We just got back from Arkansas—and this trip was one for the books. In this episode, we reflect on what it was like returning to the Big House, reuniting with family, and introducing our girls to the places Jinger grew up—including a sweet moment showing them her childhood room. We talk about the joy and complexity of going home: Jinger shares how it felt to be back, the unexpected guilt of living far away, and why this visit brought both comfort and healing. Plus, a full broomball reunion (yes, with all the gear and none of the rules), cousin time, and a necessary stop at Braums! It was nostalgic, emotional, and surprisingly refreshing—and we’re excited to bring you along for the recap.
00:00:00 - Introduction 00:00:48 - Podcast Milestone 00:01:06 - Trip Planning and Calendar Disagreements 00:03:12 - Recent Arkansas Trip 00:09:14 - Podcast Recording in Arkansas 00:13:07 - Broomball Experience 00:15:20 - Broomball Discussion Continued 00:16:12 - Broomball Experiences and Stories 00:22:06 - Broomball Rules and Risks 00:24:15 - Broomball Equipment 00:26:32 - Returning to Arkansas 00:28:57 - Visiting the Big House 00:30:33 - Duggar Home and Memories 00:33:13 - Reconnecting with Family 00:39:12 - Adapting to Arkansas Lifestyle 00:41:07 - Braum's Ice Cream
We're talking about Arkansas.
Oh yeah, so we just got back from Arkansas.
Yeah.
And we spent a week, and I feel like
the last couple times we've gone to Arkansas
have been really last minute.
Oh my goodness, literally two days before.
I think that's what happened on the last two trips.
You know, it's a really special family.
Like, they've been through a lot these last few years.
Yeah.
The Duggars have, and it seems like
everyone's in a really good place.
Yeah.
And everyone's had to work through things
in their own ways.
Oh my goodness.
This is your childhood in a nutshell.
Yes.
And it's been years.
Thanks for asking me that question.
That really means a lot.
Because for me-
No, I'm not.
I'm not tearing up.
I don't need tissues about that.
We had a rough time last night.
Those would be happy tears.
Those would be tears of joy because-
I'm not crying.
Well, I think you are.
I'm not crying.
What's going on, guys?
We are back for another episode
of the Ginger and Jeremy podcast.
And last week was fun, Ginge.
We passed the 50 episode milestone.
That's crazy.
And we had Matt and Abby on
to talk about their explosion in TikTok
and how they've helped us with the podcast.
This has been a fun ride.
It has been.
Well done.
Thanks for helping kick this off
because I was a little preoccupied
when we restarted this podcast.
And I think you had the vision for it.
And I was like, oh yeah, that could actually work.
So way to go, Jer,
for getting us back into the podcast space.
It's been a lot of fun chatting.
And also just us to like sit down late at night,
do a podcast early in the morning.
It's the best.
It's been really fun for us.
Yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
I really enjoy this.
And next week will be number 52,
which means we've been doing it for exactly a year.
And it doesn't feel like the year's past.
It doesn't.
That's wild.
Yeah, it's been pretty cool.
We've had some pretty fun guests
and we've got some great guests coming up as well.
Yeah, I'm excited for it.
So yeah, excited for you guys.
Thanks so much for tuning in all this time as well.
I think we've almost like tripled
in terms of listenership since we started,
which has been really cool to see.
Wow, thank you guys.
And we're really grateful for you guys.
And we've got some fun things coming up
for our loyal listeners.
So stay on the lookout.
If you don't follow us on the Instagram page,
go to at ginger and Jeremy and follow that
because we put a lot of stuff on there
that you won't see on our socials.
There's some fun stuff coming down the pike.
Okay, here's what we want to talk about today.
Is we, what are you looking at me funny?
Your sleeve has food on it.
And I think it's from one of the kids.
It really does not matter.
It does.
But you're in dad mode.
Like right now.
So that was from, Evie just had breakfast.
And then-
She gives you a hug.
I was doing some work on my computer
and she ran up to me and-
Gave you a hug.
Planted her face.
You know, it's funny.
Some of the, I'll be at church
and like some of the college students in the ministry.
We're like, oh man, you got a stain or something.
I'm like, bro, we're in a different season.
If I have one stain, that's actually kind of great.
We're in a different season of life here, bro.
That's, yep, that's donut.
That's from 20 minutes ago.
And there's pasta.
Like I wore white pants the other day
and immediately I was like, oh, why am I wearing these?
Rookie mistake with the white pants.
Yep, not okay.
Okay, I don't know what we're talking about.
We're talking about Arkansas.
Oh yeah, so we just got back from Arkansas.
Yeah.
And we spent a week and I mean,
that was like a last minute.
