Baby Blessing, Birthday Party, and Fall Leaves

I've been meaning to post pictures of my new niece for a month now... But I kept losing them through some technical difficulty or another. My niece was blessed yesterday by her dad, my brother. We are so excited to have this beautiful little girl in our family!

Other than the fact that they're quite tired (as new parents often are), my brother his wife are, of course, thrilled by her, too.

One of the nicest part of the blessings, for me, was the opportunity to spend some quality time with my brother and with my nephew. The new big brother had a pretty full week between his birthday parties and Halloween and then all of the excitement of his sister's blessing. He wasn't really in the mood for sacrament meeting.

As soon as church was and he could get outside, he grabbed my hand and headed for home. He was so happy to be heading home that, even though it was raining, he ran and laughed the whole way.

Of course, that wasn't the only event of the day. My oldest nephew turned 8 yesterday. So after the blessing, we went to my Grandpa's house for Sunday dinner and a birthday party. He got lots of Pokemon (his favorite thing). Plus, Grandpa had raked all of the leaves in his yard into a big pile and the cousins climbed in and had a great time burying themselves and having "leafball fights". They were also good enough to pose for a few pictures. These two are really great friends. You'd think they were brother and sister, they are so close.

This wasn't my niece's first time in the leaves this week, either. A few days before she'd come to my house for the afternoon. She helped me with some gardening. (She loves Veggietales, and thus was more than happy to pick all of the "Bob's" (tomatoes) in my garden to make room for a leafpile. Here's my favorite picture from that day's fun.

If you know me, you know that all of this constitutes a GREAT weekend for me. I love kids! Getting to spend some quality kid time with my nieces and nephews is always a treat!

I'm so lucky to be an aunt! I can't even imagine my life without kids. My nieces and nephews keep me young

Technical difficulties on chickenandhowie.com

Last night I found a pretty big little bug on the chickenandhowie.com website. It's come to my attention that several weeks ago, while I was making some little cosmetic tweak, I accidentally saved over the "Emily According to Brian" page with one of my work pages that I used when I was designing the site.

Because of this, instead of the beautiful little description of me that Brian had written, you have several paragraphs of "Lorem Ipsum". Lorem Ipsum is a tool that graphic designers use so they can work on design before they have the actual text in hand. At a glance, the random Latin words look like English. And somehow I managed to save my Lorem Ipsum version of the page over all the final draft copies I have.

Anyway... I'm working on finding the text that Brian wrote so I can get it back up on the site. If that fails, he's promised to write a new introduction. Until I can get it fixed, though, here's an excerpt from our birthparent letter that Brian wrote about me:

Let me tell you a little bit about Emily. Emily has a spunky personality. She loves having fun and is willing to try anything at least once. Emily is so very loving and caring. If she knows that she can help someone enjoy life a little bit better, she will do all she can to provide that help. Being the second child in a large family, Emily loves having kids around and knows exactly what to do to keep a child happy. She seems to attract kids. When we are in church, we often will have a kid come to visit us.

Emily loves to learn. Because of this, she speaks Spanish and Italian fluently and knows bits and pieces of many other languages. Because she speaks Spanish, she is often asked to translate. A few times a year she will go and help a kindergarten teacher in our ward translate parent teacher conferences. This is something that she really enjoys.

Emily loves music. She is always singing. She will often sing me songs that she makes up, just for fun. It amazes me that she can come up with words that rhyme so quickly. For the past year Emily has been teaching piano to two neighborhood kids. It is fun watching her get ready to teach. One of the children she teaches is mildly autistic. Emily has a lot of fun teaching the basics and sharing her love of music.

Hockey Opening Night

The hockey season is finally back! The Grizzlies played their home opener last Friday night. And we were able to kick off the season with a party for our whole family.

A couple of months ago, Howie told me he'd entered a contest to win a suite for opening night. He was sure his odds were good, and... well, they must have been... Because he won the suite.
We rounded up some of our family members to join us in the suite and celebrate. Some are seasoned hockey fans. Others were there for their first time and just learning the rules.

