Daily Duggar Life

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar

Hello, loyal readers! Hope you are having a relaxing weekend. We have a fun discussion question to pose...

If you could observe one aspect of the Duggars' lives, what would you choose? Meal preparation? Homeschooling? Discipline/correction? Family Bible time? Field trips? Wedding/event planning? Or maybe something else? Share your responses as a comment below.

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Photo courtesy duggarfamily.com

Tonight on "19 Kids and Counting"

On tonight's new episodes of 19 Kids and Counting, take a break from wedding planning, and find out what the rest of the Duggar clan has been up to.

9:00 PM ET PT/8PM CT 
Duggars in Cuffs

To celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, Jim Bob & Michelle go on a triple date with Jill & Derick and Jessa & Ben and have a big surprise planned. Meanwhile in DC, Josh gets back on track with his fitness goals by running a 5K. 

9:30 PM ET PT/8:30 PM CT

Duggar Derby

The family is gearing up for their big derby race! But first, Jessa & Ben practice their parenting skills and take the littlest Duggars out for a day of fun. When race day arrives, which team will finish first and be crowned the Duggar Derby champion?

Recap: "Duggar Daughter Dates" and "Duggar-Sized Wedding Planning"

Tonight on TLC...

19 Kids and Counting "Duggar Daughter Dates"

• Ben and Jessa head to a local shooting range (the same one Jessa went to for her 18th birthday) with Jason as their chaperone. Ben has a small pick-up truck, which makes chaperoned dates a bit tricky. "Joe and John-David don't come with us a lot," says Ben. Ben jokingly points out that once he and Jessa get married and no longer have to bring chaperones everywhere they go, there will be a lot more room in the truck.
• Both Ben and Jessa do very well at the shooting range, but Jason thinks his sister is a better shot than Ben.
• Derick takes Jill on a hiking date for her birthday, accompanied by chaperone James. "For me it's not awkward being a chaperone because I'm just here for the food," says James, who ends up getting carsick during the drive.
• After hiking to a beautiful lookout point, the three enjoy a picnic lunch of bread, cheese, humus, and figs, packed by Derick.
• Meanwhile, Michelle takes Jennifer, who has been straining her eyes while doing schoolwork, to the eye doctor to get fitted for a pair of purple glasses. Jim Bob, Michelle, and Jill also wear glasses.
• Michelle says that Jennifer, who turned seven in August, usually has a very serious look on her face but that she does smile from time-to-time. 

19 Kids and Counting "Duggar-Sized Wedding Planning"

• Jill and Derick, along with Jessa, visit the home of their official wedding baker, who also happens to be one of Jill's midwifery clients, to choose a flavor of cake for their big day. The couple decides on French vanilla cake with strawberry filling and off-white, butter cream frosting. In addition to a fancy wedding cake, Jill and Derick will also have sheet cake for their guests.
• Jessa says she plans to go the nontraditional route and serve ice cream instead of cake at her wedding. Stay tuned to see if Ben agrees!
• The next step for Jill and Derick is finding a wedding venue; they bring Michelle along to help. The first two locations don't end up working out. Magnolia Gardens has a maximum occupancy of 300 guests, and Springdale Country Club is sizeable but is too fancy for the Duggars' tastes. "We're more barefoot and backyard kind of people," says Michelle. 
• The third venue that Michelle, Jill, and Derick visit is Cross Church, which holds a very special place in the Duggars' hearts. Cross Church is the church where Jim Bob grew up and is also where Jim Bob and Michelle married in 1984 and renewed their vows in 2009. The church can easily accommodate all 3,000 guests that Jill and Derick have invited, so they decide to book it.
• The Duggars are planning Jill's wedding on a budget. According to Michelle, Jill mentioned the idea of setting a wedding budget even before Jim Bob and Michelle brought it up. 
• Back home, Jim Bob splits the kids into three teams, led by Joseph, Jeremiah, and Jedidiah, to build soap box derby cars from kits that the children found online. They quickly discover that the kits are missing wheels but end up assembling as much of the cars as they can. Jim Bob plans to organize a race once the wheels arrive. 
• In Washington D.C., Anna, who enjoys doing hands-on activities with her children, helps Mackynzie, Michael, and Marcus make and decorate concrete paver stones. The project ends up being very messy, but the stones turn out great.

New Episodes Tonight

Tune in to TLC tonight at 9PM ET PT/8PM CT for two new episodes of 19 Kids and Counting.

9PM ET PT/8PM CT

Duggar Daughter Dates

It's a Duggar date day! Jill and her fiance Derick go on a romantic hike and picnic with chaperone James. Meanwhile, Jessa and boyfriend Ben head out on a date to the shooting range with chaperone Jason. How will these chaperones feel about their dates?

9:30 PM ET PT/8:30PM CT

Duggar-sized Wedding Planning

With their wedding less than three months away, Jill and Derick are making some big decisions! From cake tasting to touring venues, will they hit the sweet spot for their Duggar-sized dream wedding? Over in DC, Anna has her hands full with her little ones.