I feel like the last couple of times we've gone to Arkansas
have been really last minute.
Oh my goodness, literally two days before.
I think that's what happened on the last two trips.
So our last trip to Arkansas, we'll just go there first.
That trip happened because it was so close to Christmas.
I was really missing my family.
We had planned to have Christmas with your family
and it was super close to my birthday
and I was just feeling really sad.
I was like, I feel like I just really miss my family.
I wish we would have planned better.
Jeremy's the best.
He said, okay, well, would you like to go to Arkansas?
He called me up and said,
would you like to go to Arkansas tomorrow?
That's after I had called a couple of siblings,
started with James and they were like,
yeah, we'd love to come out and spend time with Ginger
for her birthday weekend.
But it was just becoming like a logistical burden on them.
And I'm thinking, hey, we're the ones asking.
So the logistical burden needs to be on us.
Let's just get up and go.
So that's what we did.
And it was worth it.
It was the most special trip.
I think it meant the world to me in that season
because there was so much that I was like,
oh, I just want to be there on the holidays.
And it was such a sweet gift, such a memorable trip.
And then this one, it was amazing
because we were actually looking at our summer schedule
and we actually had a lot of things
that were happening over the weekend
because being in college ministry,
you have a ton of weddings that happen.
So every weekend or every other weekend feels like,
there's a wedding or a bridal shower
or something like that that's happening
that we want to be a part of.
And so with that, there were also other trips.
We just saw, okay, there's not gonna be much time
to hang out with family.
And so Jer said, I think we should do an Arkansas trip.
Let's figure out when we can fit that into the schedule.
Our summer, I mean, our listeners can probably relate
to this, our summers get jam-packed so fast.
And I'm one of those guys, I was telling you,
I commit to things six months in advance.
And then when it comes time, I'm like,
man, why did I commit to that?
Yeah, speaking engagements, preaching engagements.
And not because of those engagements,
but because you realize, okay, we have a little more time
with our kids this summer.
And all of a sudden, before you know it,
every weekend is gone or trips.
And then you don't, well, us anyway,
we don't do great at planning way ahead.
And so we're more impromptu, which honestly, actually,
here's something we can update the podcasters on soon.
I'm gonna take you out on a date,
but it's gonna be a strategy date, it's a brainstorm date.
So we're gonna get sushi, take it to my office,
get a babysitter, and we're gonna plan, schedule out,
we're gonna plan one year, three year, five year,
because we really don't do that.
Like we don't sit down and take time.
And so we did that and said, okay,
what does our summer look like?
Because here's the other controversy we've talked about
on this podcast, it's our most explosive disagreement
as a couple, we use different calendars.
Yes, we do.
We do, I don't.
You use Google, I use Apple.
I use Google Maps, I use Google Calendars.
I can't stand either of them.
Now, Google Maps, let me just say,
your Apple Maps do not allow you to search.
We're presenting arguments now.
I'm gonna give you an argument real quick.
This is, I think once I tell you this,
this will actually make you understand.
I feel like they're the jurors and we're like.
Let's hear it, let's hear it.
So.
You just went right into opening statement.
The Google Maps, the reason I use them
is because it allows you to search for things on the way.
And when I'm with the kids,
I often need to search for a convenience store
or I need to search for a coffee shop
to keep me going on the way.
And you can not do that in Apple Maps.
And it will say two minutes out of the way,
this, this, this, this, this.
And it gives you all the options as you're doing it.
You, I don't know how you function without that.
So same features on Apple Maps.
It does not.
Well.
I've tried.
It's not on there.
Well, maybe it's messed up with car, Apple CarPlay, but.
Must be.
Yeah, I'm, I don't know.
I just like how everything's synchrotized with Apple.
But I, guess what?
I said, I'm switching over to Apple Maps.
I mean, Apple Maps, not Apple Maps.
Nope, I'm not.
I'm switching over to Apple Calendar.
So we can sync your work calendar.
Well, the problem is because my work is on there.
Yeah.
I can't change.
He can't change everybody else's meetings.
But we sat down and we said, okay,
what's our schedule look like this summer?
And it was on a Tuesday or a Wednesday,
or it was maybe a Wednesday or Thursday, actually.
And the next week was the best block of time
for us to take a week.
And so we up and booked.
I used tons of air miles.
Yep.
Which we never use.
Nope.
And we've got a bunch.
So I thought, let's use some air miles.
And we flew out to Arkansas.
Yeah, it was great.
It was such a perfect time.
And I think sometimes in this season of life,
I am the type of person who's so content to stay home
because for one, I don't like to fly.
And the other side of it is the logistical side
because I am not a planner.
I would much rather go two days before
than you tell me six months in advance
because then I think, okay, wait, I'm gonna have to plan.