Howie did his best to get a picture that fit all of us into the frame. By the 10th take, we weren't smiling quite as nicely.

Our niece Bella has great hockey fan potential. When the game started she just knew that our team was trying to beat the "Alaskans". By the end, she'd paid enough attention to my explanations of what was happening that she could follow the game pretty well.

The Grizzlies didn't disappoint in this home game. Even though Alaska is a pretty tough team, the final score was 7-2 Grizzlies. 12 different Grizzlies scored during the game. They even got a bit fiesty by the end and we saw a couple of fights. It was a well played game and a very exciting way to start the season.


And, of course, with his black eye, Howie fully looked the part of a hockey fan. And, in true gameday fashion, he screamed so loud he lost his voice and got to teach Elder's Quorum two days later with half a voice.

Church Ball

You've heard before that church basketball is a dangerous sport, right?

Howie came home last Thursday night with this nice shiner. Course, it was less visible the first couple of days when this picture was taken... But still not bad for just an elbow, eh?

Course, usually he's the big guy other people are bouncing off of. They say it was an accident, but could it really have been revenge for broken toes or other church ball injuries?

Hoping to fill a dining room table

I hae a confession to make. Last weekend, Brian and I bought an enormous oak dining room table. Without the leaf, it seats 6-8 people. With the leaf... well, it's just big.

This may not seem like a typical purchase for a family of two. We don't exactly take up a lot of room. It seems even more impractical if you add in the cost of having to now get all new tablecloths because few of mine fit a table this large. But we just do things like this sometimes.

We are hoping and praying for the day when our family grows. Maybe even enough to fill our dining room table. And, even though it doesn't make much practical sense, we just can't help working to get ourselves ready for that day. Therefore, not only do we have a big dining room table. We've got a drawer full of cute little baby clothes. We've got a room set aside as a nursery. We collect children's books and toys and little fuzzy ducky slippers. I've picked out a crib. (Though I haven't bought it yet) and am working on figuring out what else a nursery needs. And, even though I often feel like I'm breaking some unspoken rule by being there, I just can't help wandering through the baby department when I've got a few extra minutes in a store.

In the meantime, we are lucky to have friends and family who help to play with our toys and eat at our table. One of our favorite traditions is inviting a family over for dinner and games. We love to share our home with our friends. So I guess that's a good reason to have a big table, too.

A bountiful harvest

Monday was kind of an interesting day. When I woke up in the morning I would never have imagined it... But at the same time, I wouldn't have traded it in, either.

Just as I finished getting dressed, the phone rang. It was a friend of mine from Howie's mission. She and I started writing when she was in his English class in Italy. Later, she visited Utah and I had the opportunity to show her around Temple Square at night. I've visited her once in Italy as well, but mostly we've just written letters and talked on the phone.

She called to let me know that she's in Florida visiting a friend for the next three months. This is especially significant because she has a cell phone with free nationwide calling, and we'll have the chance to talk more often. This is very good for my Italian and good for her English... not to mention the friendship.

We talked all morning while I did chores around the house. I also was able to finish a weekend-long job of refinishing and assembling a storage chest we bought at Ikea on Saturday.

Later in the day, Max and I got the chance to do some work in the garden and enjoy a perfect afternoon. The weather gets cooler every day and I needed to harvest as much as possible before it could get any colder. While I dug up carrots, Max enjoyed the chance to run around in the garden and eat whatever he wanted without fear of punishment. He really loves playing in the garden, but only in fall do I let him eat anything I haven't picked.

Of course, the tomato cages are his very favorite thing.

I decided to make chicken pot pie with the fruits of our harvest, so I put it all in a pot to start cooking while I taught piano lessons. As I finished the lesson, though, my mom and sister pulled up. They explained that they were in the area and my dad and other brothers were nearby, so they decided to come see if we'd like to go to dinner together for home evening.

So - I finished putting together my pot pie and put it in the fridge and we all went out to eat. With such a big family, we don't often get much time with just my parents and the siblings who are still at home... So we had a great time visiting and catching up on some of the exciting events in their lives. As an extra treat, mom and my sister stayed late and played Quiddler with me.

