Hoping to Adopt Again

Alaska...

2012-01-19T15:34:00.001-07:00

We are no longer residents of Nebraska...we've moved to Alaska and what a move! Actually, we have only been here in the state for 6 days, and what a cold 6 days! We are still looking for a place to live, and we were told that it would take 3-5 weeks to get our things shipped here, so for now, we are living at one of the BSA's council camps. It is beautiful out there, but it is a camp, so I am excited to have all of our own things and be in our own place. And actually, that will probably be sooner than later, because we were just told our shipment came in record time, and it arrived here yesterday, after a 6 day journey. Now, we just need a place to put it!

But, besides that, Alaska has been good. We've cleaned and cleaned our little place so it looks a little better, and I even made bread yesterday and today. I love bread...although I do miss my kitchen aid. We are grateful to be here (although the airlines did get a little messed up with our reservation and thought we were stopping in Seattle for good) and to be in a nice, warm place. We have to do laundry in a separate building at camp, and unfortunately, we have had to do laundry every day the last three days. The last few days have been around zero or 2 below when Jessica and went out to do the laundry, and I actually felt like I was getting used to it. I mean, really, the buildings are only 200 steps away from each other, but still, I could handle that little bit pretty well and I didn't mind. But, today, it is 11 below, and man, that is cold. It makes me walk a little faster just to get inside and warm up.

Anyway, that is it! I thought originally I would get caught up on all our blog posts and post all about our summer trip to Seaside, Oregon...but I can't access our pictures, and actually, I've been staying busier than I planned up here, so we will see. For now, just know that we are now Alaskans...and need some warm thoughts!

October

2011-12-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

So, obviously, we are a little slow at posting. I really want to just back date this so it looks like I was more on top of things, but I won't. But, I am also not going to write a novel on this one. Basically, October happened. Jessica loved pumpkins and learned how to say pumpkin, although it sounds like puppy. She was a little worried about carving one and touching the guts on the inside, but she did it! And then, she ate a bit, and realized pumpkins might look good, but they are better baked in a pie.

We had a quick trip to Utah because Andrew's brother Grant got married to Jennifer! We are so excited for them and loved seeing the family! Jessica's favorite parts of the weekend were dancing at the reception (seriously, she wouldn't stop! We even tried to dance with her and pick her up, and she wouldn't let us!), seeing the neighbor's chickens, and driving the toy car.

She spent her Halloween as the cutest Dorothy ever...in the airport! Our flight was delayed, so she only went trick or treating at the airport ticket cuonters. She fell asleep on the way home and slept for 13 hours after a busy, long weekend. Oh, and by the way, I made that costume! I am so proud of myself!

An Artist in the Family

2011-08-30T13:54:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday, I pulled out the crayons for Jessica to try coloring. I figured she was probably too young to really get it, and she'd probably try to eat the crayons, but hey, that is part of growing up right? And coloring is so fun! I'm excited for when she really likes it, because I actually love coloring. People would probably think I was a little weird if I went and bought a bunch of crayons and coloring books for myself, but now, I have someone to color with! But, anyway, back to the story.

Earlier in the week, at church, she had grabbed my notebook and opened it up, and was holding a pen in her hand, and I noticed it looked just like she was writing. So, I figured, hey, maybe she is a little ready. First I gave her the bag of crayons, and she was pretty impressed, as you can tell.

Then, I pulled out a few crayons, and showed her what to do. She only put them in her mouth twice, and as soon as I told her they were icky, she decided she agreed with me and took them out. At first, she was only slightly impressed, but she got into it a little more. Want to see the masterpieces?

This is the first one we did together...Jessica drew the lighter lines.

But this one, she did on her own.

Beautiful isn't it? I think we've got an artist in the family! Oh, and she's also a climber. She has mastered climbing onto the rocking chair and it is her favorite spot in the house to ~~stand~~ sit.

Greatest FHE Ever

2011-08-30T13:06:00.002-06:00

Our Family Home Evenings are pretty fast these days. Jessica is okay with looking at a few pictures, but then she wants to go explore. But, earlier this month we had a great FHE. I'm sure it was her favorite one...and we liked it too. We had a water fight!

I bought a few squirt guns on clearance, grabbed a tub of water, our lone splash bomb, and we went to town. I wasn't sure how she would do and if she'd get scared that Andrew and I were yelling and chasing each other around the yard, but she didn't mind at all. Most of the time, she was intrigued by the tub of water. We have had some problems now...every time we get a cup of water (or juice, or milk) to drink, she thinks it is a great thing to stick her hand in and splash around. But, even with that, it was worth it.

A Big Cow and a Big Dog

2011-08-14T22:12:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, we headed to Denver to spend a day in the city. We were able to visit Jessica's birth parents and we also visited the new IKEA there. It was crazy...don't go yet. Fortunately, we like IKEA, so we'll be back, but if we had never been, we would never want to go back. There were about 40 people directing traffic just to get all the cars in the parking lot. Just to get our car parked and then to find our way into the store took over 30 minutes. Andrew says it is like the game RISK--it takes forever to set the thing up, and once you start playing it isn't even fun, and you realize it will take forever, so you just quit and put it back into the box. Kind of anti-climatic.

Anyway, we survived IKEA, and decided we were ready to head home. It was a pretty normal trip, until we got into Nebraska. We were on a dark country road, and well, you know how there are some places that have deer crossing signs? We needed a cow crossing sign.

We were just driving along a somewhat hilly road, talking about our day, when all of a sudden Andrew said, "Whoa!" and swerved. I looked up, expecting to see a deer...and instead saw the fattest cow in the world lumbering along the side of the road. I swear that cow was pregnant...it really was pretty big. We figured we better tell somebody because a cow that big could really do some damage. But, if you remember right, we were on a dark country road in Nebraska, so there were no houses and no lights for a few miles. We finally passed by one that looked pretty dark, so we drove by and then noticed one light was on in an upstairs window. But, just a little bit down the road, there was another house we could see, so we headed down their long driveway. The only light on there was in the garage, and everything else looked really dark. Then, two dogs came running out to greet us, and we weren't sure if they were nice or mean, so we figured we'd go to the other house. Little did we know that those two dogs looked like chihuahuas compared to the one we were about to come face to face with.

Here is the rest of the story in Andrew's words [and notes by Brianna]:

We pulled up to the house, and someone came to the window and looked out. I walked slowly to the door because there were no lights. It was a pretty eerie sight: a full moon, a dark night, and then a bat flew out from underneath their deck. [There really was a bat...I saw it.] Eventually, a lady turned on a small light, came to the door and let out the biggest dog I've ever seen. The dog was all black and its head came almost to mid chest. I kind of froze and hoped the dog was nice. I told the lady, "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to tell you that there is a cow out." She said she'd call the Sheriff or something, and I told her thanks and headed back to the car, but that dog was still trotting around out there and barking at the car.

[Brianna now: When Andrew got out of the car, he was walking slowly to the house and then, the car headlights turned off, which made it very dark. I felt bad for him, so I figured I'd look for a little flashlight to shine through the window for when he came back. I saw the door open and a big dog come out, but I didn't realize how big this dog was. And actually, I just kept looking for the flashlight, because I had a hard time finding it. At this point, I was looking in the glove box, and then, I gave up, lifted my head and looked out my side window...and was facing the biggest dog I've ever seen. It was level with my head and it was just staring at me. I was glad the window was closed...and I love dogs. It looked like a nice dog, even thought it was as tall as a small horse...and it probably would have looked even nicer during the day, at the house of someone we knew, but those were not the circumstances.]

I'm not the world's greatest dog lover, which kind of made things worse. I headed back to the car, and could see the dog looking at Brianna through her window, and I figured I better make a quick break for it to get inside before the dog joined us inside the car. So, I got in real quick and shut the door just in time to see his big head peering through my window. We were happy to pull out the driveway and head home once again knowing that we had done our good turn for the day knowing that we had at least told someone about that cow getting out and hoping they could take care of it.

Just in case you are curious, like we were, to find out what type of dog we met that night, it was Clifford, the big black dog. Don't you remember those books? With Emily Elizabeth? Anyway, it was actually a Great Dane, emphasis on Great. Did you that the world's tallest dog is a Great Dane? His name is Giant George and he is 43 inches tall from his paw to his shoulder. That height does not include his head in case you didn't catch that. So, in case you are ever driving through Nebraska on a country road, you might just see some big cows and Giant George's cousin lumbering together through the fields.

Mt. Rushmore...Part 2

2011-08-09T22:19:00.001-06:00

Part 2 means two months late I guess. Wow, time flies! We have had an amazing summer and well, that means this post will be wrapped up quickly so I can move on to posting about other things. But I did want to document some of it.

After we left Mt. Rushmore on Friday, we decided to walk around Keystone to see the sights. At first, we thought Jessica would be fine even though she had only had a short nap so far, because she was so excited to be in her stroller. Then, she started staring at the wheels of the stroller, and she fell asleep after we had walked about half a block. We leaned it back and kept walking, and she slept the whole time...even through a loud car alarm that went off just as we passed by.

There really isn't a lot to see when you are walking around Keystone, but we had fun. We stopped at this ice cream shop called Turtle Town, and ate some delicious ice cream (which she also slept through). This shop had a lot of fudge, and a lot of chocolate, but we only bought ice cream, so I can't tell you how everything else tasted...but it looked delicious.

They also had the World's Biggest Peanut Butter Cup, and it was huge! Andrew asked if they could take it out of the display case so he could get a picture of it. It cost over $70, and I swear they said it was over 7 pounds. They said you could order these online and that people actually do buy them, especially for Christmas gifts. I searched forever online to try to find any information on it, and I couldn't, except for the website which is above. It is not for sale right now...maybe because it would melt, but if you are ever in need of a lot of peanut butter and chocolate, you can go there and pay a lot of money for some.

Sorry...I forgot this was supposed to be a short and sweet post. That night, we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Rapid City and Jessica loved the paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Our waitress was great, and she kept hitting them so Jessica could watch them. She also brought her her very own fortune cookie, which she enjoyed. The fortune was a perfect one for Jessica; it said: "Now is a good time to expand your repertoire of skills and knowledge." Jessica really took that message to heart and she has been learning so many new skills lately.

Well, our trip was pretty much over, so the next morning, we headed for home. The drive was much better and without snow. And on the way home, we passed a buffalo out in this field. We were so impressed that I told Andrew we needed to stop to take a picture. We did and we were on the side of the road for awhile trying to get some good pictures of this buffalo way out in the field. Here is one of them:

Then, we kept driving, and a few minutes later, there were a lot more buffalo. And they were much closer. We took a lot more pictures, and then, we just kept seeing them. There was this area where you could pull off the side of the road to read something, and the buffalo were all around that. We pulled in and didn't get out, but we did get some pictures...and look at that buffalo. He was huge! Moral of the story...don't stop to document the first buffalo that you see.

On the way back, we also went through this town called Hot Springs and Andrew saw this military cemetery up on the hill and he had to get some pictures of it. After trying to find the right road to the cemetery, and failing many times, we finally made it. They also have this beautiful building so we had to go check it out as well. It is actually the Veterans Affairs Health offices and well everything else. I don't know what all it houses, but I would love to go inside to have a tour! There is a museum, but they were closed that day.

All in all, it was a great trip (and we are excited to go back) but we were ready to be home, and we made it there...after we waited for the cows to cross the road. Yeah, really.

Mt. Rushmore or Bust

2011-06-15T10:24:00.003-06:00

In May, we took our first real family vacation for the three of us. We've been to Washington, Utah, and to some other places, but this time, it was just the three of us and we were so excited! Living in the panhandle of Nebraska, we kind of feel like we are far away from everything, and we are...except for Mt. Rushmore! It was only a 3 1/2 hour drive, so we knew we needed to go! We planned up our trip for weeks, asked our friends about what we should do when we were there, booked a little cabin, and waited for the day to arrive. Around that time, spring decided that it needed a vacation too, and we kept checking the weather, hoping our vacation days would be filled with sun, not rain. It didn't change...but we were ready anyway, and left for our fun-filled trip.
We were a little surprised (and worried) when we drove through this on our way there...

Our plan for our first day was to go straight to Mt. Rushmore and see everything, walk around town, and then go back to the cabin around dinner time to roast hot dogs and smores. Well, things didn't go that way. The snow slowed us down and we made multiple stops along the drive to give Jessica a break and every time we did, we noticed her diapers weren't holding up like we want them to. She went through three outfits that first day, and we were a little worried we were going to run out of clean clothes! So, instead, we went straight to our cabin, and were thrilled to find that it was only raining and spent a lazy afternoon together. Andrew's birthday was the next day, but Jessica and I decided he should open one present then, so he did.

Then, we realized the weather might be worse tomorrow, so we might as well go visit Mt. Rushmore, so we loaded up our rain gear and headed out. The people at the parking entrance said the cloud was just starting to part so we should be able to see the Presidents, and we could...through the haze of the clouds.

We wanted to make sure Jessica was warm and dry, so she stayed in her stroller and we wrapped a huge bag around her (her body, not her head...don't worry). She was thrilled!

