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

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?

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.