It was nice to have a day that was productive and spontaneous. The weather was perfect. And I got to do some of my favorite things with my favorite people.

Now... while I was getting Max's picture from my camera phone, I found this other of Maxie that I just had to throw in.

Every once in a while, I leave him on his cage with the door open while I run quick errands. He doesn't usually go anywhere... But every once in a while he gets startled or adventurous an I have to go find him when I get home. Finding him has gotten quite easy lately, though. Most often, I'll find that he decided he was tired and flew off his cage, climbed the stairs, and climbed our bedspread to take a nap on Brian's pillow. Have I mentioned that this bird is spoiled? Anyway, just had to share the picture.

7 random facts

My visiting teaching companion and I were doing a bit of a get-to-know you thing this week. I mentioned that I'd studied languages in college. She confessed a taste for an uncommon food (that I won't reveal in a blog, because that would be just plain mean.)

Along those lines, I thought it might be fun to share a few random facts about ourselves with you here.

About Emily
1) I have studied Spanish, Italian, American Sign Language, French, German, Polish, and Japanese at various times in my life. Of those, I am fluent in Spanish and Italian and can get by in ASL.
2) I've only had one cavity, and it was in a baby tooth.
3) I don't like maple syrup on my pancakes. But I love it on french toast and cornbread.
4) I skipped the first grade. Because I was younger than the rest of my class, I couldn't date or drive until halfway through my junior year of high school and I was 17 when I started college.
5) For my eighth birthday, my grandparents took me on a trip to Canada. My first choice was Mexico, but when they didn't bite I picked the only other out of country destination offered to me.
6) When I was a newlywed, I played the organ in our church. It was an antique pipe organ with pipes that sometimes would get stuck in the middle of sacrament meeting. I had one lesson on how to work it, but I was the only one in the ward who could play.
7) I got my first bee sting this year, at age 28.

About Brian
(I haven't asked permission to post these, so we'll hope I don't get in trouble.)

1) Before his mission, he was studying business. He still loves reading books on marketing and business.
2) He'll do just about anything for a chocolate chip cookie. Especially an applesauce chocolate chip cookie.
3) He's never set foot on the campus of the university that he graduated from. He took all his classes at a satellite program or online. When graduation rolled around, we figured we shouldn't ruin his record and threw a barbecue to celebrate instead of the cap and gown ceremony.
4) He broke off his two front teeth when he threw a wrench through a basketball hoop and caught it with his face.
5) He enjoys mowing the lawn.
6) He was in 1st grade when he wrote his first computer program. I've lost count of how many computers we own.
7) He doesn't like pickles. (Which means all the more pickles for me!)

Hockey Weekend

The past weekend was spent being avid hockey fans.

The activities started on Friday night. Our local ECHL hockey team had an scrimage that was open to the public. Chicken and I attended a practice last year and really enjoyed getting to see the players before they were in games. Not to mention that it was the first time in 5 months that I could see hockey in person.

Saturday was a season ticket holder event. We were told that the coach would introduce his players, we could watch practice, and then skate with the players. We arrived a few minutes late, I'm not sure if the players were actually introduced, but oh well. It was fun to watch more practice. Then for the first time in many, many years for me, we put on ice skates, and got out on the ice.

While there, we decided we needed tickets with the team's mascot. We skated up and asked if we could take a picture with him. He wanted the camera. He took a picture, then we each took turns.

Back in July I donated some money to the MDA one of the percs of that was 6 invitations to skate with the team. We invited some friends and family. We had a lot of fun skating. I got up the courage to talk to one of the players. One of our favorite players to watch is Kazuma Takahashi. I just chatted with him about his trip home to Japan over the summer. All in all it was a fun time on the ice.

Chicago

About a year ago, we came across a great little promotion, that long story short, gave us a free flight to Chicago. We were finally able to redeem that flight a couple of weeks ago and had a great little escape together.

(Photo: Me at Navy Pier with Chicago Skyline in the background.)