We took a few pictures and headed back to cook our hot dogs inside the cabin instead. It was a great, wet day, and we were so glad we were staying in our warm cabin and not in a cold tent. The rain was pouring all night, but miraculously, the next morning, the sun came out for a little bit, so we thought we'd try it again. We drove through some more rain on the way there, but the clouds seemed to part just for us, and this was the view we got that morning. What a difference!

Even though the sun was out when we got there, we were still expecting the rain to begin, so we had all of our rain gear and cold gear on and bundled up Jessica in plenty of layers (leggings, pants, long sleeves, winter coat, hat, gloves, and a blanket wrapped around her). We were able to hike the trail, go to the Visitor's Center, and take lots of pictures. Throughout all of this, our extra layers slowly came off as we were roasting! Jessica rode in our backpack carrier and loved it. Andrew made a top for it so she would be shaded...and to keep out the rain just in case.

After we saw all we wanted to see, we had a picnic lunch and headed into town. We'll post more on that later.

Oh, but in case you were wondering if Jessica likes family vacations, well, just look at that grin below. She loved it!!!

Mommy's Little Helper

2011-04-30T21:32:00.000-06:00

Jessica is the greatest little helper in the world!

She loves to help me decorate...

She helps me make the bed...

She helps me fold all the laundry...

And throw it into the dryer (she is the perfect height for this job)...

And, she always picks up her books, toys, and spices when she is done playing with them...

I love my little helper! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!

Jessica's Story: Part 2

2010-09-01T21:25:00.000-06:00

If you missed Part 1, click here. If not, keep reading.

Sunday, July 4

Our lives were forever changed this day, and it had nothing to do with fireworks! The day started off like a normal Sunday; we got up and got ready for church which started at 9 am. I was going to teach my Primary class, the 6 and 7 year olds, and Andrew was going to Elder’s Quorum. When I got to Primary, I even volunteered to teach another class because their teachers were out of town. Then, at 9:14, Andrew’s phone started to vibrate. We never used to take his cell phone to church, but the last few weeks, it went everywhere with us, and was usually hidden in his pocket, on vibrate. Once he realized it was his phone vibrating, he looked and saw Melinda’s name and rushed out of class to answer. She said her water had broken and she was heading to the hospital.

He came down to Primary and came behind my row and said, “We need to leave.” I asked, “Really?” and of course he said yes. Would he have really joked about that? I told them we had a family emergency and needed to leave, and left all my stuff there. Andrew grabbed his things out of his class, and we took off. At this point, it was only 9:18, so we were still doing good on time. I called Melinda and she said her water broke around 8:50, and they were on their way to the hospital. Fortunately, she was not yet having contractions, so she was feeling pretty good and ready for this baby girl to get here!

We got home, threw together the last few things we had and got in the car. The two hour drive seemed to go so quickly, although Andrew went the speed limit the whole way. On the way, we called and texted our family members and wondered if this was really happening! I had printed off directions to the hospital weeks earlier, but unfortunately, they weren’t the best instructions. Fortunately, we did have our atlas with us, so we were able to figure out where we were going without too many problems…although it was still a little stressful! We made it there, and got up to her room about 11:45.

Melinda’s contractions started just before we got to the hospital, but she was doing amazing! We were able to visit with her, walk around with her (for a little bit), and enjoy being with her more. She was doing great, and then all of a sudden, things started to change, and the contractions started getting worse. We left the room for a little while, and were actually going to go eat something, and then, they told us to not go anywhere. She was dilated to a 7 and things were moving quickly. She decided to get an epidural, which helped a lot with the pain. It helped me too because it was hard to see her in so much pain. I wish we could have taken that pain away…oh how we love her! Even as I am writing this, more than two months later, I remember the emotions that filled us at the time, and am still overcome by them.

At 3:02 pm, she was dilated to a 10 and they started getting things ready. Andrew and Melinda’s dad and siblings were waiting in the family waiting room. Her mom and I were able to be in the room with her. What a blessing! I am so grateful that she was willing to let me stay with her for this special time; it meant so much to me. Melinda was incredible! She pushed and pushed, and did everything just right…fortunately, things continued to go well and quickly, and the most beautiful girl in the world was born at 3:49 pm. She was perfect, with plenty of dark hair, and she hardly cried at all! She was amazing! Melinda held her for a little bit and we talked about names…she wasn’t Jessica until that point. They measured and weighed her and had to warm her up a little, and then I took a little break to go deliver some news to the others.

After awhile, we all piled back into the room, took some pictures, watched Jessica’s first bath, and then prepared to move rooms. We were so fortunate to be able to stay in the hospital, in a room right next door to Melinda’s. The nurses were amazing; Melinda’s delivery nurse was also LDS and her daughter and son-in-law had recently adopted through LDS Family Services as well. She never works Sundays, but because of the holiday weekend, she was assigned to, and she was great! There really are no coincidences in life…it is amazing how everything works out.

We got to our new room and called our families and our Bishop, ate some dinner, and tried to really understand what was happening. Everything really was a blur for the next few days…but it was wonderful! Melinda wanted Jessica to stay in our room at the hospital, so she could get some rest. We were so worried that first night! Because Jessica was born so quickly, she still had some things in her that she would start to cough up and choke on at times. We were so afraid she was going to choke, that we would get up and check on her with every sound she made! She didn’t want to sleep for a few hours in the night, even though we did, so we got a lot of practice trying to stay awake in the middle of the night. It was a long night!

Monday, July 5

The next morning, we brought Jessica over to Melinda and they hung out for a few hours. She told us to go take a nap, which we did! I felt so much better after that nap! Melinda’s family came that day too, and we told them we were going to explore around town, so we left for most of the day. It was interesting, being out and exploring, when we had a little baby back at the hospital. Most people don’t get a day like that when their child is only a day old, so it was kind of fun for us!

We were able to visit more with everyone later that night…they really need bigger hospital rooms. We never had enough chairs! That night, Jessica stayed with Melinda. We were hoping she would sleep well for her, but she wasn’t quite used to sleeping through the night in those days, so we felt a little bad when we found out she was up for a few hours with her as well.

Tuesday, July 6

Tuesday was placement day and we knew it was going to be a big day. Melinda was going to be discharged and we were going to be able to bring Jessica home. While we were looking forward to it, at the same time, we weren’t. There were a lot of emotions and we knew it would be a hard day. Our caseworker Kelly came and met with Melinda to sign paperwork. He said she was amazing…but we already knew that! Then, he met with us for our paperwork. After that, we all met up in Melinda’s room to visit and take more pictures. Like all of our visits, this one was great, but I felt like I could only talk so much before I started to cry. The spirit and the love that was felt in that room was so great that it isn’t something that can be discussed on a blog or really even described through words. We were filled with love for Melinda, her family, and for Jessica. We were amazed at her strength and love for her beautiful little girl. She is incredible and we are so grateful for her!

I think we could have stayed there all day, but eventually, it was time to go. Melinda brought Jessica over to us and placed her in my arms. It was a great moment. We all left the hospital together and visited a little more in the parking lot. Eventually, we all got in our cars and drove away.

We got a little lost, but eventually made it onto the right freeway and headed home. Jessica was sound asleep for the entire drive; even when we stopped to feed her, she feel asleep soon after we started driving again. Andrew and I were talking and we really couldn’t believe we were finally parents! It felt so incredible and so unreal. We felt so blessed! That night, we shared the news with the world. We were so excited and wanted everyone to see our beautiful little girl!

We are so grateful for Melinda! We felt that she was guided to us and that we were guided to her. We are so blessed and grateful that it was the will of the Lord for Jessica to join our family and that her amazing birth mom was strong enough to place her with us. She has made an incredible sacrifice, one that was filled with love for her beautiful daughter. We love her so much! Our lives are blessed every day by her actions! We are so grateful for open adoption and that she will always be a part of our family!

Jessica's Story: Part 1

2010-08-01T21:18:00.002-06:00

We wanted to post the story of how Jessica came into our lives but there are a lot of things to tell! We have decided to split it up into two parts because we don't have as much time as we used to to write up all the blog posts we want and it is pretty long.

Saturday, May 1

Andrew and I attended the Colorado and Wyoming Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) Conference in Denver and loved it! The day before, he had just returned from training at Philmont in New Mexico, so he had had a long week, but we were so glad we came. We met some amazing people, one of them was Melinda. She was attending the conference with her parents, and was planning on placing her child for adoption. She and her dad came in and sat down by us during the opening and we talked to them a little between classes. Then, at lunch, we sat down at a table, and we saw them go to another table and sit all by themselves. Andrew turned to me, and said, “We need to go sit by them.” Then, he grabbed his plate and left the table. I figured I better explain to the people at our table what we were doing so they would know we still liked them. He really left mid-conversation…it was funny. Anyway, then, Melinda’s mom came and we met her too, and she stayed the rest of the day. Andrew talked to them at the end of the conference and was dying to give them one of our pass along cards. I was worried about doing it because I didn’t want to pressure her and have all these hopeful adoptive couples handing her cards and trying to become her best friend. I was really worried and wanted her to feel welcome, not pressured to choose us. He did it anyway.

At the end of the day, our caseworker, Kelly, said he needed to talk to us and pulled us out into the hall. He told us that Melinda had looked at our profile on itsaboutlove.org and she liked us! He hadn’t met with her yet, but he would be the next week, and would keep us posted. Holy cow! We were so excited! And we were amazed with everything that happened that day: they just happened to sit by us, we sat by them at lunch, and really, that we were able to meet them at all.

Tuesday, May 4

Kelly called in the evening after he met with Melinda and her parents. She still liked us…and was going to email us soon! Then, he realized he had taken our profile down for a “soft hold” so he said he’d need to put it back up so she could get our email address. We were a little worried, but it worked out fine. Her mom had actually printed out our profile, so they already had it. Kelly also told us we could be 50% excited, but it was a little hard to keep our excitement levels down! The waiting (for the emails) began; we really did check our email at least ten times a day after that.

Thursday, May 6

We got our first email! Actually, the funny thing is, Melinda sent this email at about 10 pm. We were going crazy checking our email so often, so I finally told Andrew we should just shut down the computer and play a game. We did. The next morning, we checked it, and saw that she had sent the email minutes after we shut down our computer! We were so impressed with that first email…she was so honest, open, and thoughtful. She asked us questions and told us to get back to her soon, but to not rush. She wanted us to really think about our answers. Honestly, we couldn’t think about anything else! We worked on them Friday, all day and all night. I probably interrupted Andrew during work a lot that day, but it was hard not to. We emailed her all of our answers on Saturday and waited for a response, which fortunately, we got!

We continued to email every few days over the next few weeks and found out a lot about Melinda. We grew to love her and we were so excited to get her emails. We also found out she was due July 7th, but she was waiting to tell us if she was having a boy or a girl. We even emailed her mom at one point. She asked us if they could come visit us on Memorial Day and we said yes! We couldn’t wait. Even though our caseworker said we should still be 50-60% excited, Andrew made a paper chain counting down the days until her due date!

Monday, May 31

Melinda and some of her family came out to meet us. We talked, played Sorry, looked at pictures, and ate dinner. Then, we talked more, and Andrew asked her why she had ever considered us and wanted to contact us. She and her mom shared their feelings of how they felt guided to our profile. Then, Melinda told us she thought we were wonderful, and that she wanted us to be the parents of her baby! Andrew and I both started crying; I couldn’t say anything, and finally, he said, “thank you,” and we rushed over to her to give her a hug. Actually, she was still sitting down on the couch, and I kind of felt like I was attacking her with a hug, because I didn’t even give her a chance to stand up! Everyone was crying and hugging at this point! Then she told us she was having a baby girl, and said she wanted to give us our first baby gift. She had made a beautiful baby blanket and gave it to us. We looked at some of her baby pictures then, and talked more, and then, they had to leave. We wanted to keep talking, but they were already leaving later than they planned, so we figured we better let them go.

That night, we were on the phone for hours, calling our parents and brothers and sisters. We were so excited and so happy that it was hard to sleep!

Over the next month or so, we were able to go visit Melinda and her family a few different times. We loved getting to know all of them better! We found that we have a lot of things in common, and we had so much fun learning more about her. We met with her, her family, and our caseworker to discuss details of her birth plan—what she wanted to happen before, at, and after birth and placement. It was hard to think about some of those times, because we knew it would be so difficult for her, and hard for us to watch her hurting. We feel so grateful that we all wanted to have an open adoption and we are excited to have Melinda in our lives forever!

Dying to know what happens next? Click here to find out!

Introducing Baby Jessica!

2010-07-09T11:08:00.001-06:00

Jessica Nicole

the most beautiful girl in the world!

born July 4th

3:49 pm

7 lbs, 8 oz - 20 inches long

We are so grateful for her birth mom and birth family! We love them so much! Our lives have been greatly blessed by adoption!

More details will come later.

