place to like, go still. But I thought, oh, my goodness, no hates on Locomotion.

A (32:44)

They're doing a good job.

B (32:44)

Well, they're hanging in there. Yeah, they're hanging in the game. We don't know how, but maybe because it's.

A (32:50)

Well, those arcades, man, it's a new era and those arcades are struggling.

B (32:54)

Well, there's some really, really fancy arcades now where you go and you swipe a card and like, it's. Everybody goes there and they're brand new and they're really nice centers and they like have all the same things the Locomotion did once, you know, back in the day. So we show. We show up and I get on this go kart. And Felicity did not want to drive herself. She wanted me to drive her on the double. And so I get on the double and I started going around the corner. And she goes, okay, mom, is this thing gonna flip? She's like holding on. And then she. Next thing I know, she's like holding on to me. So I said, should I slow down? And she's like, maybe just a little. And she told me before. She's the girl who always says she never needs a jacket. She's always sweaty and she's like, I never need a coat. I never need a jacket. Well, we got on that thing and we were flying, and she was freezing. She's like, it's so cold out here. I said, good thing you brought your jacket, girl. And she had the time of her life, though. She loved it so much. But then I think because we were the only ones out there driving the go kart, we must have gone around on 20 laps, and the guy didn't stop us. Finally, Felicity's like, I'm so cold, Mom. Can we be done? So we just pulled back in, and he's just sitting out there watching us. And I'm like, we're done. And so then we unbuckle ourselves and get out and go.

A (34:13)

He's probably just wondering, how long will they go?

B (34:16)

He probably was gonna give us another 50 laps.

A (34:18)

That's so funny. Did you actually do a NASCAR race?

B (34:20)

I mean, legit. Like, I. I was so surprised how many laps, because back in the day, you might get maybe five laps.

A (34:27)

Yeah.

B (34:28)

But we went around and around and around, and he was not waving any flags. He was just, like, looking down, doing his own thing. Yes. Literally, like. And those things were so run down, too. I will say. I'm not. No hate.

A (34:42)

Well, you said it was, like, the original.

B (34:44)

I'll go back. They were the original go karts. Cause the one when we went to get into our go kart, they were like. They tried to start it up, and they were like, well, that one doesn't. That one we'll put you in the one behind. They didn't tell me why it wouldn't start. So then we had to get the one right behind it. They pushed that one out of the way and then sent us on our way. But it was all ripped. Like, all the seats were ripped. Like, they were, like, 30 years old.

A (35:06)

That's a cool memory, though. She experienced on your birthday a childhood memory of yours.

B (35:11)

It was so fun.

A (35:12)

And I'm sitting in the truck with Evie, and we took a drive around. Yeah. With Finn. And that was really sad because I had all these plans for your birthday, and none of them could be executed. I was gonna get some of the girls to watch the kids. Well, then at that point, you're like, well, people are sick. And then we were gonna go out shopping, then go do a nice dinner.

B (35:32)

But it was okay.

A (35:32)

Instead, I'm, like, shivering in a bed.

B (35:35)

That's what I get for having a birthday in December, so. No, but you usually always make my birthdays really special. And it was special. I think James definitely pulled through, and what a stud.

A (35:47)

And that was at 2:30. I just randomly woke Up. And he said, can you go outside and check that I put this in front of the right house?

B (35:54)

I'm glad he did, because even one of those days when I ordered food to the house, I was at the house and I dropped a pin on the maps. Cause I didn't remember the house number. So I was upstairs, and I didn't want to go all the way down and see what the house number was. So I just dropped a pin and ordered to that location. Well, when it showed up, it went to the neighbor's house right down the. Like, the one that was almost identical to ours. And so I was like, oh, no, where's our chick Fil A? And so I went outside, looked around for it, didn't see it across the street. So I walked down the hill, and sure enough, it was in front of this other house. So I just ran up on the porch and grabbed it. I was like, okay, this is fine. It was still out there.

A (36:36)

But yeah, so let's go to Christmas Day, because that was. It was really special. And the Lord allowed all of us to be healthy. We do Christmas morning with the forsyth, which was just incredible. I mean, it was, like, magical. We read the Christmas story. We're gonna put a vlog up of Christmas Day too, so you guys can go watch all the vlog stuff on our YouTube channel where you'd watch this podcast. If you're listening on Apple or whatever, just go to your YouTube channel, Ginger and Jeremy. So we'll have the whole thing up in a week or so. But magical Christmas morning, you know, like, just perfect. It was just perfect. With the forsyth.

B (37:14)

It was.