I'm not one to ever pass up an opportunity to go back to Chicago, since that's where I served my mission. However, we decided this trip to take some time and actually experience the city a bit. (Last time we went back, we spent all our time visiting with people I knew from my mission and barely even saw the city.)

So we took the first couple of days in the city itself. We did a few of those things I always wanted to do but never got to as a missionary... like going to the top of the Sears Tower, riding the ferris wheel at Navy Pier and attending a Chicago White Sox game. We went to several museums from the Chicago Institute of Art to the Shedd Aquarium to the Museum of Science and Industry, experiencing everything from Monet to sharks to a historic german submarine and the cutest little baby chicks. In a bit of a splurge, Howie bought tickets for us to see the play Wicked at the Ford Oriental Theatre which was a definitely memorable experience.




(Photos: Us at the Sox Game. Howie in the Art Museum. Us outside the Shedd Aquarium).

Since we were in Chicago, we of course had to sample some of the famous local fare. Dining ranged from italian beef to deep dish pizza at Gino's East to burgers in a very famous little underground (literally) restaurant called Billy Goat's. (This place was great! You walked in and they told you exactly what you were going to order. Your only option was to upsize it.)

(Photo: Toasted Ravioli at Gino's East)

We couldn't have picked worse weather for our trip. We were there on the rainiest day ever recorded in Chicagoland. Fortunately, for our two days on foot in the city, it only misted on us. (Although we were never fully dry). The real rain didn't start until the day that we headed out of the city to visit one of the areas in the suburbs where I'd been a missionary. But then, oh how it rained!!! 6 inches of rain fell in a single day. Traffic was awful! Lakes and rivers were overflowing! We got lucky that for that day's drive we didn't end up stranded or really far diverted.

(Photo: Howie at the funhouse mirrors at Navy Pier. Notice how gray and wet it was!)

Sunday we went to church in the ward where I served the longest as a missionary. It was fun to see old friends and catch up. And after church, we got to go to dinner with one of my very favorite people and best friends from my mission, a woman from Bolivia who I taught and translated for during the first half of my mission. She'd been through some pretty big life changes and had dropped off of the ward's radar after moving... I was really lucky to find her!

(Photo: Brian, me, my friend, and her husband)

We had a GREAT visit. She made me her absolutely scrumptiously wonderful empanadas and we got to share pictures and stories. I was amazed at how much her kids have grown! I'm sure my mission wasn't that long ago!

And then, it was almost time to come home. We spent our last day in the city, mostly, navigating around flooded roads. The DuPage river had overflown its boundaries and had flooded streets everywhere! Our first few plans for the day took us a bit too close to the river, and thus were out of the question. But... because of that we ended up deciding to go to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which we'd only heard of. We didn't know where it was or what it was really, but it turned out to be a really great end to a really great trip!

(Photo: Howie playing with the beavers at the zoo.)

Finally, it was time to go home. We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and... since the flight had been free... Brian decided to upgrade us to first class for just a small fee. That made for a very comfortable flight home and a meal so good I could barely move.

We really love our little adventures together. They give us a chance to really enjoy one another's company and learn about ourselves and each other as we explore a place that's new to both of us. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Rubber Chicken

Last week for our Relief Society's enrichment night we had a brown bag dinner. We had sack lunches... but the central activity for the night was that everyone brought a brown lunch sack with something in it that had special meaning to them and share its story with the rest of the group.

I was really excited to find that our rubber chicken fit in the sack.... because it's really a big part of our marriage. I thought you might like to know the story, too.

When I was on my mission, Howie got his hands on this pretty nasty looking rubber chicken. He stuffed it full of my favorite Italian chocolates (see picture). To get the chocolates back out, I had to perform surgery on the poor little chicken.

As thanks for the gift, I made him a tape (the holy grail of long distance communication). I put the tape inside the chicken, along with all the candy wrappers and a couple of dozen feathers - stitched it back up, and mailed it back to him.

The chicken made another more significant experience, though, after I got home from my mission. 4 weeks to the day after I got back, Howie cooked me dinner at his house. He had red roses and candlelight. After dinner, through a less than casual show of deciding to look up a scripture, he presented me with a set of scriptures. One one cover he'd had my full name, with his last name, engraved. On the other, he'd engraved "Will you marry me?"