Girl's Camp

2010-07-02T08:27:00.000-06:00

Where have we been? Well, things have been busy! This is Brianna, and about 5 or 6 weeks ago, I got a new calling...Assistant Stake Girl's Camp Director. The catch? Girl's Camp was only 3 weeks away! It was a crazy few weeks, and the week of camp was even crazier, although it was also a lot of fun!

Girl's Camp was from June 15 to June 19, at Camp Batel in Wyoming. It is pretty high in the mountains, so although some days were warmer, that meant in the upper 70s and maybe 80s. Nights were in the 40s and I was getting cold! I loved it! I wish I could transport some of that weather here right now.

Anyway, camp was busy! The first few days I felt like I was running around a lot to try to get everywhere I needed to be, but then, on Wednesday I went on an overnight hike with the 4th year girls, and got a little bit of a break. The only time I took pictures was on that hike; I kept forgetting to pull out my camera. But the area we hiked in was beautiful! At times it was so green and there were so many trees it reminded me of Washington!

We got back Thursday from the hike, and I actually had to leave the next morning, but everyone else had another day. It was a great adventure, and I loved getting to know the girls from our ward better. They are so fun! But once again, I learned that camping can really wear you out, especially when you don't sleep well. I didn't get much sleep at night probably due to the thin foam pad I was laying on, but I slept great for the next few days at home! I love my bed...and showers!

Below are some of the pictures from the hike. Remember, this was in Wyoming...amazing, huh?

I wish this was my backyard.

That is me...one of the only pictures of me. And no, I am not wearing a sash...I had a red shirt on, and I brought a red sweatshirt. I just really liked red that day.

This is Wyoming??

Where I slept...for one night. The other nights they had huge tents that are always up for the campers. This is Andrew's birthday tent that he let me use. It worked great!

Oh what do you do in the Summertime?

2010-06-06T23:10:00.000-06:00

We had a great weekend and whenever we have a great weekend, it is always great to write up a big, long post about it, right? Well, actually, that great weekend also included a little less sleep than normal, so we are tired, and are only going to write a little.

But, we had a great weekend! We got to take a break, spend some time with friends, hear some funny jokes, and talk and talk. We ate some delicious food, went to the temple, and we even got some free samples at Sam's Club. Don't worry, that delicious food we ate wasn't the samples at Sam's Club.

Our next few weeks are going to be a little busy, so it was nice to have a fun, relaxing weekend to start them out...even if we did get to bed late every night!

What happens when 4 people get into a 3 person canoe?

2010-05-30T21:19:00.000-06:00

What a weekend! A holiday weekend is always more exciting than a normal weekend, it is really nice getting that extra day off. Actually, we've really been looking forward to this weekend! It started out blazing hot with temperatures close to 100 degrees on Thursday and Friday.

We were invited by some of our friends to go camping at a reservoir just north of town. With all that heat, we were really hoping they would call and decide not to go. We like camping, but it was hot, there are no trees out here, and who wants to roast marshmallows over a campfire on a really hot day? We figured we could walk out the front door with a marshmallow on a stick and it would roast right there on the spot. But, they didn't change their mind, so we toughened up and headed out in the early evening, just as the temperatures started to drop. Actually, when we got there, the wind picked up and it was a lot cooler there than it was at our place.

One other thing that made this trip exciting was that it was the first time we'd be loading the 15 foot canoe on top of our 17 foot car and actually driving with it on top. We were even driving on a highway with speeds around 50 MPH, and the canoe didn't fly off the top or even budge! Whenever you are securing something valuable to the top of your car, you always have nightmares of it flying off and smashing on the road or hitting another car; but we were pleasantly reassured that it was firmly attached to the car!

Andrew here, I got the canoe for Christmas and this was our first time using it since then. I've been talking about loading it up on the car, driving some place and canoeing around for a long time, and it has probably been driving Brianna crazy! So it felt nice to actually be doing it! Even driving around with the canoe on top was really fun for me. Well we got to the reservoir and got our tent set up, then got to paddle around for awhile and it was sure great to be in a canoe again. I just love it! It can be so relaxing to be gliding around on the water in a canoe...

So the first trip out in the canoe wasn't with Brianna, it was with our friends who invited us on the outing. They (our friends and their 2 year old daughter) climbed in the front and I was in the back. It was a fully loaded canoe once we all got in. It was funny to see their daughter smashed between the two of them and clinging to her mom's leg. She wasn't the only one who was scared...we had some really close calls out there with it rocking back and forth and it almost began with disaster. Luckily we didn't capsize. Come to find out, as we were paddling away from the shore two nearby fisherman noticing how low the canoe was riding said, "this ought to be interesting!" Brianna was on the shore and heard this remark and was laughing with them. I'll tell you, it can be kind of spooky, once the canoe starts to wobble it seems to start a chain reaction as everyone tries to lean to the other side to balance it. But these good intentions usually result in brief bursts of chaos as everyone reacts at the same time. I really thought we would flip over a couple times! Fortunately, we made it back without too much trouble.

When they got out Brianna got in and we paddled around for awhile. It was great. Come to think of it, this was the first time that we have canoed together since we were married. Canoeing with Brianna brought back some good memories. One of our first dates was actually canoeing...and Brianna wasn't really my date. So here's the quick version of the story. Me and my roommate both took dates canoeing. My roommate Jordan took Brianna and I took some other girl. Anyways it was on that date that I realized I had the wrong girl in my canoe! Shortly after that, I asked Brianna out and we started dating.

So back to the camping trip- It was fun and we were really glad we went. We also got to use the new (used) tent that I got from Philmont Scout Ranch for $40...what a deal! Anyways it is a good little 1 man 1 woman tent and held up to the wind really well. In fact it was really hot that night so we unzipped the back window and front door (so all we had was the mesh up there) and the wind would just blow through cooling us off. Sounds nice doesn't it...but we really didn't get much sleep. The moon was full and it was really bright. I remember looking out of the tent door in the middle of the night and was shocked to see the shadow of the tent in the light of the moon! It was so weird because it was suppose to be dark at night, but the moon was so bright I could really see shadow of our tent on the ground! Anyways it was still fun...it was a good adventure!

This is Brianna now, and another reason why we couldn't get any sleep was because there were so many insects and animals making noises. At around 3 in the morning I told Andrew that I don't know why anybody buys nature cds; they are not relaxing! Anyway, the insects weren't bad and I don't mind them, but there were birds making a ton of noises talking to each other. I've heard the phrase, "the early bird gets the worm" plenty of times before, but I think 2 am should be way too early for any bird! Maybe they were getting confused because the moon was so bright because once the sun came out later in the morning, they were quiet...probably trying to sleep. Anyway, add lots of noises, flimsy sleeping pads, and a bright moon, and it all equals a very bad night sleep. Oh well, we still love camping, so I guess it is worth a bad night's sleep. Besides, last night, we slept great to make up for it!

Overall, we had a great camping trip and have had a great weekend so far!

Spring Cleaning and a Second Wind

2010-05-24T21:05:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it is good to get a change, and lately, we've needed one. We have currently been living in our home for almost 19 months. That may not seem like a long time, but it is the longest we have ever been in one place. When we first moved to Colorado, we were in Greeley, and we lived there for just over two years...but, we lived in two different apartments. When you live in a small place (or maybe any place), one way to make it feel like you are in a new place is to rearrange the furniture. It is kind of fun too.

This past week we have been doing some spring cleaning and clearing out clutter that accumulated all winter. We have noticed that when we try to do this deep cleaning and rearranging, we make a bigger mess than what we ever had before. Saturday night, we had a mess...and then, Andrew got a second wind!

Andrew here, I typically get a second wind at night and I can stay up late and watch a movie, play a game, or just do something. This doesn't work out too well because Brianna usually falls asleep. But this particular night, when my second wind came, I decided to watch the abridged version of a movie (Real quick, every now and again, I feel like watching a movie, one that we've had for awhile. And since we've had it for awhile, I don't feel like watching the whole thing because I know what is gonna happen next and it just isn't as exciting anymore. So, the way I fix this is I watch the movie with the remote in my hand and just skip to the good parts. Sometimes, I can watch a two hour movie in about 30 to 40 minutes.).

The only problem with wanting to watch a movie was that our TV was on the floor because we had moved the shelf it was originally on to another room. The TV was going to go on the dresser, but the dresser was on the wrong side of the room! So, with some last minute inspiration, I realized it was either no movie or rearrange the rest of the room, and put the TV on the dresser so we could watch the movie. We did it...in record time! And the movie was great too!

Actually, we are really liking the new set-up of our room. It feels like it is brand new again! Now, we are that much closer to being completely done with our spring cleaning and de-cluttering.

Who needs Stonehenge...

2010-05-16T22:07:00.000-06:00

Who needs Stonehenge when you've got Carhenge? Yep, you read that right...Carhenge. Basically, it is a replica of Stonehenge, made from old painted cars. So, I guess you do need Stonehenge, or there would be no Carhenge, but oh well.

Last week, Andrew had a meeting in Chadron, Nebraska, and on the way to Chadron, you pass a small town called Alliance. Alliance is the home of Carhenge. Once, we passed a billboard that said "Carhenge," but we had no idea how to find it and we didn't want to be late, so we kept driving. We did some research and knew we had to stop and see it. Andrew had gone once before, but he didn't have the camera, so this time, we were prepared.

It was really cold and windy, so we didn't spend much time there, but we did get plenty of pictures for you to enjoy. Commentary on the pictures is courtesy of Andrew.

This is some of the best art to come out of Nebraska!

Did we mention it was windy?

It is strange to think of the ancient druids of Nebraska building this structure...there are some theories of what this structure was for, but for the most part it is a mystery. You wouldn't expect to find a place in Nebraska with a bunch of old cars stacked on top of each other in a farmer's field...it is just kind of odd.

I'm not sure what this is supposed to be...but it is kind of strange.

Now that you have seen the pictures, you are probably dying to come visit...but, we don't recommend it if you are going to have to drive eight or more hours to get there. Alliance is about two hours away from us and it isn't very exciting, except for Carhenge; and that excitement only lasts for five minutes until you are ready to leave! But, if you are driving through, or headed to Chadron, like we were, it is worth the stop. For the rest of you, well, just look at the pictures again and try not to be too jealous that we are so close to some amazing artwork!

Our Weekend was on Fire...Literally!

2010-05-09T21:42:00.000-06:00

This is Brianna, and I am here to let you know that although I love cooking, I don't like barbecues. I love eating things cooked on the barbecue: burgers, chicken, corn, kabobs, anything! But, I don't like hooking up the propane and turning it on. I'm always a little worried I will do something wrong and it will blow up. Well, after this weekend, I don't like barbecues even more!

We have a small barbecue which we received for our birthdays five years ago from Andrew's family. It was a great gift and we have gotten a lot of use out of our wonderful little barbecue. It doesn't have a lot of cooking space, but for us it is perfect.

Our well loved barbcue grill...in all its glory!

On Friday, we decided to have hot dogs for dinner. Andrew was a little busy getting things ready for a Bowling for Boy Scouts fundraiser for work which was taking place the next day. Being the wonderful wife that I am, I decided that I should set up the barbecue for him. I did. I pulled the barbecue and propane tank out of the garage. I hooked up the propane tank and turned it on, and I didn't even worry too much that it was going to blow up. I've been getting a lot more practice lately so I have been a lot less worried.

He was still getting things ready, so I even decided to grill the hot dogs. I cooked them to perfection! And then, when they were done, I turned off the grill. Right after I moved my hand away from the knob, it started on fire! There were flames coming up from the barbecue knob! I panicked, left the hot dogs on the barbecue and ran in the house to get Andrew as I repeated, "Get off the phone; the barbecue is on fire!" He came outside, very calmly (too calmly), and was still talking on the phone. (He told me later that he thought it was a grease fire...which we have had before. I don't like them either.)Then, he saw the flames and where they were coming from, and said, "I'll call you back."

At this point, I realized what the problem was: I had forgotten to turn off the propane first. We always turn the propane off and leave the barbecue running so all the gas can come out of the hose and then we turn off the barbecue and unhook the propane. I messed up the order! So, Andrew turned off the propane while I was apologizing to him over and over and praying that the propane tank would not blow up! But, even after he had turned it off, the knob was still burning. The fire wasn't getting bigger...but it wasn't getting any smaller either. Finally, after waiting and watching it for awhile, Andrew blew on it and it went out. But the knob was no longer nice and shiny and it is missing half of the settings.

We think that actually there may have been a leak near or under the knob where the propane somehow leaked out to feed the flame. Even though I messed up the order, Andrew says it wasn't my fault and that the barbecue was just getting old. My mom even said that she turns off the barbecue first almost all the time and hers has never done this.

We were just commenting the other day how great our grill was and how it has lasted such a long time. Fortunately Andrew's birthday is coming up, and although he already bought himself a tent, I think I am going to be buying him a new barbecue. Another little one of course; we still like them. Although I don't plan on setting it up and cooking on it anymore. I am leaving it to him.