A (37:15)

It's everything you want it to be. Everybody in their Christmas pajamas, opening gifts one by one. The kids are having the time of their life. I'm in that state officially in that stage of life. Ginge of, like, sitting back, one spot on the couch, cup of coffee, like, I get my shirts, my sweatshirt, you know, didn't get underwear this year, which is a little disappointing.

B (37:36)

Well, you did.

A (37:36)

Well, actually, Austin did. At a. What was it?

B (37:39)

Your whitey tighties?

A (37:40)

Elephant. A white elephant thing Ended up.

B (37:43)

Did you find that in the podcast?

A (37:44)

I did.

B (37:45)

Joy did that.

A (37:46)

Joy is crazy. She pranked Joy when I took all of her podcast stuff out because we brought the podcast equipment. Arkansas. There's a pair of whitey tighties in there. So I. But I'm in that stage of just, like, watching the kids and just totally, like, this is so fun for them.

B (38:02)

It is. It's so sweet. And just watching them with their Cousins was the best because they were looking at each other like, what did you get? And they were excited to give gifts as well, which was really sweet.

A (38:14)

That's the best.

B (38:14)

That was awesome.

A (38:15)

So explain to our listeners what was Christmas morning at the Duggar house like?

B (38:22)

Oh, my goodness. So this was the first time we had been back for a Duggar Christmas on Christmas day since we've been married. So the reason for that was because Jer's family, like, typically, they do a big Christmas thing, and we've just always done that because your family is, you know, that's like, when they're able to get together. So we've done that for years, but then we really, really wanted to do Christmas with my family one year, and we've talked about it for the past couple of years. And last year, we went back around Christmas, around my birthday, actually, and spent those days before Christmas with my family, and then flew back here and had Christmas with your family. But anyhow, so that's why it was, like, the first time back. So we show up, and it was like, people everywhere. There were gifts everywhere. So all around the edges of, like, the living room area, there were sections that were labeled with each person's name.

A (39:28)

Yeah. And each family.

B (39:29)

In each family.

A (39:30)

So then on the massive counter, or what do you call that?

B (39:36)

The kitchen counter, the bar.

A (39:38)

But what is it? Floaty island? Mom and dad had gotten every single grandkid a gift.

B (39:46)

So there's 40 bags with 40 bags that were big. They were big bags. And those are basically your stockings. So the. That's something that my parents always did for us when we were growing up. They would always have, like, stockings for us, but it wasn't, like, proper stockings. It was like a big gift bag or a, like, organization bucket full of stuff. And so they would put, you know, favorite snacks. So this year had, like, seaweed, you know, beef jerky, a couple fun candies, which I actually appreciated this. They did not put that many candies in the bags this year. They did more chocolates, and I think my mom did that in lollipops instead of the regular lollipops.

A (40:31)

Some complaints about the dentist office dollies.

B (40:33)

Which are like, the Xylitol.

A (40:35)

Yeah, yeah. She actually gives healthy lollipops.

B (40:38)

So she put those and then chocolate and then tons of snacks for the kids, which was really fun. And so, yeah, they had that to look forward to. But then when you walk in, it's just like. I mean, I brought in some gifts, and actually, like, since we had so much sent to the house. I realized a couple things may have gotten lost in the shuffle. And I. I realized very quickly, oh, no. So and so's gift who we were supposed to have, like, wrapped. It's not wrapped yet. So we ran and, like, found. You actually Did. You ran and wrapped one of the gifts? Because we realized one of the gifts for one of the cousins was not wrapped. And so, yeah, it was a little bit crazy.

A (41:18)

Well, then the process for giving gifts is they don't do anything where it's like all the people run and grab their gifts. They go family by family. I think it's by age of the kids. Yeah, it's birth order. Yeah, it's birth order. So then they have a section, two sections, actually. They put all the gifts for that family, all the gifts, you know, here, then for that family there. And then they call that family over.

B (41:42)

Mom and Pops on a microphone.

A (41:44)

Oh, yeah, that's the other thing which is so funny. Like, you could just talk and everybody could hear you, but they use a microphone. And I think Pops uses it for his speeches and things. And so they. Mom and pops opened their gifts first. That was really sweet. I got to buy for Pops. I went to the University of Arkansas rally house, their merch store, because tried and true, you don't teach an old dog new tricks. Oh, yeah, he loves his Columbia shirts. He loves his UArk merch. So I thought, I'm not going to try to. He wears the same shoes, same jeans.

B (42:15)

Same every thing for years.

A (42:16)

So what am I going to, like, get him a pair of Nikes that he's going to, you know. Oh, wow. So I got. I went to the UART store, got him a few shirts, a zip quarter zip thing, and a nice hat. It was so funny as mom was wearing a Columbia red University of Arkansas women's shirt, which was identical to the shirt I bought him, which he didn't have.