How is Finn gonna be at that time?
What season of life is he gonna be in?
Is he gonna be cranky on flights?
Here's a valuable lesson.
Six months, I don't know.
Here's a valuable lesson.
Right now I know he's easy.
That we've learned planning too far ahead
and you wanna save 50 bucks on the flight.
So you book the 6.30 a.m. flight instead of the 10 a.m.
and then you get there and you're just like miserable.
Miserable, don't do it.
Go for those extra, spend an extra 50, 150 bucks
if you have it and make it convenient for your family.
This was Finn's first trip.
This was.
And that's part of the thing.
I thought if we scheduled this out three months in advance,
what if he's in a cranky season?
What if he's struggling with teething?
Now's the time to go when he sleeps
and he's happy all the time.
Good point.
Let's just go.
It's valid points.
I love it.
We also brought along our favorite podcast producer,
editor, Mark Finster.
Yeah, we did.
We brought along Mark.
That was a last minute decision too.
Mark's like, hey, I'm game to come
if you guys wanna record some pods.
And at first I was like, no, I don't think,
where are we gonna set up?
So we called Ben.
Ben graciously is like, hey, dude,
feel free to use my office in the church.
For those of you who don't know who Ben is,
he's our brother-in-law.
Yes, Ben, Jess's husband.
Married to my sister, Jess.
And so we set up a podcast studio
and we've actually got some of those episodes coming out.
We just had one come out with Jed and Katie
a couple weeks ago, but we've got some more coming out.
And that could be a fun annual thing to do to.
Oh, I love it.
Bring the podcast to Arkansas once a year.
All right, guys, we're gonna take a quick break
from this episode to talk to you about.
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Yep, all right.
Now back to the episode.
It's super fun.
Like what we've talked about,
JINJ, where it's like fun for us to sit down,
sitting down with the family.
Honestly, sometimes when you're visiting,
there's kids running all over the place,
you're on the go, you're doing this, you're doing that.
When we set time aside to just have a conversation
with the cameras and the mics,
it's still just a conversation
and sometimes it's like the nicest touch point
you have with someone.
It is, it's quiet.
And we did that over dinner with a couple of siblings
and it was sweet too.
But at the same time, it's like-
And lunch.
It's just great,
because you have something planned out
and you're just chilling
and it's very relaxing and fun.
And so hopefully you guys as listeners
appreciate those episodes too.
But the Arkansas trip was fantastic
and here's what I wanna hear from just off the top here,
is for a long time, you've been wanting to play broomball.
Oh my goodness.
This is your childhood in a nutshell.
Yes.
And it's been years.
Thanks for asking me that question.
That really means a lot.
I think I was most excited to play
and then have you play,
because for me-
No, I'm not.
I'm not tearing up.
No, I'm not.
I'm not tearing up.
I don't need tissues about that.
No, I'm just tired.
I was about to let out a big yawn.
Okay.
We had a rough night last night.
Those would be happy tears.
Those would be tears of joy.
I'm not crying.
So no, we went and played broomball
and it was so much fun.
I was actually kind of terrified
because now I'm 31 and I'm running on the ice
and I have three kids to care for.
The worst idea on paper.
One who's an infant,
who is totally relying upon me to take care of him.
And I thought if I get injured, this is very bad.
We're in another state.
We can't just like drive home.
Why am I playing this game?
But am I playing this game?
I begged to play this game.
So I literally messaged Jer, my brother, and-
Which you call Jer.
Jer.
I just called him Jer, Jer.
Because you call me Jer, but-
You're Jer.
For years, you guys call him Jer and it's J-E-R.
And I never understood the-
It's Jer.
Where the second E was coming from.
I don't understand it, but he's Jer and you're Jer.
It's Jer-
It's easier.
It's, yeah, it is.
So yeah, I messaged him and I asked
if we could play broomball and he was like,
well, let me see.
So he called our local, the Jones Center,
is what it's called.
That's where we would go play twice a week, play broomball.
And for those of you who don't know what broomball is,
well, let me just set it up for you.
You literally go on the ice hockey rink-
It's a 30-something year old's nightmare,
is what it is.
It's amazing, or everyone's dream.
So you go on the ice hockey rink
and hopefully it's right after they've skated.
You've had a skating session of people
like going out to skate on the ice
and they've roughed the ice up just enough
to where when you get out there,
you go with tennis shoes and you use a stick
that's shaped like a broom.
And it's kind of, you get like a rubber ball that's small
and you hit the ball into the hockey nets.
You have two teams, you know,
you're running and playing against each other.
It is a wild time.
I mean, I kind of actually want to turn this question
back on Jer, because Jer, Jer.
You're getting your Jer and Jer.