Families Supporting Adoption Conference

2010-05-03T15:45:00.002-06:00

This last week was a little crazy for us, but on Saturday, there was a Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) Conference planned that we wanted to attend…no matter what. It was a regional one, for Colorado and Wyoming, and it was the first one this area has had. We decided we didn’t want to leave at 6 am on Saturday morning, so we got a hotel Friday night and stayed in Denver. It was a long day, especially for Andrew, because he just got back from Philmont (which was a 7 hour drive)...but the conference was amazing so we were so glad we made it! Everyone we met there was wonderful and we were so grateful to be there and learn more about adoption.

FSA is a group that basically wants to tell everyone how amazing adoption is. It includes birthmothers and their families, families who have adopted or who are hoping to adopt, and anyone else who loves adoption. We are involved with our local FSA (find more about that one here) and we’ve loved our experiences with it! But overall, this conference was the best.

The whole day we had some great speakers, and it started out with Mrs. R. who is a great adoption advocate. If you haven’t read her blog, you are really missing out. After she spoke, there were four different class times, and because we wanted to learn all we could, Andrew and I split up for each of the three break-off times. The other class, we got to attend together, and it was wonderful! It was actually taught by two amazing birthmoms; one who placed her daughter with her family 8 months ago and the other who placed her son almost 3 years ago. Their stories were touching and I loved hearing about their experiences and testimonies of adoption. They truly are amazing women and I hope everyone can understand that!

Overall, it was really a wonderful day! Here are some of the things we learned. Actually, this is hardly anything that we learned, but I didn’t want to type up page after page for the blog post. I am typing up more for a friend, so if you want to know more about the classes, email me at andrewbrianna21@gmail.com and I will send it to you. In the meantime…here’s the very short version:

- Having a hard time with life? Serve others. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Work will cure your grief. Serve others.”

- When you receive inspiration and revelation in your life, write it down in your journal. During the hard times, that revelation will sustain you.

- “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” –Joseph Campbell

- Maybe you have heard a lot of “bad” things or statistics about adoption. Well, guess what? There are a lot of great things and statistics about it too. The teacher explained it like this: thousands of airplanes leave and land in airports every single day…and everything goes perfectly. You only hear about the accidents and problems, and then, you get a little scared about flying.

- Open adoptions are amazing and bless everyone involved!

P.S. I did get my haircut, but sorry; I haven't had a picture taken of it yet. I only have the before shot...so you will have to wait a little longer!

Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico

2010-05-02T21:59:00.000-06:00

This is Andrew here:

So just this last week (Monday to Friday) I got to go to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico for some professional training on management. It is such a pretty place and it was some great training! It had been about six years since I had been there last and it was neat for me to go back and look around. In the summer of 2004 I was a staff Group Leader at the Philmont Training Center and it was a great experience. Each week I would get a different group of youth or kids and take them on day hikes, overnight camping or play group games as their parents attended Scouting training. In fact my first week there they put me in charge of a group of 26 six year olds and that was pretty wild. After that crazy week I requested to be with kids at least eight years old and up…the two dozen plus six year olds about did me in! Kind of an interesting story and probably the craziest thing I have ever done is the tale of how I made it to Philmont.

The day I caught my flight to Albuquerque it was Sunday and I believe even Father’s Day. I was set to get to the airport around 10 AM and then wait there till 7 PM for a bus bound for Raton. Since it was Sunday I packed some granola bars to chomp on while I was waiting, so I wouldn’t have to buy anything on the Sabbath. I figured I could just sit there eating snacks and reading the whole day…well that only lasted for about an hour before I realized that was a terrible plan…it was getting really boring! So I called the local LDS Church and told them I was at the airport and would like to attend Sacrament meeting. They were really nice and said that someone would be by to pick me up. So sure enough someone came and got me and took me to church. After church I noticed that I still had quite a bit of time before the bus was going to come so I decided I would just read at the church rather than sit in a small airport…the church was a much nicer place to be. To make a long story longer, a family invited me to eat dinner with them and I agreed. I then went on a walk with their family after dinner before they dropped me off at the airport so I could catch my bus. What a nice family… I had never even met them before! I had planned on handing out a Book of Mormon while I was on the four hour bus ride, but to my surprise I was just about the only person on the bus that spoke English, so my hope of striking up a great conversation on the way up there was foiled. Anywho, it was a long bus ride. Around midnight the bus made a stop at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. I got off the bus and decided since it was after midnight and officially Monday that I would buy something at the gas station.

As I was waiting in line to pay for my stuff something awful happened…I saw the headlights of the bus flash across the windows as it pulled away from the deserted gas station. I was flabbergasted! I didn’t know what to think or to say… Finally I said to the cashier, “I think the bus just left me here!” She said something like, “oh, that’s too bad.” Really sympathetic! Anyways, I said (out loud to myself), “I’ve got to make it to Raton somehow!” There where three guys behind me in line and one of them who spoke a little English said, “Raton!”

I turned around and repeated, “I need to get to Raton to get to the bus.” The same man pointed to a small pickup truck near the pumps and said, “Come!” Not really thinking I followed them out there and stood next to the truck. Since there were three men, there was not room in the cab of the small truck so one of them tossed me a sleeping bag. As I hopped in the back I told them, “I’ve got to make it to Raton fast!”

With that the truck jerkily sped away from the gas station and onto the dark and desolate highway. The truck quickly picked up speed as I tried to get inside the sleeping bag to take some of the chill off. I quickly found out that the bag was made for a person the size of Bilbo Baggins, so I had to wrap the bag around me instead. As I sat there in the back of the pickup, sleeping bag flapping in the wind listening to the high whining of the motor it hit me…“what the heck am I doing?!?!” My thoughts started going wild. “What if they don’t know where their going?! What if they take me some place and sell me into slavery?! What if they crash or we get pulled over or something?!” It was at this moment of panic that I remembered to pray. I said two prayers; first that I would be safe and that we would find the bus and second that I would be able to feel the calming influence of the Holy Ghost. Well, prayers are answered. I felt a peaceful feeling come over me and I looked up at the beautiful stars and thought of what a beautiful world we have to live in. Then I started singing my favorite church hymns which also helped calm me. Then we passed up the bus with a roar and whirl of wind. We really must have been making some good travel time on the road!

I tried to sleep, but it was impossible. After a while the truck began slowing down and I saw street lights whooshing above my head. The truck slowed down even more and came to a stop at a dark and vacant gas station. I jumped out of the back of the truck and looked around. Nothing! There were no lights on and it was all quiet. The driver got out and I said, “where are we?” Pointing to the ground we stood on he said, “Raton, Raton!” I looked around then said, “where’s the bus?” Motioning for me to get back in the truck he then looked at me and said, “Come!” I hopped into the back and the truck sped off in another direction. I leaned my head over the edge of the truck and saw another gas station in the near distance and a glorious sight…the bus!!! The little truck whipped up next to the bus and I hopped out. I was so happy to see the bus! I tried to offer the three guys money, but they refused! What a selfless act of kindness they performed! I was able to get my bags off the bus and then catch my final ride to Philmont Scout Ranch! What a crazy, but memorable trip. I will never forget it and I will never do it again! That has to be one of the craziest things I have ever done.

Here is a slideshow of Philmont Scout Ranch. The house in the pictures is called The Villa Philmonte and was built in 1926 by Waite Phillips, who later donated the home and over 100,000 acres of his property to the Boy Scouts.

While Andrew is Gone

2010-04-26T17:55:00.001-06:00

Andrew left at 5:30 this morning to go to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. He will be gone until Friday enjoying views like this...

picture source

I get to stay here and try to come up with things to do so I don't get too bored. It is amazing how long the nights seem to be when he is gone. I feel like I have all the time in the world to clean, watch movies, read, whatever...but sometimes, I get a little sick of all that time. So this week, here is a plan of a few things I am going to try to do to keep myself busy.

1-Visit the library. Our library isn't big compared to what we are used to...but, they have movies and of course, plenty of books. Fortunately, we live very close, so I can go visit whenever I want. I don't sleep well when Andrew is gone, so I usually watch a movie at night hoping that it will make me tired. Actually, I just got back from the library and I have a book and a movie, so I'm set for awhile.

2-Write in my journal. This wasn't really on my list of things to do, but when I was discussing this blog post with Andrew last night, and asking him for ideas of what to do this week, this is the one he offered. I don't know that I will get to it, but I do need to write an update.

3-Start a quilt. I've always wanted to make a quilt, but I am not a great seamstress. When I was a teenager, I made a skirt...and I was always a little nervous that the sewing machine was sewing too fast and I was going to sew my finger or something. I still don't like to sew that fast. Anyway, last year, for my birthday, my mom bought me a quilting book. It is supposedly an easy quilt, the Irish Chain, and according to the book's title, you can make it in a day. You can but I'm not even going to attempt it. But, I would like to start it...at least my practice one. I need to buy some fabric before I do the real thing.

picture source

4-Make at least two meals. This probably sounds weird because I love to bake and cook, right? But when Andrew is gone, it always seems like more of a hassle. Do I really want to make something just for me? And wash all those dishes? It is a lot easier to eat eggs, or sandwiches, or leftovers, but you know what? A week is a long time, and we don't have that many leftovers.

5-Get my hair cut. Really. I am actually a little worried about this one, but I already have the appointment scheduled, so I guess I can't back out, right? I need a haircut and haven't had one for almost a year, but I never know how to get it cut. Let's just hope it looks good because Andrew says usually I don't like it for about a month afterwards, because there is always something wrong with it. And usually, there is something wrong, but it is just my hair...it likes to flip out on one side, and flip in on the other. But last time, it wasn't my hair I was complaining about...it was the person who cut it; she didn't do so well. Don't worry; I am not going there again!

That is about it. There are plenty of other things I will be doing to keep myself busy, but I don't want to go overboard and make everyone think I am an overachiever; especially if I don't end up getting some of them done. But it should be a good week...although I already can't wait until Friday when Andrew comes home!

Five Great Years!

2010-04-23T09:24:00.000-06:00

Five years ago today, this was happening:

Happy anniversary to us! We are so glad we get to be together forever!

Read-a-thon

2010-04-18T21:23:00.001-06:00

Some of the time we feel like we live in the middle of nowhere. We don’t really…but we do seem to drive a lot. And, when you drive a lot, we sometimes get sick of searching for good radio stations, or just any radio station that will play something besides country. Then, we started listening to books on cd; go to the library to see what they have. Most libraries also have an online selection where you can download books for free. That is a great way to go! Now if we are ever going to have a lot of driving or we are taking a trip somewhere, we find some books to read and we are set.

So, do you have a trip coming up? Here are some options that we liked, at least a little bit:

-Harry Potter (all 7), by J.K. Rowling

This is Brianna, and I love the Harry Potter books! When the first movie came out, a friend and I wanted to see it, but we decided we should read the book first, so over the Christmas break, we both planned on reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I couldn’t stop and I read the first four (that was all that was written at the time). I was home from BYU, and my family was kind of annoyed with me for reading the whole time, but I couldn’t help it. They were so good!

Anyway, fast forward a few years to 2005, and Andrew and I were taking a trip to Nevada, and we decided to get a book from the library on cd. This was the first time we had ever done it, and what a success! Andrew had never read any of the Harry Potter books (and hadn’t until we listened to them, although I did give him lots of details when I was reading and re-reading them), so we started with the first one. It was great and really made the trip a lot more exciting. But then we stopped. And we didn’t actually start listening to the rest of them until more recently. We finally finished the whole series together in the fall of 2009.

They are great books, and the narrator does a different voice for every character, so it is like you are watching an extended version of the movie blindfolded. But don't blindfold yourself because you will be driving, anyway, the narrator is great! But, these books are also longer than most; they are around 24 hours, so you better hope you have a lot of driving to do, or else you will want to start listening to them as soon as you get off work, when you are eating dinner, doing dishes, and so on. We speak from experience.

-Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne

We read this book last year and we thought it was pretty good. There were a few slow parts, but most of it was pretty enjoyable. We have seen one of the older movies of this and we found that there were some parts that were left out, obviously. But anyway, one was actually pretty funny to us because on his trip around the world, he was going by train through the state of Utah, and it even talked about the Mormons. It was entertaining to us, but that is because we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and well, we were surprised to even hear about the Church in the book, regardless of what was said.

-Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

We just read this one on the way to Utah earlier this month and it wasn’t at all like we thought it would be. It was good, but different, and sometimes the narrator got a little dull. We think this version must have been copied over from a tape, because occasionally they would repeat a line and sometimes the narrator’s voice would change and get a little slower or faster.

But actually, those things have nothing to do with the book, so we still recommend it. Just know that there are parts where it goes a little slow and you wish they would move on with things. Then again, did you ever know that Frankenstein is not the name of the monster, but actually the last name of the scientist who created him? Yeah, weird, huh? Also, the monster has read Paradise Lost and various other classics, he speaks French, is more agile than an Olympic gymnast, and he is not green at all.

-The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis

I read some of theses books growing up, but I didn’t remember much at all. They were actually pretty good, although there were a few that were a little slow. We wish we would have read those first, but we started reading them in the order they were written, not the chronological order. Next time, we would do the chronological order, because some at the end (like The Silver Chair) were really good.