Of course I got all excited and said yes. Then he asked if I wanted a ring. He brought me a couple of fake rings first. Then, he went into the kitchen and returned with our chicken on a platter... the ring on its beak.

So - our rubber chicken... dirty and nasty as it is... is pretty important to us. I've had to work a bit to fit it into our decorating.... since there's no way I'd put it away into storage somewhere. And everytime I look at it, it makes me smile.

Adoption Home Visit - We're almost there!

The adoption application process is called a "home study". The purpose of it all is to learn as much as possible about our family and our home to make sure that our home is suitable for a child. The final step of the home study process is a home visit. This is where the caseworker comes to your home, interviews you as a family, looks around your house to make sure it's a safe environment, etc. etc.

We've got a really great caseworker! You can really tell she cares about the people she works with! And she has done a great job of helping to make it so this process has been a comfortable one, despite all the emotions that surround it.

The visit went really quite smoothly. She looked around our house and asked questions about childproofing and where the nursery would be, etc. We talked a lot about what's called our "preferences checklist" - a form where we indicate our preferences in the way of age, race, medical history, etc. for the child. Brian & I are of the opinion that the Lord is very involved in the adoption process - and that He will guide us to the child that is meant to be in our family. Therefore, we didn't put any major limitations on race or disability. Our child will be our child, regardless of those things, and we'll love him or her just the same. We were surprised because it didn't sound like that was a very common perspective.

Anyway, as we were wrapping things up, our caseworker asked us if we could have copies of our profile to her before the end of the week so she could present us for approval in staff meeting on Monday. That means that the application process is pretty much over and they'll send out our collage and letter to be shown in LDSFS agencies across the country. It means our online profile and website can officially go live, too. And - most importantly, it also means that whenever we find the right child to adopt - we are ready and able to do it... even on a moment's notice.

Birthdayness

We celebrated Howie's 28th birthday last weekend. One thing that we've established in our marriage is that I'm not really capable of keeping a secret from him. So - he figured out early on that I was planning to get him a hybrid golf club. And then, he also guessed that I planned to take him golfing so he could try out his new club.

It was a day without many surprises - but a good day, all the same. This was the first time I've actually played a game of golf, instead of just practicing on the driving range. We played a simple par 3 and just nine holes. And we went in with the agreement that we would cheat when needed. We had a really, really great time!

Then, we went out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Howie left me with too good of a clear opportunity to talk to our server - so I made arrangements for them to decorate his cheesecake and for the staff to sing to him. He HATES attention, so he promised all kinds of revenge... But it was a good memory. Don't know that I'll ever pull that one off again.

Finally, we had Howie's family over for dinner. Howie loves homemade chicken cordon bleu... and his mom brought his favorite german chocolate cake. Sunday, we celebrated with my family at Sunday dinner.I'm pretty sure he got the message... but just in case he missed it, I'd like to throw out a happy birthday in the world of blogs. It's been another wonderful year with you! I'm so lucky to have you in my life.

The girls, the boys & the little kids (Introducing Emily's family)

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a bit about Brian's family. So I thought I'd take a minute to introduce my own. There are 7 kids in my family, so growing up we divided ourselves up into groups called "the girls", "the boys" & "the little kids". This is mainly based on birth order... 2 girls, 2 boys, followed by a boy, a girl, and a boy... And it worked well when trying to finagle some special activity. "The boys are going camping, so the girls and the little kids are going to stay home with mom and watch movies", for example.

Anyway - since there are a lot of us, I'm going to use these same groups to introduce us.

The girls

I am the second in my family. I have an older sister who was close enough to me in age that we were pretty good friends all through school. She really helped to show me the ropes in school, and in life - helping me get my first two jobs, double dating, teaching me to drive a stick shift.. all the important stuff. She married a friend of ours from high school and they have one son, who is almost eight. She's a mom first and foremost, but also works from home. Her husband just finished two MBA's. My nephew, in some ways, is way too smart for his age. He knows all about solar systems and trains and a lot of other things. His current fascination is Pokemon.