I want to turn it back on you
because how was it walking onto this rink?
You think, okay, I have no real protection.
For years, we wouldn't even use a helmet.
Yeah, they made you wear helmets this time around.
So you used a helmet, right?
So you feel safe.
Well, Ben also came on with a full mouth gear,
glasses, helmet. We'll get into that.
We'll get into that.
And then he's the only one who got hit square in the neck.
In the neck, he got hit.
His whole neck was like red.
And I walked up to him, I'm like, are you okay?
Because I talked him into playing.
I said, I could not believe Ben had never played broomball.
It's like what my family does.
And he lives there.
He lives real close to the rink.
And so I was like, bro, how have you never been?
And so I had him come, but okay.
How was it running on the ice?
It was wild, first of all.
Broomball brings out the monster in men.
I had no idea that your brothers and sisters
possessed this gift and skill and your dad.
Can I talk about your dad for a second?
Yes, yes.
Pops is 59.
He's 60.
60 years old.
He just turned 60.
Let me see.
He's 61 soon, right?
No, he is 61.
Yeah, he just had a big milestone birthday.
And he's out there, he's got knee pads on.
I'm going, this-
Harbor Freight knee pads.
Yeah.
It's great.
His move was, when it gets kind of around the corner
and the curve of the arena, he would slide on his knees,
box anybody else out, and then on his knees
with the broomstick, hit the ball.
Like he scored three goals.
And when I say three goals, the goal,
the score I think was like five, five or four, four.
He scored three of the goals,
which were incredibly impressive.
And I'm looking at this going,
I'm watching this happening like-
He's gonna be sore tomorrow.
Well, I was thinking, first of all,
how is he moving like this?
Yeah.
And then I was amazed at the skillset.
John David, when he got-
Oh my word.
John David is the Lionel Messi of broomball.
Oh yeah, he is, 100%.
He was literally juggling it,
scooping it like in the air over people.
Joe scored from probably 50 yards away.
From our defensive third.
It takes a lot to do that.
He was smacking the ball.
And I'm sitting there, Jin, looking around me going,
what have I stepped into?
Yeah.
What world, what Duggar world have I stepped into?
It's not just the Duggar world.
So this is the crazy thing, but it is our sport.
It is the thing that we all come together,
we get all vocal.
I mean, I yelled so much that night, I lost my voice.
If I go play any other game, I'm gonna be more passive.
And I like to be competitive.
I love trying to do sports, even if I'm not great.
But that's the one where I'm yelling.
I'm all in.
Even if I'm sliding around,
I played a little more cautious
because I did not wanna hurt people.
I did not wanna hurt myself and other people.
Get the stick.
We're gonna do, I took video of the whole night.
So we're gonna do a vlog.
Maybe Finster can put up like a picture or two,
or maybe even a video clip here
while we're talking about it.
Oh, we're still playing?
Oh yeah.
All right, Jin.
15 minutes left.
That's so sad, I wanna cry.
What?
We're dying.
Look, I'm telling you, they still got it.
Look, Fin's out here for his first time.
Man, with the mouth.
He just scored.
Hey pups, how's it feel to score?
Solo goal.
It feels like old times.
60 and counting.
But it is intense and it's intensely fun.
Like I got so competitive about it.
Now I restrained myself
because I'm playing with like some high school kids too,
or whoever was there.
But I could see myself getting into it.
Oh my goodness.
And hearing about the battles
that you guys had back in the day.
We should get into those.
Just to give people a picture of what broomball can be.
So we had all these random people
from the community would show up.
Someone would come, what we would say,
just to get their anger out.
We were pretty certain.
Oh, for sure.
They would come and there were a couple guys
who were fuming.
They would be like beet red, yelling.
Some of them got kicked out for foul language
because it's a community center for families.
So they're not gonna let you be crazy.
And-
That's the scary thing about-
Kick them out.
Recreational sports, whether it's indoor soccer
or something like this,
is you get guys who are trying to relive
their glory days in high school.
Yes.
Now they're frustrated accountants.
Yep.
And they come out on a Tuesday night
and they're looking for blood.
Oh yeah, they are.
And they found blood
because half of them would check people into the wall
where you're running full force on the ice.
It's a big old guy and he's running towards you.
You better get out of the way
or you're gonna be checked into the wall.
When you watch hockey and they're going crazy,
think about that, but with no pass.
What is it about ice that lends itself to violence?
Wild.
Well, you feel powerful on it
because you're running on ice
and you feel like you can fly.
And then what happens is you realize you can't stop.
And so you plow into the wall or another person
with a metal stick.
I love that quote.
It's so great.
Ginger, you just said you feel powerful running on ice.
You feel like you can fly.