Oh, and just in case you’ve seen the movie Prince Caspian know that the book is very different, and better. We prefer the book because there is a lot of drama in the movie that never existed in the book. Also, after reading the books, you notice minute details in the movie that are part of the book as well, but we never would have known or noticed them if we hadn't read the book, like the bears sucking their paws during Peter's fight with Miraz.

-Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne

On our way back from Utah, we started reading this book, and it was much more exciting than Frankenstein to us. It was amazing that it was written in 1864, because, although there are a few different things, it really seemed like a book that could have been written last year. It was very entertaining and interesting.

Oh, and isn’t it kind of amazing that Iceland just had a volcano erupt right after we read this book about going to the center of the earth through the extinct volcano Sneffles, which also existed in Iceland? Actually, when we were talking about the volcano eruption Andrew told me it was the same volcano…and I believed him for a second. I said, “I thought that volcano was fake,” and then he informed me that it was and just laughed. But actually, I just found out thanks to Wikipedia, that it is a real volcano in Iceland; actually there are three of them with the same name, spelled Snæfell. The one that just erupted is Eyafjallajökull. Try saying that three times fast…or even at all!

Out of all these books, here is our recommendation from most exciting (I don't want to get out of the car) to least exciting (when is the next rest stop?):

1-Harry Potter
2-Chronicles of Narnia (even though some are a little slow, some are really good, so they make up for it)
3-Journey to the Center of the Earth
4-Around the World in Eighty Days
5-Frankenstein

Have you ever had cobbler in a dutch oven?

2010-04-11T23:16:00.000-06:00

Today was a beautiful day so we decided to break out the dutch oven! It has been awhile since we last used it, but now that we have it out, we don’t want to put it away! Have you ever used a dutch oven before? Do you know what one is? Basically it is a heavy cast iron pot with a lid and little legs it stands on. Anything that you can cook inside an oven or on the stove you can make inside a dutch oven.

We didn’t want to just make anything, like some chili; we wanted something that tastes really good…cobbler.

But, before you can eat something tasty, you have to do some work. The way a dutch oven cooks is by lighting some charcoal briquettes and getting them nice and hot. Then, you put a few underneath the dutch oven, and about twice as many on top of the lid. Actually, there is a little formula that explains how many briquettes you need to use, but we aren’t going to go into that. All you need to know is that you put briquettes under it and on top…and that is what heats it up and cooks your food.

So we got the briquettes going and made the peach cobbler, and started the cooking process. Then we realized we were going to have a lot of cobbler on our hands, so we called some friends to see if they would take some, because ~~we didn’t want to eat all of it~~ we knew we shouldn’t eat all of it, since it was probably enough for 10 people.

Lifting the lid and peering in at the cobbler is always fun because it smells delicious. In fact, our neighbor’s dog could even smell it because soon after we would open the lid, he would pause, sit up straight, and looked like he smelled some of our delicious cobbler. He even came over and stood right by the edge of the fence. Unfortunately for him, our friends wanted some, so he didn’t get any. It was really good, even if the picture doesn’t look like it.

P.S. The little stand that the dutch oven is on was part of Andrew’s Saturday project. He got the barrel from a guy’s ranch around here; the barrel used to have a cow’s vitamin lick inside of it (Andrew said the vitamin lick didn’t taste very good…just kidding), but now it is empty and makes a perfect portable fire pit. He put some legs on the side of it that can be flipped around to make it a fire pit raised off the ground or a dutch oven table. When cooking with a dutch oven it is nice having a raised working surface.

Road Trip

2010-04-05T17:50:00.001-06:00

Twice a year for General Conference, Andrew’s family gets together at a hotel in Park City, Utah to hang out, eat lots of food, and watch Conference. They have been doing this for a long time and it is a lot of fun. Since we moved to Colorado, we’ve been joining the family every April conference, so this last weekend, we got in the car, drove for hours, and had a great weekend!

It takes about 9 ½ hours to get from our place to Andrew’s parent’s house, so we left Wednesday afternoon, and despite the snow got there later that evening. On our drive, we passed through Nebraska and Wyoming; saw a helicopter so close to us (but it is really hard to photograph a moving helicopter in a moving car); stopped to take pictures of a tree growing out of a rock and Abraham Lincoln’s head, and we stopped at Little America to get 50 cent ice cream cones. When you are driving through Wyoming, there are so many signs for the hotel Little America, and a few of them advertise these 50 cent cones, but we’ve never stopped to buy them. This time, we did! Well, Brianna’s blood sugar was high, so Andrew got the ice cream cone. He ate it, wearing shorts, with a snowstorm outside!

When we got to the Utah border, it was really snowing, but fortunately Andrew is a very safe driver and doesn’t mind driving in the snow, so we made it safely to his parent’s house and slept well that evening! The next day, we were able to visit Brianna’s sister, Elyse and her brother, Shilo. He just got back from his mission for the LDS Church in February, so this was the first time we had seen him in over two years! We went to In-N-Out for lunch; there is a new location in Orem, and although we were eating at 2 in the afternoon, it was packed! We ordered, and saw a group leaving, so we ran over to the table as fast as we could. After that, we visited for awhile, and then headed back to hang out with Andrew’s family and watched Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The next day was Friday and that is the day we always pack up everything and head to the hotel. Because they’ve been going there for so long, they can usually get an earlier check in, so we were ready to be there by noon. Unfortunately, the hotel wasn’t ready for us…so we waited and finally left at about 2:30. One of the rooms was ready, so we brought up everything to that room, moved some of it to the second room soon after (so we could start cooking dinner), and eventually, had to move everything to the family suite. After all that work, we were ready to relax!

Andrew and I did the dinner that night; we do this meal that is supposed to be like Costa Vida’s salads with chicken, rice, beans, and jalapeño ranch dressing. And we made some salsa, which actually is kind of a funny story. Well, first, this is Brianna, and I am a really big wimp when it comes to anything spicy. Mild sauce is spicy to me, but Andrew loves really hot and spicy things, although growing up, his family never had spicy food! I tried out this recipe for salsa awhile ago, and he really liked it, so we decided to make that. I double the amount of jalapeños for him, but when I made it for his family, I did the normal amount. I’ve been told that the jalapeños with scratches on them are the hottest ones, but I usually pick out really mild ones. This time however, I think I picked the hottest ones in the store! The salsa and ranch dressing were hot! Everything else was perfect though, so all in all, it was a great meal.

Although a timer is a helpful invention on a camera, it doesn't always work out the way you want it to. We figured it would be better if I took the next one.

Even though it was a long drive, it was nice to get out of town and see family! Surprisingly, the 9 hour drive didn’t seem as long as we thought, probably because we were listening to books on cd. As with all trips, it is always nice to get back home, sleep in your own bed, and try to get back in the swing of things. So that is where we are now, sitting here, trying to get back in the swing of things!

Enjoy the slideshow!

The Great Race

2010-03-30T21:30:00.003-06:00

Well, we didn't win first or second place this year in the Pinewood Derby, but we figured we would still post about it because we did have fun! And, our cars look amazing!

As you may already know from this post, Andrew's car was "The Lightning Bolt" and Brianna built the best looking race car in the world. Here are some more pictures of our painting process.

Andrew made some cool looking wheels as well, by painting inside the spokes, and then he wiped off the paint on the lines.

And here are the finished products:

A whole lot of planning, time, and masking tape went into making these stripes. Also, in case you can't tell, that is a plastic spoon on top of the car (Andrew's great idea).

The Pinewood Derby, as always was crazy, but lots of fun! There are so many kids who come to race a car or just watch. Combine a lot of kids with a lot of energy and a lot of popcorn, and you've got one heck of mess to clean up...and a great adventure! There were other adults who raced cars too, but not as many. I guess we are just big little kids! There were 32 cars that raced in the Open Class race, and out of 32, we both did better than half the other cars! Brianna tied for 10th place and Andrew got 14th!

Here are some other pictures from the night to document that we did win a few races. And if you really want to see something cool, watch the movie clips we recorded on our camera. Disclaimer: Brianna here and this is the first real time I've recorded a movie on our camera. I turned the camera on its side because then I could get the whole track. Unfortunately, videos can't be rotated as easily as pictures. So, please, turn your screen or your head to the side, and you will enjoy the movies a lot more!

There really is another car here...Andrew's was so fast, that the other car is still racing; hidden behind the sign.

This is Brianna's car...watch how speedy it is!

Here is Andrew's close race:

A Penny Saved

2010-03-22T21:52:00.000-06:00

So do you have a jar that collects spare change? Do you have a special place where you put the money that you harvest twice a year from under the couch cushions or out of the vacuum after cleaning the car? Do you pick up pennies in the parking lot or swoop down for the occasional quarter that is just sitting there on the road? If you have answered no to these questions, here is some advice from us…take the time to pick it up and put it in a jar and turn it into a special fund. For us, every time we pick up a penny off the ground it goes to our Ice Cream fund!!

Instead of using a jar for the coins we have this quirky looking little piggy bank thing we got as a freebie item from a company. Ironically the piggy bank has the logo of a bank in Colorado that went under just last year. Anyways we put an amazing hand drawn picture of an ice cream cone over the business logo to remind us of the importance of building this fund. It is a lot of fun. Every time we find a dirty penny as we’re walking into the grocery store or do some deep cleaning and come across a nickel or a dime we smile and put it into the ice cream fund. Over the winter months it tends to build up a bit as we prepare for the summer time. We have found that this money is best allocated towards buying ice cream at the grocery store because the ice cream can be enjoyed for longer than one day…like our last post and disappointing experience with the parable of the VERY small ice cream cone. Anyways, just this last week we opened up the ice cream fund and counted our earnings…and WOW it had grown a little! So we went out and got some ice cream at the store. We picked up some other items while we were there, but we even made sure to make two separate purchases, so we could use the money specifically for the ice cream.

The Andrew and Brianna Ice Cream Fund was established around 2007 and has been going strong ever since. If you would like to make a contribution to the Andrew and Brianna Ice Cream Fund, please drop it on the sidewalk in front of our house or in the gutter next to our car. We prefer small coins no larger than a quarter to help conserve space in our piggy bank.

A Tale of Two Cones

2010-03-15T14:53:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, I (Andrew) had an all day event for work and Brianna got to come too. By the time we left, it was late afternoon and we were tired and ready to head home; but we had an hour and a half to drive. I figured a nice way to say thank you to Brianna for spending all day at this event with me would be to go out and get some ice cream. This was going to be a treat because usually if we buy ice cream we buy a half gallon at the grocery store, so we can have it a lot longer instead of just one time.

We both got small cones; I got vanilla and Brianna got chocolate. I stood, waiting at the counter for them to bring out the ice cream. Two different employees ended up making the ice cream cones, and apparently, they had very different opinions about the size of a small cone. They handed me the cones, but something was wrong! Brianna’s cone was three times the size of mine! The cones cost the same amount, but there was a very noticeable difference in the size, so I stood there, holding the cones out in front of me, and said, “Really?” The employee who made Brianna’s cone looked shocked, and said to the other employee, “You must have been making a kid cone.” He looked pretty annoyed, took the cone, and went back to the ice cream machine to add another blob to make it a little bigger.

Even though Brianna’s small cone was still bigger than my small cone, I figured it was as big as it was going to get. We sat down, smiled, and ate ice cream. Brianna was nice enough to share some of her chocolate ice cream with me. The moral of the story is, the next time we want ice cream, we will just go to the grocery store to buy a half gallon there. Things will probably work out better that way.

Bowling and Airplanes

2010-03-09T12:48:00.001-07:00

Andrew and I get to work with the young single adult group at church and we have had some fun activities! A few weeks ago, we went bowling on the dollar night. After the leagues are done at 9:30, it starts, and it is only $1 for shoes and $1 for every game. We haven't been bowling very often; this was only our second time in the last year and a half. But, in high school, I was able to take a PE class where we went bowling for a few months, and although I wasn't good, I definitely improved. Unfortunately, the other night was only a reminder that I didn't improve enough.

Look at that swing!

I set what I thought was a realistic goal of getting at least 100 for my score. That seemed very realistic because you can get a total of 300 points. If this was a test and I got 100 out of 300, it would be failing. Fortunately, it wasn't a test, just a game of bowling! We played two games, and in the first I got a 90. The second game, I got a 94. Andrew started the night with a 119 and in the second game he got a 92. If you notice from the scores below (second one), he got a lot of spares. Unfortunately, he didn't get a strike all night!

If you will notice my score (bottom one), and look in the last two frames, you will see that I got a strike...followed by two gutter balls. What a way to end the game!

Even though we didn’t do great, it was a great night! We had a lot of fun with those who are able to come.

Last week, we decided to make paper airplanes and do airplane golf. Basically, it is just like frisbee golf, but we did it inside, made our own targets, and threw airplanes instead of frisbees. We had done this a week or so before with our Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) group and it was a lot of fun! I made a beautiful plane called "The Arrow." This plane deserved a name; it was long and straight and I was hoping it would fly straight as well. I probably should have given it another name, because although it flew beautifully, it rarely flew straight at the target. My score was almost higher than my bowling score!