The other of the "girls" is me.

The boys

My oldest brother is just a year and a half younger than me. He's just oozing with artistic talent, and right now uses that talent to design printed circuit boards and other stuff I don't quite understand. He's also working on finishing his bachelor's degree. His wife says at home with their son, who is almost two, and a real charmer. My nephew is being tested right now to determine if he has autism. His parents are working hard to learn and to teach him some sign language to help him communicate. He loves anything with wheels! My brother and his wife are expecting a little girl who should be born NEXT WEEK!!


My second brother has had more than his fair share of hard knocks in his life. He's struggled with an illness that has severely impacted his life since high school. However, with time he's learned to manage it and we have learned to work together as a family to help him. He is married and has a beautiful little girl! She is three years old and the cutest thing you've ever met. Some of her current favorite things are singing, temples, and veggie tales. Her dad is lucky enough to be a stay-at-home dad and you can tell they adore each other.

The little kids

To be fair, my third brother gets to jump back and forth between the categories of "boys" and "little kids". He returned about 2 years ago from an LDS mission in the Phillipines. Since then, he's been working and going to school. He loves to keep on with friends and traditions from his mission. He also loves video games and can be counted on whenever a gaming party is needed. He also is very involved with his singles ward and his friends and is often off playing ultimate frisbee or bowling or something of the like.

My third (and last) sister recently graduated from high school and is working to establish her place in life. She loves photography and has a job at a local photo studio. She also is VERY good with kids. She has worked in day care centers and schools, and my nieces and nephews on both my side and Brian's family love her as a babysitter.

Finally, my youngest brother is in his senior year of high school. He plays in the school band and works at a local music store. He just finished making his own kayak which he used for a scout troup river running trip. He's always doing something - but is so independent that I don't always know what that something is.

The parents

And, of course, you wouldn't have this big family without parents. My parents are really amazing people. And I don't just say that because they raised all of us without major catastrophe, though that should be counted to their credit. y dad is a computer technician by trade. He loves to fiddle with anything electronic. He also loves anything and everything to do with the outdoors. He's served off and on as scoutmaster for my whole life. He loves camping, hiking, canoeing, and all of that. He also is quite involved in Mountain man recreation, which means that he has all kinds of cool things like teepees and period rifles and jewelry and clothes. He can fix anything, especially cars... though we've probably made him do more of that than any person's fair share.

My mom has always been a stay-at-home mom. She loves the arts, literature, music, etc. and has instilled that in her children. We went to the library every week growing up. And she taught us all piano lessons, as well as putting up with each of us learning another instrument. She also loves good fun. Board games are her forte... no one can beat her at scrabble. (I'm the only one who even comes close). She's always been very involved with the church's record extraction program and has been part of adding millions of names to the family history database. Her children and grandchildren are the center of her life. Even with seven kids, we all have fond memories of one-on-one time with mom.

So - that's my family, in brief. I love 'em. What more can I say?

Emily on birthmothers

When I was in young women's, I had two very good friends. One of them lives across the street from me. The other lived in Nevada, but spent ever summer with her grandma. We loved summers together, especially girl's camp! We always shared a tent. Our last summer of girl's camp, we bought "best friends" necklaces, so we'd remember each other when we were apart.

We didn't know how much things would change in their lives before we were next all together. Towards the end of my senior year of school, my friend across the street got pregnant. The father wasn't very interested in marriage, or even in being part of his son's life. I watched as my friend struggled with changes in hormones and changes in her body, with the choices now ahead of her that were so much bigger than anything we'd imagined at girl's camp. Her mother didn't want to "lose" a grandchild, and so eventually my friend decided to be a single parent, to live with her parents, and to try to raise her son alone. It was hard to watch them struggle financially, to see them stay away from church, and to see them face the criticism that came with that choice. Despite the struggles, I could tell that she loved her little boy. She did all she could to give him a good life and was and is a very good mom.