That's so inspirational.
That is so, that's like Vince Lombardi level inspiration
and then we're gonna watch clips of Broomball going past.
Well, listen to this.
So this is what happens.
You had people get kicked off the ice
for swinging their stick too high,
checking people into the wall.
That's the thing I'm surprised didn't happen before.
You have to have like no high sticks.
So sometimes when the ball's flying over you,
they had rules for years of no high stick.
There was no one out there to be the ref this time.
They used to have refs back in the day, but they don't now.
And so it's every man for himself.
And my cousin got his teeth knocked out.
And that's why Ben showed up with the mouth guard
because he knew, oh yeah.
Well, our cousin who got his teeth knocked out, poor guy.
He-
How many teeth got knocked out?
His front two.
Seriously?
Yeah, poor guy.
Did you replace him?
It was a whole process.
He did.
He had to wait for a while.
He had to wait a while to get his teeth put back in.
Yeah, but that's pretty par for the course
for Arkansas.
It is.
It's an Arkansas thing.
He was real, like everybody wanted to date him.
It's like the English in Arkansas.
Like you don't have teeth.
Nope, you don't need teeth.
Who needs teeth?
Or maybe even a little Alabama love in there.
Roll Tide, you don't need teeth in Alabama.
But there were several times
where before you had to wear a helmet,
like you'd have people laid out on the ice
and there would be blood.
They'd go to the ER and that happened.
And here we were out there playing twice a week.
And it's a miracle that no one got majorly hurt.
Speaking of the ER,
the ice lends itself to the violence and the ER.
We took Felicity out ice skating
for her first time over Christmas with my parents.
And 20 minutes in, a kid, there's an ambulance pulling in.
Yeah, I forgot about that.
Yeah, they literally had him.
I mean, I guess as humans we haven't picked up
on the fact that like,
hey, this is a really slick surface.
That's very hard.
Maybe it's not the best place for entertainment.
And so then we take razor sharp blades on our feet
and go out there and have fun with large sticks.
Yeah.
What are we asking for?
We're asking for trouble.
Well, with broomball, you don't even wear skates.
No, I know, but I'm just combining some of the aspects
of our ice entertainment.
Hockey and yeah, it's crazy.
So yeah, it was fun being back out there.
And I was just sad that there were not as many skaters
before and I had the wrong shoes.
I would have actually like bought broomball shoes
had I known I was gonna play.
There are broomball shoes?
There are broomball shoes.
Googling it.
And so it's a specific type of sole
that's gonna allow you to grip the ice better.
So I legit would have bought broomball shoes
had I known I was gonna go play
because the shoes I had were not the best
and I was sliding around.
So I was not able to get the grip I needed to run.
So those are broomball shoes right there.
He's gonna show y'all what it looks like.
So anyhow, what a great time.
It was so much fun.
Never knew.
I never knew.
We did do other stuff in Arkansas.
Yeah, but I've never seen you so happy
as to when you heard that we got the place reserved.
I was so happy.
I mean.
Because broomball, and you write about this
in People Pleaser, the community you found in broomball.
Yeah, it was amazing.
And when you were real sheltered and more like isolated
and you were interacting with people from the community,
going to Taco Bell afterwards.
I mean, I was nervous as all get out,
but I mean, it was fun.
And I think that broomball is something that like,
we didn't play organized sports.
And so that was the closest thing to an organized sport
that we had done.
Cause we play a lot of games and sports like as a family,
we had people over all the time.
Like every other night there was like volleyball,
basketball, all the things were happening, kickball.
There were tons of things that we would play,
but that was so much fun.
We looked forward to it.
And we would go ice skating all the time.
We'd be on the ice all the time.
So like ice skating, broomball,
those were free sports in our area.
And so we could just go play whenever you wanted.
Big time.
That's awesome.
It was a lot of fun.
I mean, I really enjoyed it.
And it was cool.
You know, the other thing too,
is that it is sports bond people.
Like you bond really like with your teammates,
but even spending, you know, an hour out there,
even with your family and your dad was out there,
your brothers were out there,
some of your sisters were out there.
It's just a really fun way to spend time
and to engage with family and like,
yeah, just connect on that level.
It was a blast.
It was so fun.
That was awesome.
Can't wait till we can do it again.
I'm going to actually have to like
buy a couple of broomball sticks for us to have here
and we'll play broomball in LA.
I think being in college ministry is kind of perfect.
That's the sport that a lot of people play.
So we'll get one set up here.
Go back.
Yeah, I mean, they have it locally.
They do.
So going home to Arkansas,
what does that feel like for you?
It is so exciting.
I love going back to visit.
And at the same time, it's overwhelming.
And this is why, because we live away.