Andrew is a master airplane architect, and even though we had books that showed different airplanes, usually his normal one flew the best. This is the airplane he has been making pretty much his whole life. His dad used to make paper airplanes for them, so all through school, whenever he needed a plane to fly, this is the one he made. After the activity, we kept flying them around the gym, trying to get them to do loops or really go the distance.

Here are some more fun pictures from the night. We have a sports setting on our camera that takes picture after picture and works well when you are moving around. But my favorite pictures in these are the ones right after we let go of the plane.

Even though it looks like I am dancing to "Staying Alive," I promise I was flying planes too.

Then again...maybe not!

Andrew makes a great statue!

I think we must like paper airplanes a lot because this is not the first time we've done them. When we were first dating, Andrew planned up a paper airplane flying date and it was one of my favorites! We went to the Tanner Building at BYU to make them and fly them. This building is kind of weird; it is a big rectangle, and all of the classrooms and offices are on the outer part of the rectangle. Then, there is a big open atrium in the middle (see photo below). When you walk in on one side, you are on the fourth floor, and then you can go all the way down through the atrium, and walk out the other side on the first floor. If you go at night, when there aren't students there studying, it is a great place to fly paper airplanes because they glide forever! Just watch out for the reflection pool at the bottom!

Picture courtesy of BYU Marriott School Photo File

Derby Cars

2010-02-28T20:27:00.004-07:00

This weekend, we built a car. Actually, we built two, although they aren’t finished yet. But when they are done, they are going to be awesome!

For the last three years, we have each built a pinewood derby car. If you don’t know what a pinewood derby car is, you probably never knew any Cub Scouts. If you do know what it is, you are probably thinking of that one family who went crazy every year, regardless of whether their car won or not. The Pinewood Derby can be a very emotional and intense race, bringing out the worst in some people. Despite all of that, it is the greatest Cub Scout activity in the world! You get this kit that is a block of wood, four nails, and four tires. Then, it is up to you to design, cut, and paint that block of wood. After it is done you race it and hope your wheels don’t come off. The wards (church congregation) we have been in for the last three years have had an open class race for the Pinewood Derby, so after the scouts race anyone who makes a car gets to race.

A lot of thought goes into our cars; not necessarily about how fast they will go, but about how good they will look. It is all about appearances for us in this race. The first year we decided to race, we went with a food theme for our cars; Andrew’s car was a block of Swiss cheese, which he called, “The Cheese Whizz.” It was fun to make because I didn’t have to do any major cutting on it; I just got my drill and put a bunch of holes through it.

Brianna’s car was the best looking hot dog all around. It was carved out of one piece of wood, but the hot dog extended past the bun…thanks to Andrew and his amazing wood working skills. These cars did okay at that race, but since then, we have raced them in other races and both have won! Brianna won first place last year. That sounds great, except that I beat this little Cub Scout, and I was cheering and giving Andrew high fives right in front of this kid (I didn’t know he was there, or that he was the person I beat). And then, I had to get my picture taken holding this huge trophy that they put in the newspaper, so I was actually pretty embarrassed. For work, Andrew often gets invited to Cub Scout events and Pinewood Derbies as a guest, and he just went to one last night. They told him to bring a car to race, and he did, and he got second place and also got a trophy.

Last year, Andrew made the “Big Bang,” which was a bundle of dynamite. Brianna made a canoe, but Andrew said it is a little too chunky for a canoe and looks more like a rowboat. Our cars looked great last year, but looks can be deceiving. In our case, it really was, because we had some of the slowest cars that night. But don’t worry, we still had fun, and we were grateful that we didn’t spend over 20 hours trying to make our cars as aerodynamic as possible, like others did. Actually, the fastest car of the night wasn’t a car; it was the Magic School Bus!

This year, Andrew started brainstorming three weeks ago to find the perfect design. His list of ideas consisted of an anvil, piano, dentures, dragon head, toaster, sandal, foot, a blimp (The Spirit of Adventure), the golden plates, and a smore. He is so creative, isn’t he? And then, just the other day, inspiration “struck.” A bolt of lightning! The funny thing about this car is that it is actually shaped like lightning and on top of it he will have a big metal bolt, which is why he is naming it “The Lightning Bolt.” Have you noticed a theme? Andrew likes to name all his cars. Brianna was not quite as creative; since she's never been a Cub Scout, she never made an actual car. So, this year, she is just making a car. But don’t worry; it will be a race car with a lot of cool features that can’t be disclosed yet in case other racers will want to steal my ideas.

Here are some pictures of our car building process. Luckily Andrew knows how to use a band saw or we would still be carving them a week later with a pocket knife.

They are now cut out and sanded, but we have to paint them, add the wheels and weight, and do all of those finishing touches to make our cars the best looking ones at the race.

But remember, looks can be deceiving. We may or may not write a follow-up post after the race next month.

Top 6 at almost 6

2010-02-22T17:58:00.003-07:00

We had a good week last week. Here are some of our favorite things that happened this week, in no particular order:

1-A snowstorm out of nowhere dumped a bit of snow on us and made for a cold few days during the week. The snow we get out here is really light and fluffy stuff and just blows all over the place. It is the kind of snow that if you stamp your foot on it on a sidewalk it flies away leaving a large exaggerated footprint.

We know there is not a lot of snow out there, but for this area, this is the most snow that we have had since we moved here in October 2008! It's always fun to see how long some of these icicles can get!

2-We watched the first Harry Potter movie this week, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We had recently just watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, so it was fun to compare the two. Those kids look so little in the first movie!

3- Andrew here...for the last several months we have been planning up a recognition dinner for all of the volunteers that I work with in this area. This last week it seemed like there were a bunch of small things that needed to happen in order to have things ready. Sometimes those small things are the ones that can drive you crazy. One of the best parts of the preparing for this event was that I got to make some of the plaques to give as awards. Anytime I can work in the garage with tools it is a good thing...even if it is cold outside! Anyways, it was a successful event despite the snow storm, slick roads and dropping temperatures. The whole evening went smoothly and everyone had a good time.

4-Backgammon is one of our favorite games and we got to play it a lot this week. It is a fun game, but it doesn't seem very common. Andrew learned how to play it in 2006 and we've been enjoying it ever since.

5-Yesterday we made some Orange Chicken for dinner. It was delicious! We love it, and because it was a Sunday, we were both home and got to make it together.

6-Brianna here...my brother, Shilo, returned home from his mission for the LDS Church! He was serving in the Mendoza, Argentina Mission, and the seasons are reversed, so he just came from summer and is a little cold, but doing well. (Sorry the picture is so small and blurry...I don't have an updated one, so I took it from my sister's pictures).

Our Families

2010-02-14T18:10:00.003-07:00

Get ready for a long post! We thought we would share a little about both of our families. Enjoy!

Andrew’s family

Here’s a little bit about my family and what it was like growing up in that family. Being in the middle of seven kids I got to know my older siblings as well as the younger ones and that was nice. Since there were a handful of kids in the house, I was always sharing a room with one of my brothers it seemed. Having younger siblings I also took my many turns watching them while my parents were out on date night or something. I enjoyed telling them stories before they would go to bed. Some of their favorite stories to hear would be haunted pyramid stories that usually involved some explorers that get list in a jungle and then they happen upon this old haunted pyramid. I would usually name the explorers after my teachers at school just for fun. There are some fun memories about growing up.

One of the craziest and neatest things I think my family did while growing up was going to Europe for about 3 weeks. I was in kindergarten and my little brother Jon was in one of those kid carrying backpacks. Our crew consisted of my older brother Grant, my older sisters Diana and Michelle, and my mom and dad. I just remember riding trains and carrying a grey bag around. We have a ton of pictures from that trip and they are all in a big book at home. My dad also lugged around this huge video camera to record our journey we took. We went to Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and Holland…I’d have to look at the pictures to remember more, but I think it was amazing that my parents would do such a big, long, and crazy trip and bring all the kids along too.

(l to r) Robbie, Grant, Diana, my mom (Sandy), my dad (Orrin), me, Jon, Michelle, and Hillary

Here’s a quick run-down of the family, oldest to youngest:

Michelle is the oldest in the family and the shortest. She is married to Shawn and they have three kids. Michelle attended BYU and majored in something like Exercise Science and could beat anybody at racquetball. Now that she is married, she continues to be very fitness oriented and runs half marathons every now and again…just for fun!

Diana is the most adventurous family member by far! She has traveled to many, many different countries while she has worked for Continental Airlines. While she attended BYU-Hawaii, she was captain of the Skydiving Club. She also was going to certify to become a skydiving instructor at one point in time. She is a very generous and thoughtful person; she is always the person to remember a birthday with sending a card or saying thank you with a funny note.

Grant is similar to Diana in that he is adventurous too. He enjoys writing short stories, canoeing, and fishing for various species of fish. Last year, he caught a Tiger Muskie which was about three feet long and had really sharp teeth! This fish looked like a monster! He plays in a band called The Gatsby’s and they do gigs at weddings and other parties.

Andrew-Here I am!

Jonathan-My little brother Jon is finishing up his Bachelor’s degree at BYU and is selecting which law school to attend to complete his education. He and his wife Diana have been married for just over a year. Jonathan is very musically inclined and is a really talented pianist. He is very witty and enjoys using puns with his large vocabulary. He served a mission in the Russia, Yekaterinburg Mission and is now very proficient in Russian.

Hillary is also at BYU and is a sophomore studying Linguistics. Last year she spent a few months in Italy brushing up on her Italian and learning how to make some amazing Italian cuisine. She is really good at volleyball and during her senior year of high school, we were able to watch her team win the State Championship. Hillary also plays the piano and is a very kind person.

Robbie is the youngest in the family and is currently a senior in high school. He is a smart guy and is taking some pretty intense classes at school. He really enjoys games that make you think, whether it be trivia games like Trivial Pursuit, or strategic games that take careful planning to win. He throws the shot-put and discus in track and field. Recently he finished his Eagle Scout project which consisted of trail conservation work and included building a bridge out of railroad ties.

(l to r) Jon, Michelle, Robbie, Hillary, me, Grant, and Diana

Brianna’s family

I was born in a small town called Centralia, Washington and lived there my entire life until I went to school at BYU. My parents still live there, but the rest of my family is spread out throughout parts of Washington, Idaho, Utah, and us in Colorado. We lived on a small farm and since very few of our neighbors were our age, my brothers and sisters played a lot with each other. We used to pretend we were the Boxcar Children and made up all sorts of activities. We would go exploring in the forest behind the house, play kick the can, or just have fun jumping on the trampoline, practicing our Olympic gymnastics routines.

Now, because we are so spread out, it is hard to all be able to get together as often…but it is so much fun when we do! We usually end up eating a lot (my mom is a great cook) and can sit and talk for hours about how our parents used to make us weed the garden for hours or funny things we used to do. There are nine children in my family, and here they are listed in order of age, with a little information about each one:

My family at Amity & Jeremy's wedding in May 2009

(l to r) Miranda, Austin, me, my mom (Barbara), Jeremy, Amity, my dad (Vernon), Jennifer, Vernon Lee, and Elyse (Shilo was in Argentina on his mission)

Jennifer-Jennifer is probably the smartest of all the siblings, she loves to save money by doing rebates, and got us all hooked on them, and she speaks Spanish. She is married to Jose and they have three children and they live in Washington.

Miranda-Miranda is fun, and busy, and growing up, she was the cool one with the most style (at least that is how we saw it; I doubt she would agree). Right now she started her own business with a friend and they design watch bands out of beads and stones. She is married to James and they have four children and they live in Idaho.

Vernon Lee-His name is Vernon and his middle name is Lee, but my dad’s name is also Vernon, so growing up, we always called him Vernon Lee…and it just stuck, although now, with others, he goes by Vernon. Vernon Lee loves animals of all kinds, especially draft horses. Most of us were in 4-H growing up, but he lasted the longest, did the most, and even joined FFA when he was in high school. He is married to Lisa and they live in Washington with their two children.

Austin-Austin is crazy…in a good way. He is just busy, and always seems to be on an adventure. He is married to Meg, and fortunately, she loves adventure as much as him. They always seem to be climbing a mountain, hiking, going canyoneering (hiking through canyons which also involves some extreme conditions of swimming through murky water, rappelling down rocks, and climbing over large boulders), tubing down rivers, or riding their tandem bike. Austin just started student teaching in a high school in Utah. Meg and Austin live in Utah.

Me-I am next in line, and I think there is enough about me already on this blog, so I am done.

Elyse-Elyse is also busy enjoying life in Utah. She loves music and movies. If I ever have a question about a movie or want to know which one I should watch, I go to Elyse. She loves dance parties (especially with all the nieces and nephews) with loud music. She loves holidays (especially Christmas) and she is very patriotic.

Colby-My brother Colby passed away when he was a little over six months old. He died from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). I was only 3 ½ years old at the time, but I remember him a little, and he has always been a part of my life. I am so grateful for eternal families because I know I will see him again someday!