That summer, my other friend didn't come back from Nevada to visit. But the next year, she did. And things in her life had changed dramatically, too. She, too, was pregnant... just about to deliver. And she had chosen to lovingly place her child for adoption through LDS Family Services. I remember seeing her struggle with the loss that was a part of her choice. I'm sure, though, that what I saw was just the tip of the iceburg. She kept a lot to herself. I also remember her bittersweet joy as, the next year during her visit, she showed me pictures of her son's first birthday party and told me all about his family. I could tell she missed him, but could also feel the peace she had in her choice and the joy it gave her to know that she'd given him what she couldn't offer him alone.

I never imagined that I would end up on the other side of this story one day... hoping to adopt a child. But, once it became clear that this was the plan that Heavenly Father had for me and my family, I started to think about my two friends and about how their experiences would teach me a little bit about the mother who would make it possible for me to be a mother. One of the first things I wondered was how I could help to ease the pain that I had seen my friends go through... How could I help a mother to find the sense of peace that she would need when her heart was aching?

I don't know that I know exactly the best way to do this. But please know that I have seen a glimpse of your heartache and want to do all I can to help. Although I've never been in your shoes, I know your choice isn't an easy one. I know how scary it is when life doesn't go as planned... and what it is to be uncertain of what the future holds.

Know that we're praying for you. Know that we have a huge amount of respect for you. Know that we see your choice of adoption as an act of love and will always teach our children so. And please know that although we don't know you yet, we are already beginning to love you. How can you not love someone who has so much love for a child?

Fireworks in the rain

Have you ever watched fireworks in the rain? Well, we did it for the first time last Saturday.

My family all goes to the fireworks in the town where my parents live each year. And every year, since I got home from my mission, Howie and I have taken his sister and niece with us to these fireworks. This year, even Howie's sister was on her honeymoon, we decided that we should still take our niece. So we picked her up in the early evening. She helped me cook dinner, and then we went to meet my family at the fireworks.

The skies looked ominous all afternoon and, well, just as we were arriving, the heavens opened and it started to rain. It was only heavy for a bit, and then just started sprinkling. But, all of my family was there sitting in their cars, so we decided to wait and see. (Calling each other on our cell phones and running between cars to talk, share treats, and play games.)

Minutes before the show was due to start, the rain stopped. So, we climbed out and went to watch. But, just as Rihanna's "Umbrella" came on in the music accompanying the fireworks came on, it started to rain again. You would have thought it had been ordered that way. Fortunately, the grand finale came next, so we didn't mind so much staying there and getting wet. Besides, it was one of those moments you'll probably never forget.

Family Wedding (Introducing Brian's Family)

I posted earlier that Brian's sister was engaged to be married. The wedding was about a week and a half ago, now - and I thought that writing about the wedding was a good way to introduce his family. So here are some of the highlights from the wedding, and a little bit about the family.

Brian's the youngest of four children - three boys, one girl. His family lives all over the country. His parents are just 10 minutes away from us (so long as it isn't rush hour). His only sister, who just got married, lives just a few minutes away from them. His two brothers live out of state. He also has grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins out of state.

However, scattered across the country as they are, his family is one of the closest I've ever seen. And here's the trick. Whenever something brings the family together in the same place, it is an event! You put other projects on hold - taking time off work, if possible - and you spend that time together.

Family started arriving for the wedding on Thursday, which was also Brian's company Lagoon day. So, we got tickets for all the family that was in town and interested, and we all went together. After a late night, we slept in on Friday, but by noon, went to visit temple square.

Brian's second brother lives all the way on the other side of the country. He has two daughters, ages 6 and 4, and a 1 year old little boy. Both of the girls are very smart - the result of some very smart parents. Because they live so far away and can't visit often, this was a first visit to Temple Square for them. It was fun to experience it through their eyes.

When we got back, Brian's oldest brother had arrived, and all the men went off for a tux fitting. Brian's oldest brother lives in the neighboring state, so they can visit a bit more often. He has two girls, ages 7 (turning eight very soon) and 6. His wife is very shy, but we're pretty good friends. In fact, if it weren't for her and how well the two of us work together, I don't know how Sunday's barbecue would have gone... but we'll get to that.