There are a couple of siblings who live away now,
just a few.
And when you live away from family and then you come back,
then everybody wants to see you.
Everybody wants to connect with you.
And it can be so tough to juggle all of that
because when you have so many siblings and their families,
then there's all the nieces and nephews,
everyone trying to coordinate stuff is hard,
especially when you're just there.
Even if you're there for a week,
to be able to see everybody,
to be able to connect individually is hard.
So you have to like a lot,
okay, we're gonna go to brunch at this time,
but everything always takes longer than you expect to
because you're coordinating,
getting out the door with so many people.
And then if you want all the sisters
to get together for brunch or to go get their nails done,
then you have to coordinate that
and allow room on either side
because there's so many people to come.
Like you're having nine of the girls with,
often you'll have nieces and nephews that are tagging along
and to get reservations is hard.
That's something that we've ran into
because it's like we went to a couple of different places
and they had to see this at different tables
because there's not room for 20,
even if it's not everyone going.
And so all those little logistics are fun,
but also kind of crazy.
And then when you go back,
you wanna have those deep connections
and be able to sit down and talk with maybe one couple
for five hours over dinner.
And we did that with a few,
but at the same time,
you can't do it with everyone every trip.
Well, Jill and Derek were out of town.
They got back Friday night.
We left Saturday morning.
It didn't work out.
Your mom and girls were there for a couple of days,
but then they had a trip planned.
But then Jana was able to come in.
So it's like, you miss some people,
you connect with some, it can be tough.
But that's, I mean, that's not bad.
I mean, that's a good thing.
Everybody's doing stuff.
Everybody's like-
No, it's awesome.
They're living their lives.
And then there are times where,
when we first got there,
we were able to connect.
Like a ton of people went to the big house
and our kids got to see all the animals
that they have there.
What's that like?
That was super fun.
What's that like, you walking into the big house?
Because we haven't been in the big house for a long time.
Yeah, it's wild.
We went back and a lot of the siblings showed up.
And it's kind of crazy though,
because when we first walked in,
I was, I thought this was so cute.
We walked in and Felicity,
she's like walking in, everything's clean.
It's like perfectly clean.
And I'm walking and thinking,
okay, I know typically when you'd show up at the big house,
it's kind of messy because we clean it.
Like we would clean the house every night
and it would be spotless, ready to go.
But when you walk in at like 2 p.m. on a weekday
and the house is clean,
I thought, okay, this is a different season of life.
Because you have maybe five kids who live there now
and they're all grown.
I mean, I say all grown, Josie's what, 15?
But she's youngest and so that's strange.
So you walk in and it's like,
Felicity said to Lolly, my mom,
she's like, Lolly, when, she's like,
where are all the kids?
And Johanna started laughing.
She's like, we are the kids
because they are the youngest in the family.
Josie's 15, so she still feels like a kid.
But all the other ones, Jordan, she's grown up.
Jenny's grown up, Hanni's grown up.
So it's a different time.
And when you walk in, it was quiet, clean.
And so they took our littles around
and showed them all the animals that they have.
They have a big farm now.
Tons of chickens, goats, sheep, cattle, horses.
There's that inside playroom.
There's a house inside the playroom.
A literal playground inside.
With a huge slide and Evie Jo ate that thing up.
She loved it.
That slide up there, she kept saying,
daddy, come down with me.
And I'm like, Evie, I'm a little big.
I did try.
So there's a secret passageway in the Duggar home.
And it goes through the ceiling or through the wall,
through the playhouse, into the boys' room.
And it's like this very cool slide.
It's a tunnel.
But it's boarded off.
Did they close it?
I mean, it makes sense because if you are,
if you're going to the boys' room
and you have guests over, you're still asleep
and you have little kids climbing through there.
I mean, I get it.
That's a problem.
Is it emotional for you to walk
into your old bedroom and look around?
I don't think I even went into the bedroom this trip.
I took the girls up to the boys' room.
You did to show my room?
Yeah, I said, Felicity, this is where mommy would sleep.
That's crazy.
I mean, they've rearranged things.
I wish I would have gone up there to see them.
But it was cool for them to see.
I love that.
I think, I don't know if that's her first time up there,
but in recent times.
Yeah, probably recently.
Yeah, it's crazy walking back.
And just like one of the kids came in
from cutting the grass.
We had a couple of ride-on mowers.
And I just remember so many summers,
we'd all take turns mowing.
That was something that we did.
And I, to this day, love yard work because of it.
I hate gardens.
I hate gardening, but I love to chop things down.
So you give me a push mower, you give me a ride-on mower.
I love it.
One of the girls came in from cutting the grass.
So when you walk outside, you're just hit
with that aroma of fresh-cut grass.