B (42:38)

It was so awesome. So literally, like, we will have that image go up there or the video from it, because it was so fun. When he opened it, he was like, oh, my, he's matching mom. So he put it on right away.

A (42:54)

Well, here. Here's the picture of it focused. Oh, yeah.

B (43:00)

That's what Jared got my dad was that hat and shirt.

A (43:15)

Hey, I think you met.

B (43:19)

And he was literally matching mom. It was so cute.

A (43:21)

Yeah, it was cool. And. And so then from there, though, they go through the kids and so they get to us and like, everybody gathers around the people that got the gifts. Derek bought me this hat, which was very cool. I Love this hat, Derek. Thank you.

B (43:36)

You know what's really crazy, actually, this actually worked out really funny. Cause Derek bought you that. And then Jill was buying from me.

A (43:44)

Oh, that's crazy.

B (43:44)

Which is wild because there's so many people in the drawing.

A (43:47)

Right?

B (43:48)

And then Finn was buying for Sam.

A (43:51)

Yep.

B (43:51)

So we had a lot of the Dillards.

A (43:54)

Oh, yeah.

B (43:55)

But, yeah, it was sweet. Jill got me, like, this really nice pajama set. She got me, like, jewelry. My favorite peanut brittle from the Arkansas craft fairs. Every year I would go there, and I loved their peanut brittle. It's like a small company that makes it so good.

A (44:12)

What company do you remember?

B (44:12)

I don't remember the name, but it's very good. And we would always get samples of it, and then we'd buy some. Some years, but it's just the best stuff. And then, yeah, then I was buying for Jana, so I got her, like, this foot massager thing. Like, it's a warmer foot massager. You put your feet in, you know, it's great. And then I also. I also had to get her some baby car hearts, because they're so adorable. We went to Bass Pro shops, and we were walking through the kids section and usually stores like that. I'm like, I'm not gonna spend whatever on the outfit, because I can always say no, because I know kids are gonna outgrow it. But the second I walked past that little Carhartt rack, I stopped. I could not help myself. I was like, jana needs this because her kids are, like, gonna be outdoorsy. They're gonna be hardworking, outdoorsy kids. They need a pair of Carhartts to break them in. So I had to buy that. And it was too much. It was too cute.

A (45:14)

What was funny, though, is, like, we started that at probably noon. It's three o'. Clock. Families are still opening their gifts.

B (45:21)

I think I kind of actually forgot. It's so funny because, like, they're just going around. We opened our gifts on the earlier side because I'm number six of the kids. So it was, you know, by the time we opened ours, we went. And then they announced, like, oh, it's time to start eating lunch. Because, like, they had a little brunch thing when we first got there with some, like, waffles. Jana and Steven, I think, had waffles and, like, all this food for breakfast. And then by the time it was lunchtime, was it like 2 o' clock or so? So we go through, eat lunch, and then after lunch, I mosey around, and I'm like, oh, there's still people opening gifts. It's like, you know, the little kids were opening gifts.

A (45:59)

But it was great because it was very special because everybody got a special, concentrated moment of celebration, you know? And so it was very cool. It was a very special day. And we'll probably not go back for. No, I'm just kidding. It's like we did resolve at the end of this trip because Ginger got sick on the back end.

B (46:18)

Oh, we need to talk about that.

A (46:19)

And Ginger, you never get sick. She's a tough cookie.

B (46:23)

I really.

A (46:24)

I get man sick. I get a man cold. I'm done. You get sick. You hadn't been sick in 10 years.

B (46:29)

I had not been this sick in 10 years.

A (46:31)

And it took you out for longer than me. It took you out for six days.

B (46:34)

Yeah. So this was a gnarly sickness. I'm pretty certain it was the flu, but, yeah, it was on, like, December 30th. We were supposed to be flying out that next day.

A (46:47)

Yeah.

B (46:47)

And anyhow, I.

A (46:50)

Again, flexible trip.

B (46:51)

We got to change it twice the way to go. So we were supposed to fly out that day, and I started feeling terrible, and I thought, oh, no, wait.

A (47:02)

No, no, no.

B (47:02)

Oh, no. Coming down.

A (47:03)

No, we didn't cancel the flight that first time. We canceled it because I had gotten said, let's stay on longer. So we stayed on for another week.

B (47:10)

That's right. So we were supposed to stay. Yes. Okay.

A (47:12)

We were gonna fly out the day after Christmas.

B (47:14)

We were supposed to stay. Yes.

A (47:15)

But then we said, let's stay till Wednesday.

B (47:17)

That's what it was.