I'm slipping in a picture of my father-in-law at the tux fitting. He's a very funny man. Usually very quiet and reserved... but very pensive. He liked to really understand things, and isn't afraid to ask whatever questions come to his mind. He's usually not too eager to get in front of a camera, so I had to throw this in.

Saturday night we got a real treat. For the first time since I got married, Brian's family was able to go to the temple together. His parents, brothers, sister, sisters-in-law, grandpa, aunt, uncle, and cousins were there! It was the first chance I've had to be in the celestial room with them all together. (Since I was endowed before my mission, we didn't do an endowment session before our sealing). This picture was taken after we left the temple. It's a bit dark... but still fun to have a picture of us all together at the temple.

Saturday was the rehearsal luncheon. Brian's sister was divorced about 5 years ago, after learning some pretty surprising things about her husband. Since then, she and her 6-year-old daughter have been living with Brian's parents. About two years ago, she was set up on a blind-date with her now-husband by, of all people, his father. He's a really great guy! A good dad for our niece, and a good fit in the family, since he's a computer nerd as much as my brothers-in-law. (Only this sister has resisted the family's love of computers.. and her new husband brings balance to the family.)

The rehearsal luncheon was our first chance to meet his family. Their family is much smaller and more reserved than Brian's... which is funny because Brian's family is INCREDIBLY calm and reserved compared to mine. They treated us to a wonderful lunch, and then surprised us all by shared a family tradition with us. Each member of their family gave a small hand-me-down gift to the bride to welcome her into the family. Each gift was something they already owned, but each has a special significance. I was really impressed by this and vowed to adopt the tradition when my own children are married.

Sunday was Brian's family's turn to host. And, since Brian's mom loves hosting parties - especially weddings - she decided to throw an elaborate Sunday barbecue for all of the extended family. And everything that could go wrong tried to. Fortunately, one of the things I share with my mother-in-law is that we think a lot the same when it comes to hosting parties... so with a little work and a lot of convincing I was able to shoo her out of the kitchen and my sister-in-law and I took care of things while she entertained her guests.

And finally, the wedding was Monday. We arrived early to tie bows on chairs and help where we could. Since there were plenty of people taking care of the bride, I got to hang out in the bride's room and take care of the bride's mother (my mother-in-law). She doesn't often wear makeup... so she had me help her get made up. (Which is funny because I don't wear much... Just the basics that a mission companion of mine who sells Mary Kay introduced me to).

The ceremony was beautiful! By a waterfall... Both bride and groom teared up when they saw each other. The reception afterwards was also beautiful... After a while they opened up a dance floor and my nieces danced the night away. Brian and I were supposed to take extra pictures, which we did for a while, until we got distracted with decorating the car.

After so many late nights, and so much fun, we absolutely crashed! Family visits are always fun, but it always takes us about a week to recover from it. Which is part of why this post took so long to get up.

Bridal Portraits

Howie's sister is getting married the first week of August. She's gone through the ringer trying to get her wedding dress altered just right. She got the first alterations back the same day as her scheduled bridal portraits. However, between bad alterations and some sloppy photography, she wasn't happy at all with how they came out.

So - Howie offered to do a new set of bridal portraits for her. Howie loves photography! He was a yearbook photographer in high school. About a year ago we bought him an Digital SLR camera so he'd have a really good camera to work with again. And he takes it with him everywhere.

We met at the state capital. Howie's sister has a 5-year-old daughter who Howie calls "spoiled baby". She came dressed up for portraits, too. Also with the entourage the maid-of-honor, also a photographer taking pictures, and Howie's mom. We took our time and had fun and Howie took a TON of pictures! (Enough to fill a 1G memory card, and half of a second).

That combined two of Howie's favorite types of photography... bridals and children.

Howie did an amazing job! I followed him around adjusting the dress and hair.

When we came home, we played around a bit with the pictures in Photoshop to see what we could do. That's one of my favorite parts of Howie's hobby. I am pretty versed in Photoshop so we put his photo printing experience and my software and design know-how together we can turn out a pretty good picture. Here are a few of my favorites.