Amity-Amity is full of energy and is a real people person. She can talk to anyone (which she does) and respects everyone! She also loves those dance parties, likes to have adventures, loves to eat Peeps, and loves trucks…especially semi trucks. She is finishing up school at BYU-Idaho with her husband Jeremy.

Shilo-As I am typing this, Shilo is currently serving a mission for the LDS Church in Argentina…but he is returning home soon (on February 17). He now likes to speak Spanish, share the gospel, and eat, but I think when he returns he will go back to some other previous hobbies as well. He is a hard worker, enjoys playing the guitar, and going canyoneering. Because his three oldest siblings were girls, he put up with a lot of things when he was younger, but I think he has turned out okay.

Top: Jennifer

Middle (l to r): Elyse, Miranda, Amity

Bottom (l to r): Shilo, Austin, me, Vernon Lee

Super Bowl Sunday XLIV

2010-02-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great Super Bowl Sunday...and we didn't even watch the game! Here is what our day consisted of:

-woke up

-went to church

-got some free potatoes (each one was about the size of a football)

-delivered potatoes to some friends

-relaxed, made dinner, and ate it

-read the newspaper, did a word search and some frame games in the USA Weekend

-talked to family on the phone

-ate some treats: wheat thins, veggies, and some delicious Muddy Buddies

-played Phase 10 dice

-called our diehard Colts fan friends (who we also gave potatoes to) and gave them a hard time

-wrote a blog post

What a day!

Large Cowboy for Sale

2010-02-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

We have a Papa Murphy's pizza store in town and occasionally they advertise their specials on a bright florescent green board outside their store. You can't miss them. I drove by today and the sign said "Large Cowboy $9.99." Normally a sign like this wouldn't be worthy of a blog post (I’ve never even tried the Cowboy Pizza), but at that particular moment when I was reading the sign and from my exact vantage point in the car, I really saw a large cowboy! There was this guy wearing a big cowboy hat standing in the parking lot! It just made me laugh. It was one of those moments that you wish more people were there so you could all laugh at it, but since is was just me in the car I wanted to pass it along. It is small things like this that can put a smile on your face for the rest of the day.

Game Time!

2010-01-24T22:09:00.002-07:00

Have you ever heard of the game UpWords? If you have, maybe you have seen it in your parent's game closet, tucked way in the back with a little dust on it. Or, maybe you found it at a thrift store like us! We really like word games (Scrabble, Boggle, Razzle, and Option) and even though this one isn't our favorite word game, it had been awhile since we played it, so we dusted it off last night. It was fun! And Andrew won...with a score of 167 to Brianna's 160. If only I could have played that "J!" We do have a lot of games and we love playing them! Over the last (almost) five years of marriage, we've slowly and steadily acquired many games to add to our collection. Nearly all of them have been purchased at a thrift store, which is a great way to go! Instead of paying $15-$25 for a game, we've payed anywhere from 25 cents to $4...and we know it works! Note to self: if you are going to try this tactic, plan a little extra time at the thrift store to play this game to make sure all the pieces are there. Actually, we just rip off the tape, open it up, and see if it looks like the pieces are all there, and call it good. When we were first married and on a limited budget, our date night would go something like this. We have $5 to spend...go to Del Taco and buy five tacos or go to D.I. (a local thrift store) and buy a game we've never heard of and play it that night. Usually, we bought the game, which is why our game storage now looks like this:

We store our games inside of a large buffet, so there are even games behind some of these that you can't see. And, this is only one side of the buffet! We love games! Some of our all-time favorites are:

Boggle

Scrabble

Backgammon

Battleship

Razzle

Phase 10

Killer Uno

The Great Dalmuti

Othello (Andrew)

Beyond Balderdash (Andrew really loves this one!)

Mad Gab (Andrew)

Rummikub (Brianna)

Taboo (Brianna)

So, next time you finding yourself wandering the aisles of a thrift store with $5 burning a hole in your pocket, go to the game section and look for UpWords. If you don't like it, just give it right back to the store and feel good about donating $5 to your favorite thrift store!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2010-01-17T19:13:00.005-07:00

Have you ever had one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days? Well, this past week, Andrew and I both had one of those days. It seemed like we were just frustrated, annoyed, you name it. We really did feel like Alexander in that book, and we couldn't get over it. The next day felt just as bad.

So what did we do? Well, after feeling grumpy and annoyed all day, we went to Hawaii! We turned up the heat so we'd feel really warm and we put on some leis. For dinner I made teriyaki chicken with pineapple in it, because that was as close to Hawaiian cuisine as we could get and then we sat on the living room floor and ate our delicious meal. The picture doesn't do it justice; Andrew lit some candles and we turned out the lights...so it was hard to get a good picture. But, the food was good, we had a great time, and we got over it. If you ever find yourself in one of those no good, very bad days, forget Australia (read the book), just go to Hawaii!

I am The Great Dalmuti

2010-01-10T18:10:00.012-07:00

Andrew here. Over New Years, we visited my family for a few days in Utah and had a bit of fun. Basically we sat around all day playing games, eating food, telling stories, and laughing. It was a good time!

Some of the top games we played while we were there were The Great Dalmuti and an old computer game that we had growing up called Scorched Earth ("the mother of all games"). Have you ever played any of these games? Well, if you have, they are both a lot of fun. If you haven't, don't let the titles throw you off; they are pretty fun games. So The Great Dalmuti is a card game that is similar to Scum where people have different positions or ranks depending on who wins or loses each hand. After acquiring some basic skills in this game it became quite competitive. We even took it to the extreme of wearing certain hats depending on what rank you were. The Great Dalmuti wore the King's crown, 2nd in command was the Viking, the Greater Peon (lowest) wore the Jester hat, and the 2nd lowest wore the three-cornered hat. Anyways, we had a lot of fun playing it. When you get a talkative family around a table playing a funny game, it is just a lot of fun!

Here are some pictures from the game:

(l to r: Andrew's dad Orrin, brother Grant, Andrew the Great Dalmuti, and brother Jon)

You can't always be the Great Dalmuti.

There are a lot of emotions in this game!

Andrew's brother Grant was a Viking in a former life.

Scorched Earth was one of our favorite games growing up (when I say our, I mean my siblings, but especially the boys in our family). The game has very basic graphics. The best way to help you visualize what it is like is if you are looking at your computer screen and you were to draw a zig-zaggy line across the screen. Then put a few dots along the line. Those dots are the tanks and the zig-zag line is the mountainous terrain in which the tanks are situated in. You can buy all sorts of different weapons to shoot at the other tanks and you win a round by blowing up the other tanks. As we were playing this game, it brought back so many fun memories of sitting on a wooden bench for hours in front of the computer playing this game. As we were selecting the weapons to buy it was fun remembering how some of the weapons were just like cheating because it made it really easy to get the other tank. For example, picturing the same terrain I just explained with the zig-zag line; if you were one of the unlikely tanks at the bottom of the hill, all it took was a simple weapon called a Baby Roller and you were done for. The way rollers work is that you aim your barrel anywhere on the hill above the tank and when you shoot it and it hits the hill, it just rolls all the way down to the bottom and blows up the tank. So it is kind of fun sometimes when you go first and you're not the tank at the bottom.

Some of my other favorite weapons are the MIRV and the Baby Sandhog (the Baby Sandhog costs less than a regular Sandhog; this game taught me how to be frugal from an early age). Also, you can't forget parachutes. Parachutes will make you last a lot longer in the game. Without going into too much detail, the game is just a lot of fun!

After playing a few rounds of this, we realized we were boring everyone else and we needed to go back to playing The Great Dalmuti.

(from l to r in this picture: Grant, Robbie, me, and Jon)

Christmas...cold, but good!

2009-12-27T15:42:00.005-07:00

We had a great Christmas here in Colorado, but it really was cold! We didn't get much snow, but we got plenty of COLD wind!

Here are the top 5 things we did over our Christmas break:

5-We worked on and finished two puzzles! These weren't just any puzzle. One of them was a hard puzzle; the picture was of about 25 popsicles piled on top of each other. It was harder than it sounds...see for yourself.

We had a fun surprise on Christmas when we found that Andrew's family gave us two puzzles as gifts. We finished one of those as well but we made record time on that one. Puzzles are a great thing to do when it is freezing cold outside!

4-On and around Christmas, we were able to talk to nearly all the members of our family! It was fun to visit, tell stories, and hear about everyone's Christmas. It really was a lot of people because there are nine kids in Brianna's family and seven in Andrew's.

3-Christmas goodies and caroling! Every year at Christmas, Andrew's family (mom) makes and delivers cookie dough to everyone in town! The list keeps getting bigger every year, and it really seems like she makes 100 pounds of cookie dough! They are really good cookies though. Brianna's family has always made a lot of different kinds of cookies and candy which we then would deliver to people while we went caroling. We decided we wanted to do something too, so every year we like to make a load of goodies and deliver them.

This year, we made 11 different treats and took them to about 20 families. We even caroled...at one house! It is hard to be as excited about caroling when your choir consists of only two people!

A few of the specialty items were: good little almond thingys, butterscotch fudge, russian teacakes (peppermint and normal), truffles, rocky road, and almond roca.

2-One of Andrew's favorite parts of the break were his visits to the garage to work with his tools. As mentioned in a previous post, his parents gave him the other half of a canoe (it is hard using half a canoe). But, what good is a whole canoe if it can only sit or hang in a garage? So he also got a car rack for Christmas. And he had to make a way to secure the canoe to the car rack, so he built a little wooden frame that will fasten to the rack.

The purpose of this wooden contraption is to eliminate the side-to-side movement of the canoe while driving down the road. (In the picture below: in the side view, you can imagine the side of a canoe fitting perfectly in the slot. Then, we will slide the white piece of wood over the edge of the canoe and tighten the wingnut, which will hold the canoe in place.) He also has ample tie-downs in the front and back to ensure that we don't create an airborne canoe while going down the road.

1-So what was the top thing we did over Christmas break? Probably staying up late watching movies and sleeping in! We have gotten a lot of sleep the last few days, and it will be difficult getting back to a regular schedule! All in all, we've had a great time!

Oh yeah...how do you like Andrew's new glasses?

St.Basil's Cathedral over Christmas Break

2009-12-20T21:33:00.007-07:00

Andrew and I have been married for four years and seven months, (well, in three days it will be seven months) but guess what? We have never completed a puzzle together...until today. We felt like doing one at Thanksgiving, but we didn't have any. The other night, we were at the Dollar Store and saw some, so we picked up a few. Here was our first. It was 350 pieces for ages 12 and up, but when we first opened up the package, and saw all those tiny pieces, suddenly we felt like five-year-olds. After a little organization, and getting over our intial fear of the puzzle, we actually had fun and stayed up till midnight before we decided it was time to go to bed. Something happens when it is late at night and you are staring at 350 tiny colorful pieces that all look the same...your brain stops working!

Just so you know, we finished it off the next day. It went a lot quicker when we were awake. Here is Andrew with the last piece!

Ta-da!

Gingerbread trailer house, A-frames and more...

2009-12-20T17:00:00.008-07:00

Andrew here: So each year we like to make gingerbread houses just for fun. This year we decided to use graham crackers rather than gingerbread because it is a lot easier and a little bit quicker. It just gives you more time to do the bulk of the fun part: decking out the house with tons of candy and stuff. So here is the shipment of lumber that we used in constructing our houses. We are in charge of the Young Single Adult Family Home Evening Group in our Ward and we though this would make a neat thing to do with everyone. So we went out and got tons of candy and other building supplies so we could create some amazing architectural designs. We actually did this on two nights, so the first night, I created a trailer house. The pretzels on top are the television antenna.

The next time, both Brianna and I made different houses. Here is my masterpiece A-frame:

Here is Brianna's drafty but great gingerbread house:

O Christmas Tree

2009-12-15T11:47:00.005-07:00

Christmas is less than two weeks away! Can you believe it? We decorated our tree on the 1st of December, but unfortunately, we forgot to post it. Here is our beautiful tree.

Great, huh? We love real trees, but the first year we were married, we bought this one at a thrift store for $5! What a deal! We just couldn't pass it up...and it still works great.Andrew and the ornaments...

Merry Christmas! Stay tuned for our gingerbread houses...we just did them last night and had so much fun!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T20:40:00.010-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots of good food. Andrew and I love turkey, so we always try to find the biggest one at the store, then we cut off all the meat and freeze it and use it for months. This year, our turkey was 20.83 pounds. It was great...and heavy! Here are some of the beginning stages of our Thanksgiving feast.

The delicious meal, followed by delicious pies.

What is Thanksgiving without good pie? We made two kinds, Incredible Peanut Butter Pie and Tollhouse Pie, which is basically a cookie in a pie shell and a tradition in Brianna's family. Both are extremely rich.

At first, it seemed like it was going to be a long weekend with just the two of us...but there was a surprise in store for Andrew. Some of his family came to visit all the way from Utah, which is a long nine and a half hour drive. Brianna knew about it, but he didn't, and it was so much fun when he answered the door Friday night!