A (47:17)

And then come approaching Wednesday. You got sick.

B (47:20)

Yes.

A (47:20)

So then we moved it again. Yeah, that's Thursday. Yeah.

B (47:23)

So we added days onto our trip because we missed the whole first part of our trip. And Joy and Austin had flexibility. They were like, please stay. Now that we're finally settled, we'd love to just relax and hang out with you guys. So we're so glad we did. Cause we were able to have a lot of fun experiences. We got to go hear Ben preach at his church. We got to, like, hang out with family. There were so many things that we really wanted to do. And anyhow, so when I came down with it, I was thinking, okay, I really feel rough. You were like, you're gonna be able to fly tonight, right? You're gonna be able to fly. And I thought, no way. There's no way I'm getting off this bed. I started to have, like, a fever, maybe chills as well. Just a little bit. But then I Slept like most of the day. And then when I woke up, I was like, all right, I think we can do this. We can make it home.

A (48:10)

You had that little like eye of the storm as well.

B (48:12)

I felt fine and I felt good enough to fly back. So we went to the airport and all and made it home. It was a direct flight. And then we just had our. We have our whole setup of how to do the whole LAX thing, which is just annoying. But we were traveling at that point with so many bags. We had five check ins and it was just a lot of luggage and carry ons. I think we each had four carry on. I mean like a carry on. So tons of bags. We make it back. And once we got home, I just like knocked out and was sick for not one day, two day, three days. How many days was it? I think I was literally out for six days. Six days?

A (48:57)

Yeah.

B (48:57)

Just in bed. And Jeremy took care of everything. The kids, I mean, well, it was miserable.

A (49:06)

I helped, but Bluey took care of the kids.

B (49:09)

Bluey took care of the kids. And Jeremy definitely helped.

A (49:13)

I helped. I had to cook things, you know. Cause Bluey came from Australia. But Bluey, Bluey. Hey, shout out.

B (49:18)

I was proud of Jer too.

A (49:19)

Bingo.

B (49:20)

Because Jer's not. Jer does not claim to be a chef. He does not claim to know how to like make a lot of meals. But he pulled through. So like one day I was like, I just need soup. So he got me soup and bread. That was so good. And then he made like, I wanted a grilled sandwich and you made me a grilled sandwich.

A (49:39)

Well, I made grilled cheese and soup. It's probably the easiest.

B (49:41)

It was so great. But I was impressed because, you know, it's not your forte.

A (49:47)

Yeah, but I kept the kids alive.

B (49:48)

And you kept the kids alive. And what I appreciated too was like you kept telling me every. I'd start to feel really guilty and bad because I was out. And then once I started feeling a tiny bit better, I'd be like, maybe I should get up and around and do a couple things. And then I'd get hit with like the sinus headache because I had so much congestion. And I just feel miserable. And you tell me, go be sick, go watch a show, get back in bed. And that was so sweet and helpful because I had. And I have a nine month old baby who needs to nurse. And that was the miserable part. That was so miserable because I just kept thinking, how in the world am I going to take care of Finn while I'm so out of it. Like, I just feel so miserable. I don't want him to get it. But then also, it's just. You don't want to be thinking about having to take care of another person when you're just so sick. But you just would bring him in when he needed to nurse and then take him right back out. Bring him in, take him back out, you know, and he's an active boy, like we talked about. He's all over the place, getting into everything. But I was just glad to know, like, okay, he's taken care of. I can just sleep. And that's honestly, like, will help me pull through.

A (51:02)

That's what you need when you're sick. Well, that's our trip to Arkansas for Christmas. That was nearly a disaster.

B (51:10)

I don't think we're gonna be traveling to Arkansas in the middle of the winter when all the winter nasty, gnarly viruses are going around. It's one thing if you get hit with the summer one when it's like, oh, there's a stomach bug that goes around real quick or something. The shorter sicknesses in the summer. I think the summer would be our time to travel to Arkansas to see everyone, because that's a lot of people you think about. There's. Right now we have. You and I have, like, 37 nieces and nephews, and it's just a lot like, that's a lot of opportunity for sickness. And I think summer is gonna be our time to visit.

A (51:49)

Yeah, agreed. That's our pact. Well, we hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the new year. It has been really sweet. If everything was family went really, really well. We're so grateful for that. We also had the opportunity to interview some of the family on the podcast.

B (52:09)

Yes, we did.

A (52:10)

So you guys can be looking out for that in coming weeks. You won't want to miss those conversations. Some really incredible conversations with family. So that was fun, but thanks for tuning in, and we will look forward to seeing you guys again next week. Happy New Year, and we'll see you back soon.