And it smells different than here.
Cause there's something about like a little humidity
kind of soaks up that smell and pushes it.
I don't know.
It's like the farm country living, all that fun stuff.
So yeah, it was fun like stepping back
into that old property and just seeing the family
and all the things.
I think my younger siblings,
that's the part that's really fun.
I love seeing how they've grown and matured,
what they're into now.
Because when I left, that was a long time ago.
It was eight and a half years ago.
And those little kids are all grown up.
And it's hard for me to picture the little kids
as teenagers and as adults now.
It's kind of wild.
Things are at a really good place
with our family out there.
Yeah, it's been really sweet.
These visits going back have just been amazing.
Yeah, I just really, really cherish it.
And I'm so thankful our kids get to step back
and see and get to know my siblings too,
because the younger ones,
like it's hard when you live away
and you have younger siblings,
there can be a certain level of guilt.
Like, oh, I wish I knew more
of what was going on in their life.
Or I should call more often to hear what they're up to.
But they also have their own lives.
They're growing up and there are things
that when you go back to visit,
it's really sweet,
because then my kids get to connect with them
and get to find out what they're into
and get to see their farm.
Like that was fun.
It was so fun.
Take them on their little course and all of the things.
So I really do cherish these times
when we're able to get together
and have time like with my mom.
She was just out here for a couple of weeks
helping me with Finn.
I think we talked about that,
organizing every cabinet in my house
and having them get to spend that time is just precious.
What's it like seeing Felicity and Evie
interact with their cousins?
It's adorable.
They honestly are overwhelmed half the time
because they don't remember everybody's names.
That's so true.
They know, I think the more that we're around
the nieces and nephews, my nieces and nephews,
our nieces and nephews,
then they connect and really connect with certain ones
and start to get their names down.
But then as soon as they get their names down,
then we leave.
And then when you come back,
even if it's been six months,
since they're kids, they've changed and grown so much.
So they're always like, wait, remind me of their name.
What's their name again?
So I feel like what we should do
is create like a little book.
That would be fun.
And read it every night.
This is so-and-so.
Do like a little quiz
because they're not gonna be able to remember.
We're already at 40.
Is it 41 grandkids that it will,
I don't know how many.
Is it 40?
Wherever we are.
We're somewhere around there.
And it's a lot.
So I got a funny story about that.
I was, the other night I was in Kingsburg
speaking at a high school ministry event.
And there's some people who knew you and the family.
And one of the guys, we're sitting in a circle,
and they, this one girl,
she also has a large family.
And she said, yeah, I think we have like 43 grandkids.
And I was like, whoa, that's more than the Duggars.
The Duggars only have 40 or 41 or whatever.
And then one of the brothers looks at me and goes,
how do you know how many grandkids the Duggars have?
And he's the only one who had no clue
like that I had married one of the Duggars.
I love that.
And so I just said, well,
cause I married one of them.
And it was so funny.
But then we started dying.
He goes, but he was like really almost like put off,
but like weirded out.
Like that's such a random fact.
Why do you keep up with that?
Yeah, like he just throws out like,
that's how many grandkids the Duggars have.
He's like, why do you know that?
Well, cause I married number six.
That's so funny.
Yeah, it was a funny moment.
Oh my goodness.
What do you think will stick with you from this trip?
Oh, a lot of things.
I think just anytime you're able to just go
and chill with a fam, it's the best.
But yeah, definitely that broom ball night was memorable.
Getting out there with you,
seeing you get into it was fun.
But I think just the conversations that we got to have.
Late night convos, we stayed at Joy and Austin's
and that was just so much fun.
They were so, so kind to host us last minute
for what, five or six days?
Yeah.
Oh yeah, super last minute, super hospitable.
Yeah, incredible.
I love those late night conversations.
I think we connected with Joe and Kendra
on a level that was real deep too.
It was so fun.
It was really sweet.
John and Abby, we got to spend time at their house.
So many people.
It's a really special family.
Like I even go and just spending time with everybody.
It's really fun.
Like it's a really fun family.
And they've been through a lot these last few years,
the Duggars have.
And it seems like everyone's in a really good place.
Yeah.
And everyone's had to work through things
in their own ways.
But it was such a delight to go back
and spend time with people and to see everyone.
And wish we got to see everyone.
Like I said, Joe and Derek weren't there,
Justin and Claire and others,
Justin and Claire in Texas,
but that's sometimes impossible
to see everyone in one trip.
Oh yeah.
I mean, it happens.
So we need people to still come out
and visit us in California.
We're having people come out and visit all the time.
And so when those trips happen,
it's really sweet too,
because we love having people come out
because then we get just that quality time with them
for five days or something,
or for a weekend.