Jessa and Ben...19 Kids?

In the midst of wedding planning, Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald are also discussing the size of their future family. The engaged couple recently told ABC News that they are looking forward to having kids together and that it is quite possible that they will have their own super-sized family one day.

"Whatever God's plan is, we’d be good with that!" Jessa Duggar told ABC News. "It's probably not possible for me to have 19 kids naturally, but we might adopt and get up to that number." 

Both Jessa, who is number five of 19, and Ben, who is the oldest of seven, enjoy having little ones around.

"We both love kids," Jessa told ABC News. "We'll play it by [ear] as we go along. We’ll see how it goes!"

The future Mr. and Mrs. Seewald also announced that they plan to tie the knot before the end of the year.

Planning for the Next Duggar Wedding

Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald are in the thick of wedding planning. Their guest list is complete, and the couple drove to Bed, Bath, and Beyond yesterday to finish their gift registry.

"The guest list is pretty big, but not as big as my sister's," Jessa Duggar told ABC News. "My list is a little smaller [than Jill's was], but then Ben’s guest list is bigger Derick's. It will be another Duggar-sized wedding!"

Jill (Duggar) and Derick Dillard invited approximately 3,000 guests to their wedding and ended up with a crowd of around 1,500.

Jessa is following in the footsteps of her siblings Josh and Jill, who tied the knot before her, by saving her first kiss for the altar.

"We’re really looking forward to the first kiss!" Jessa ABC News. "We're talking about it -- what if we miss or mess up? We're gonna have to plan this out or something!" 

Jessa and Ben plan to reuse Jill and Derick's decorations and flower girl dresses, as they hope to keep their wedding as cost-effective as possible so they can splurge on their honeymoon.

"We’re gonna go really simple with a lot of our food and even flowers and that type of stuff," Jessa told ABC News. "People spend so much on flowers, it’s outrageous! I'll go to the grocery and buy flowers! I don’t know how many flowers we'll have in nature if it's cold outside but I was like, 'How about we just go pick [some]?'" 

The couple has chosen a wedding date but has not announced it to the public. They have hinted that it will be sometime this fall or winter. The wedding and part of the honeymoon will air on TLC's 19 Kids and Counting.

Video Sneak Peek: Wedding Planning

In this video preview of the upcoming season of 19 Kids and Counting, Jill and Derick and Jill's mom and sisters meet with three wedding coordinators, who also happen to be friends of the Duggars.

Surrounded by nine women trying to plan a wedding, Derick says he feels "really outnumbered." But according to 14-year-old Jason Duggar, that is very normal.

"I think the groom should be like, five percent involved and just like, 95 percent agreed," says Jason.

Video no longer available

Duggar Relationships

Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard are heavy into wedding planning, while Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald are enjoying their courtship. Here are a couple photos:

 Derick and Jill

Ben and Jessa (and Justin)

The Proposal

What are the Duggars up to these days? Wedding planning! They just announced this morning that 22-year-old Jill is engaged to Derick Dillard. (Click here for details.)

The couple shared the details of the proposal with ABC News.

Derick, 25, sought Jim Bob's blessing two months ago and arranged to have a song written about his relationship with Jill.  

"We went on [a] lunch date to a Mexican restaurant and then we walked around in a park setting, and the guy who wrote the song was just sitting on a park bench, nothing out of the ordinary," Derick told ABC News. "He was like, 'Oh, hey, you look like a nice couple. I think I have a song for you guys.'"

In case you were wondering, the couple had two chaperones following at a distance.

"When my dad first introduced Derick and I, we spent hours texting, calling, and talking on Skype while 8,000 miles away from each other," Jill told ABC News. "And when we finally met in person in Nepal, we knew within days that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together."  

There was a line about that in the song, so Jill knew right away that Derick had something up his sleeve.

"He said, 'When God made you, he was thinking of me,' and then at the very end [of the song], he said something about, 'And I pray that you think that too, when God made you he was thinking of me,' and I was like, 'That sounds like a question!'" said Jill. "After that, Derick started saying a bunch of mushy stuff like, 'I love you so much,' and I don't remember everything!"

Derick got down on one knee and presented a ring he purchased in Israel.

Derick described the ring and the story behind it: "It's just a white gold band with a solitaire diamond: a round stone, .63 carats. Jill really likes Israel, and I'd always wanted to go to the Holy Land. ... [When I was there] I had it in my head that I wanted to get an engagement ring pretty soon, but I had no idea it would work out [this] perfectly!"

I love Derick's desire to follow God and to serve others," said Jill. "Derick is so romantic, and the proposal was perfect. We are incredibly happy and can't wait to share our courtship and engagement on 19 Kids and Counting. Next up, wedding planning!"

The wedding has been planned for this summer, and according to the couple, it's going to be big. They are looking forward to sharing their special moment with family and friends. Jill is currently working on invitations.