Laughter - Hugs - Chatting - Goofing off - Attending the Temple - Reading "A Christmas Carol" and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" for the zillionth time - Listening to and playing lots of Christmas music together - Tickling Seth: This is what we did for the holidays. Of course, we had to spend almost $2000 to get all the kids here to DO these things, but it was totally worth it. As I drove Lindy and Nick to the airport this morning, I was reflecting on how fast the fun times fly by, and how long it may be until we're all together again (after Quinn's mission?). I suppose these things would pale after a while if that's all we did, and that life must be mostly nutritious grains and vegetables in order to keep dessert sweet.
On a humorous side note, yesterday when we walked into the portrait studio to get the above family portrait, Lindy and Nick had introduced themselves to the photographer, and then the rest of the family did, and last I came in with Seth, and she said, "Oh, and is this the grandbaby?" ARGH! That's the first time that's happened (but I'm sure it won't be the last). However, later that evening we went to the temple, and Lindy, Nick and I went into the lobby and sat down while Paul went back to the car for something. After he came back we went up to the recommend desk, and the sweet brother there said to Lindy and me, "So, are you sisters?" !!! Totally compensated for the prior question, and it made me laugh that it followed it so closely. No, I'm not a grandma yet (though I could be), and I hope that I've still got the energy to be a great mom (Joy School teacher, sports team mom, math and reading tutor, Eagle Scout harasser, drivers-ed fear-monger, etc.).
Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Our BIG Year
Why do we say 2011 is our big year? We've never before gained two family members in one year -- a son and a son-in-law. Or, depending on your point of view, our family shrank, as Lindy got married and Quinn graduated and went off to BYU. We also had a big year in church service, as Paul was called as a counselor in our bishopric, and Jeni served as Stake Young Women president before being released in August. And it's been a big year for Luke and Seth, as they both got very big: Luke grew almost a foot straight up (though no wider) and Seth grew from a few ounces in January to over 20 pounds -- at six months he's in the ninetieth percentile for height and weight. Adrianne has had a big year in her role as big sister to Quinn, which has meant advisor in all-things BYU.
We hope you enjoy the slide show (below), and we wish all our loved ones far and near a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
(Note: the slideshow doesn't work well with Google Chrome - hold your cursor over the bottom of the window so all the thumbnails show up and if there's a lot of blanks try IE or Firefox as your browser instead.
We hope you enjoy the slide show (below), and we wish all our loved ones far and near a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!
(Note: the slideshow doesn't work well with Google Chrome - hold your cursor over the bottom of the window so all the thumbnails show up and if there's a lot of blanks try IE or Firefox as your browser instead.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Obsession
Last weekend was our 23rd anniversary. Where did the time go? I've been working on photo albums, and that reminds me of where it went: fun, work, stress, laughter, grumpiness, boredom, sweetness, hilarity. But part of me can't believe it, though, that I've now been married longer than I've been NOT married.
For my gift (though he didn't see it this way) Paul said the words I'd wanted to hear: "Go ahead." The reason that was music to my ears is that we'd been pursuing an adoption option since January, which fell through in October. This soured my honey to the whole idea of adopting, which made me sad. It's been tough on Luke being "kind-of" an only child this year -- I'd wanted to get him involved in lots of things, but he didn't want that, so he's bored a lot without his Quinn. And thinking that I'd have an only child from the time Seth turns five and Luke leaves... that's a long time. I was talking to Paul about moving into a neighborhood and finding a private school or something (though the thought of not homeschooling horrifies me) so he can be around other kids more than just the few hours per week that we can do co-ops and play dates.
So I've been obsessed for over a month now with researching AGAIN all our adoption possibilities (this is the third time I've done this). And I've been emailing Paul stuff and talking to him non-stop. I attended an adoption info meeting with one agency, and have been emailing others and joined a Yahoo group about adopting from Peru (which would definitely be our first choice -- IF). In case you didn't know, it's getting SUPER hard to adopt, either domestically or internationally. If we'd made this decision a few years ago, we could have had one of the 4700 Guatemalan kids they passed out in 2007 before that came to a screeching halt. The Hague Convention has caused a dramatic fall in international adoptions -- I'm sure it's prevented some problems, but it's made the process much more complicated and time-consuming, so the reality is that more kids are sitting in orphanages who would otherwise have families. And for us it seems like every time we think we've got a good option, a door slams in our face. But we'll keep trying/thinking/researching/praying. And when I find the most promising avenue, I'll take my spouse's "Go ahead" and run with it.
For my gift (though he didn't see it this way) Paul said the words I'd wanted to hear: "Go ahead." The reason that was music to my ears is that we'd been pursuing an adoption option since January, which fell through in October. This soured my honey to the whole idea of adopting, which made me sad. It's been tough on Luke being "kind-of" an only child this year -- I'd wanted to get him involved in lots of things, but he didn't want that, so he's bored a lot without his Quinn. And thinking that I'd have an only child from the time Seth turns five and Luke leaves... that's a long time. I was talking to Paul about moving into a neighborhood and finding a private school or something (though the thought of not homeschooling horrifies me) so he can be around other kids more than just the few hours per week that we can do co-ops and play dates.
So I've been obsessed for over a month now with researching AGAIN all our adoption possibilities (this is the third time I've done this). And I've been emailing Paul stuff and talking to him non-stop. I attended an adoption info meeting with one agency, and have been emailing others and joined a Yahoo group about adopting from Peru (which would definitely be our first choice -- IF). In case you didn't know, it's getting SUPER hard to adopt, either domestically or internationally. If we'd made this decision a few years ago, we could have had one of the 4700 Guatemalan kids they passed out in 2007 before that came to a screeching halt. The Hague Convention has caused a dramatic fall in international adoptions -- I'm sure it's prevented some problems, but it's made the process much more complicated and time-consuming, so the reality is that more kids are sitting in orphanages who would otherwise have families. And for us it seems like every time we think we've got a good option, a door slams in our face. But we'll keep trying/thinking/researching/praying. And when I find the most promising avenue, I'll take my spouse's "Go ahead" and run with it.
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