I'll tell you what,
I saw Josiah and I said,
hey, what's up Josiah?
And he goes, typical Josiah fashion.
What do you think the first thing he said was to me?
Did he have a joke for you?
Yeah.
What do you think the joke was?
I said, what's up Josiah?
And he said this guy.
Did he?
Yeah.
Oh my word.
Josiah, I love that.
He's so funny.
Well, it's not Joe,
because there's-
Classic Sia.
He used to say Joe-
You had to shorten his name only a certain way.
Yes, because he used to,
you used to always shorten Josiah's name to Joe,
because it's Josiah.
And he'd say Joe,
and I'd say, well, you can't say that,
because his older brother,
who's like 14 months apart,
you know, he's Joe.
That's Joseph.
Even nicknames are-
And then the next one's Josiah.
Exclusive.
So it's Sia.
Exclusive nickname.
He's Sia, and the other one's Joe.
That is so funny.
It was a lot of fun.
Last, what was your favorite part of the trip?
Goodness, hanging out with Austin,
maybe on a lazy Thursday.
We went out shooting.
I love it.
And so I was hitting some targets
from 700 plus yards, which was fun.
That's impressive, actually.
Well, it's no big deal, Ginger.
You know what?
It is impressive.
I do my best to adapt
to the Arkansas lifestyle when I'm there.
You do good.
Like, I'm trying-
Do you fall into the accent?
No, not as much.
So when Cade Fainer is around,
Cade's our buddy from East Texas.
I get that East Texas drawl,
which he probably doesn't think
sounds anything like East Texas.
I really, the Arkansas accent isn't as contagious.
It's not.
I think that it depends on who you're around in Arkansas,
because a lot of people don't have that thick of an accent.
Right.
And then half of them do.
So I will fall into saying y'all a lot.
I said it a ton.
We just had friends in from,
where Tennessee, Mississippi area.
And I started falling into the accent hard too,
because it's just so easy to do.
There's a couple things you say,
like you'll start saying maybe so,
which is something I think the family says a lot of.
Maybe so.
Yeah.
It's like an interesting answer.
I would never word things that way.
I have never thought about that.
Like, hey, do you want to go get ice cream later?
Maybe so.
It's like, okay.
And you start saying that.
And then there's a couple other ones.
Yeah, maybe so.
We'll go get some Brahms.
See, I have my Brahms cup here.
And then there's another one
that Austin and Joy say all the time.
And it's something Oklahomans I've noticed say.
Can you think of it?
Yeah, yeah.
I'll think of it in a second.
I know it'll come randomly.
We talked about it a lot.
Yeah.
It kept coming up.
It bothers me.
I don't know why it bothers me.
I'm just like.
It's not proper.
You're too proper.
I'm not proper.
The Volos are very proper.
They are very proper.
And I love that.
It's kind of awesome.
And we're just very not proper.
We don't care either.
Okay, hold on one second.
This is not brought to you by Brahms,
but we have to talk about Brahms ice cream.
Babe, I got addicted.
I'm glad we were only there for a week
because I had Brahms every night.
Almost every single night.
The last night.
It was incredible.
We were talking about it.
We were like, we need to go get Brahms.
But everybody was wiped out from those days of visiting.
And Jeremy was sitting there till the last minute,
till it closed.
He talked about it.
He's like, can we go get ice cream?
Should we get Brahms?
But he didn't want to drive 10, 15 minutes late at night
to go get it because we were all wiped.
So we didn't get it the very last night,
but almost every day.
We didn't eat it the last night.
Brahms soft serve frozen yogurt.
Those cones are like $1.79 for a small.
And a small is not small.
And it's like two bucks for a large.
Hey, I remember the saying.
It was, I can't remember exactly,
but maybe this will kickstart it.
It's something like, what's that?
They say something like, what's that?
Or-
Whatchamacallit?
No, it's something like that.
Whatchamacallit?
It's like, it's asking for clarification.
And it's a phrase.
And I'm just like-
And yeah, I know what you're saying.
Is it?
I'll remember it later.
Oh man, okay.
Well, maybe people can leave it in the comments
if they think of it.
All right, guys.
Well, thanks for hanging out.
Thanks for watching.
It was a great trip.
And fun little recap there, Ginger.
I'm glad we got to fulfill your childhood dream again
of playing some broomball.
And get you into it.
It was fun.
I love it.
All right, guys.
Thanks for hanging out.
Like, subscribe, leave a comment.
Send us some questions in if you want.
And we've got some announcements coming your way soon.
So-
Yeah, we do.
Stay tuned.
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When's the announcement?
On Instagram.
Too soon.
Better not be.
Irish twins.
All right, guys.
We'll see you next week.