Here's Andrew's version of the story. Just after I finished dinner that night, the doorbell started going crazy, and I was pretty sure that it would be a doorbell ditcher because it sounded like they were ringing the bell with a jackhammer. Right before I got to the door, I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard the unmistakable sound of my dad mooing like a cow outside the front door. [First off, I've got to tell you that my dad has been mooing like a cow for a number of years; it has become his personal trademark. It really does sound like a cow.] Then it hit me...either my family was on our porch or some farmer was missing a cow and it was wandering around in our front yard! I opened the door, and there they were, smiling, laughing, and shivering in the cold. It was an amazing surprise!
They wanted to come visit and deliver my Christmas present, a 15 foot Coleman canoe. When I was about 16, I went in on a canoe with my dad, so I decided I wanted the other half for Christmas this year. I was a little relieved to see that they brought the canoe, because I was a little worried about having a 15 foot canoe on top of our 17 foot car for over 500 miles across the windy state of Wyoming! Even though the visit was short, we had a great time playing games and hanging out with family.

Something Funny

2009-11-30T22:02:00.003-07:00

Andrew here: I often say that something funny happens every day. But I guess sometimes you have days where nothing funny happens and you have two options.

1) You can remember something that happened another day and laugh at it.
2) You can do something funny.

This may have been one of those days where option two was the best bet. We needed to laugh at something and we did...for quite some time.

Have you ever seen the thing when you put little eyes on your chin and flip upside down and it looks like your chin is a little alien blob thing? If you have then you know exactly what I'm talking about and it looks pretty funny. If you don't know about it, then these pics will look even better! Anyways one last touch that helps things look just a little bit better is putting a shirt or a jacket (in my case) over the top of your head. When you hang your head upside down it will get caught on your nose and hold it in place. It really isn't that comfortable, but it sure looks funny. I have seen people do a lip-sync like this before with a group of people and it is great. So here are some pics...hope you enjoy! These pics still make us laugh.

Halloween

2009-11-18T20:14:00.011-07:00

Better late than never, right? I hope so! We had a great Halloween this year and had so much fun planning up our costumes. When Andrew was in high school, one of his friends dressed up like a security guard and shaved part of his hair...the part in the middle, so he would look like he was losing his hair. Since then, Andrew has wanted to do this, so he decided to dress up as an old man. I (Brianna) was a lego block. I was hoping to go as an ear of corn, but after days of planning and creating, I didn't get very far, and changed my mind.

Here are the pictures of Andrew's transformation. At first he thought he only needed 1/4 inch of hair left, but it wasn't enough, so we had to leave only 1/8 inch of hair. We shaved it all off when we got home from our church party. Now, he is always freezing!

The Lego. And trust me, you have to be strong to be a Lego...it really hurt my arms. It was a little awkward, especially when I needed to get a drink of water from the drinking fountain.

And here we are enjoying each other, as always. We've been married for four and a half wonderful years...but it feels like 40!
Here are our pumpkins. We grew them in our garden, so they were even more fun to carve than normal!

Andrew's is on the left, and Brianna's is on the right. Oh, and guess what? Andrew carved both sides! Here is the other view...

Adventures in the Kitchen

2009-10-03T19:11:00.000-06:00

This is Brianna, and as previously mentioned, I love to cook and bake. When I was growing up, my mom had a pasta machine that she used some of the time. Most people would probably love this...fresh pasta! But, I had only one memory of it and it wasn't a good one. I think the meal was chicken and noodles on mashed potatoes (which is one of my favorites) but some of my noodles stuck together in a clump, and didn't get cooked well. So, basically, I was eating a wad of dough. I have never liked eating dough. And after that, making pasta was never in my plans. (Just for the record, I still think my mom is an amazing cook!)

Then, our friends invited us over for dinner, and guess what? Same meal, chicken and noodles on mashed potatoes! With fresh pasta! And, it was good! So, I thought I would try it out. I didn't have the machine, so I rolled them out by hand, which worked...but they have to be really thin. And the dough is really sticky!

The verdict. Well, they were good, but not great. The recipe I used called for a pinch of salt, and I don't think that was enough, but they were okay in the soup. I would do it again, but only for soup or chicken and noodles, or if I ever felt like trying some ravioli. I can't imagine using them for spaghetti...they were pretty thick, even though I rolled them as thin as I could.

But guess what? Same week, different day, we tried another recipe. BYU Mint Brownies. I've never been a fan of mint, at least not peppermint. I like wintergreen and spearmint, but peppermint is usually too strong for me. I have never had a whole candy cane...one lick is enough for me. These brownies have mint extract in them, which consists of peppermint and spearmint, so it isn't too pepperminty. Plus, once you add the word brownie, I am sold.

Anything that starts with this...

and ends with this...

has got to be good, right? Did I mention I love chocolate?

This recipe is supposedly the original, directly from Sugar-n-Spice (located in the Cougareat at BYU). It was printed in the BYU Magazine, so we figured it must be legitimate. You can find the recipe here.

We were invited to dinner yesterday and decided to try it out and hope they really were as good as the originals. Andrew made the mint icing layer, and doesn't it look great? It was, but a little too powerful on its own. He said it reminded him of toothpaste.

The verdict. Well, actually, we tried a little bite as soon as we put on the chocolate icing, and we were a little disappointed. The brownies seemed too tall, and we didn't taste enough mint. We thought they must have lied in the recipe. They were still good, but not the same. We brought them to the dinner a few hours later, and when we had them then, they were better. More minty. Tonight, we had them again...and they were still good. Maybe even better. We think the mint is spreading through the brownie. I do still think the brownies are still a little taller than I remember, but overall, I think they are just as good as the real BYU Mint Brownies. You should try them, especially if you like mint...or chocolate. And because they look really good in this picture.

Oh, and they don't have a recipe for the chocolate icing, but I use this one and love it. I actually didn't use all of it, we didn't want it to overpower the mint, so I left off maybe 3/4 cup or something.

1/2 C. margarine

1/4 C. cocoa

1/3 C. milk

8 large marshmallows

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and melt over medium to medium-high heat. Or turn it up for awhile if you get impatient...just don't burn it. When it is all melted and smooth, remove from heat. Add:

2 1/2 C. powdered sugar (you could probably even add 3 cups. Mine was a little runny...but it worked that way; it was easier to spread.)

Oh, one last thing. The mint is really what makes these brownies. I am sure you could easily make brownies from a mix and add the mint and chocolate icing. I love brownies from a mix! I just love brownies!

Random Facts About Us

2009-07-30T13:13:00.004-06:00

Andrew

-He plays the guitar.

-He loves to tell stories and jokes.

-He is the middle of seven children.

-He can make the biggest frown in the world!

-He has a hitchhiker’s thumb.
-His favorite color is green.
-He likes to eat spicy food, especially Indian Curry.
-He served a mission for the LDS Church in the Canada Vancouver Mission in British Columbia.
-He can make some great paper airplanes.
-He likes to sing; especially in quartets (he is a first bass/baritone).
-He loves to fish.
-He likes to go canoeing. And now we have one!
-His idea of a good day often includes working with tools in the garage.
-He likes to play Ultimate Frisbee.
-He had a green iguana named Bradley (after Shawn Bradley who played basketball at BYU).
-He loves to eat shrimp.
-He can count to three in Japanese.

-He has worn glasses since he was about 3 years old.

Brianna
-She has never broken or sprained any bones.
-She likes growing a garden, but doesn’t like many cooked vegetables.
-She is the middle of nine children.
-Her favorite color is blue…and sometimes brown.
-She loves to read Harry Potter.
-She loves dogs.
-She has Type 1 Diabetes and an insulin pump.
-She loves chocolate and ice cream (not the sugar free varieties).
-She loves to bake.
-She likes using coupons and saving money.
-She loves middle names.
-She has never had her ears pierced.
-She had an albino guinea pig named Squeaker.
-She loves to listen to the soundtrack of Wicked, over and over again!
-She loves to drink water.
-She used to have a stamp collection when she was younger.
-She gets a little crazy at college basketball games.
-She has better than 20/20 vision.

Jessica
-She was born on the 4th of July!
-She used to spit up her formula all the time.
-She loves to eat bread.
-Her favorite game is peek-a-boo, and she often plays it with people and objects (even the Kitchen-aid)
-She is afraid of the vacuum...and the blender.
-She wants to touch every fire hydrant we pass when we go for a walk.
-She loves to read books.
-She loves keys.
-She is very strong...she can lift a piano and a full package of wipes.
-She loves toothbrushes and will try to take ours out of our mouths.
-She loves being outside.
-She loves watching birds.
-She has slept through a car alarm going off right next to her.
-She likes watching trains.
-She loves pulling off her socks.

Welcome to our Blog

2009-07-21T20:02:00.001-06:00

Hello! We just wanted to give you a little introduction into the life of Andrew and Brianna. Recently, we just celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary. We are so happy and love each other very much! We met each other at Brigham Young University where we were in the same Family Home Evening group in our ward. Our first date was Homecoming and we continued to date and were married the next year in the Seattle, Washington temple. After we finished school, we moved to Colorado where Andrew began his career working for the Boy Scouts of America.
We both love children and have always wanted to be parents. In fact, when we got married, we said we wanted to have twenty-one kids. Through recent medical tests we found that we will be unable to have children on our own. We are excited to be able to start our family through adoption!

A little bit from Andrew:
I am the fourth of seven children and was raised in Alpine, Utah. We always had a lot of fun growing up and I still love to tell stories about those times today. I served a mission in the Canada Vancouver Mission in British Columbia. After my mission, I attended BYU and received my degree there and graduated in 2006. We then packed up everything we owned in a big U-Haul and moved to Colorado and I started working for the Boy Scouts. I enjoy fishing and the outdoors. I love to sing and am a baritone; I have sung in choirs since I was in 9th grade. I like to work with tools, fix things, build stuff and work on projects. Humor is a big part of my life and I try to find something funny every day. Having a sense of humor makes life enjoyable.

A little bit from Brianna:
I was born and raised in Centralia, Washington and am the fifth of nine children in my family. My family lived on a small farm where we occasionally had cows, horses, pigs, chickens, sheep, goats, and dogs. Sometimes it meant a lot of work, but most of the time it was just a lot of fun. When I was 15 years old, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I have an insulin pump, so I don’t have to give shots…I just can’t eat as much ice cream and chocolate as I would like to! Speaking of food, I love to cook and bake (especially breads). I’m growing a garden and love watching the plants grow. I also like crafts and making cards.

And now...you can read some of our favorite stories and learn about us. We'd love to hear from you and get to know you as well! You can send us an email at andrewbrianna21@gmail.com.

The Basics

2009-07-20T13:01:00.006-06:00

Andrew

Age: 29
Height: 6’5”

Eyes: blue

Hair: brown
Hobbies & Interests: canoeing, singing, fishing, telling jokes, working with tools and fixing things, and watching movies in fast forward

Education: Bachelor of Science—Recreation Management and Youth Leadership

Brianna

Age: 28
Height: 5’10”

Eyes: brown

Hair: brown
Hobbies & Interests: baking (especially breads and desserts), walking, gardening, playing with Jessica, and reading (especially Goodnight Moon)

Education: Bachelor of Science—Marriage, Family, and Human Development

Jessica

Age: 11 months (and counting!)
Height: 29 inches (and growing!)
Eyes: blueish/gray...depends on the day
Hair: brown
Hobbies & Interests: trying to walk, pulling herself up on the furniture, pulling everything off of shelves, reading, playing peek-a-boo, stroller rides, and bird watching
Education: currently home schooled for the next few years

Story of Andrew and Brianna

2009-07-19T18:53:00.000-06:00

My Garden

2009-06-17T14:33:00.000-06:00

I love having a garden. Growing up, my parents always had a large garden, and during the summers, we had to weed the vegetables, pick and snap beans, and kill as many of the bad bugs that we could find. The bug part was the only fun part because we got paid a penny for everyone we got. Actually, I don’t even remember getting the money…just adding it up. Anyway, we all dreaded going out to the garden to weed, even if we only had to do two or three rows. So, now that I am an adult, what do I do? Grow a garden…when I am the only one to weed it. But I love it!

Last year we planted our first real garden. Andrew built a box so I could do a square-foot garden, although we really just followed the box idea, not the soil. It was fun…but only 5 feet by 2 feet, although we did have some other plots that I filled with wildflowers. This year, we have a lot more room…and we filled it up! And here are some of my favorite things about it:

Pumpkins. This is our first year ever growing pumpkins, and I love them because they grow! Cucumbers don't seem to like me although I love them. I just can’t get them to grow…I bought plants this year. But the pumpkins are already getting huge…I can’t wait until October!

Chives. Don't they look great? I hope they keep doing well. I love having them! I planted them in the pot, because they will keep growing back, and I never want to be without them.

Marigolds. Okay, these aren’t vegetables, but I needed another color besides green. But, I love these flowers; the bugs do too, which is great…because they are attracted to them instead of my vegetables. Also, I love them because last year, I bought some seeds, and planted them. And you can harvest seeds from every flower, and save them for the next year. I had a lot of marigolds last year, and was very diligent in my seed collecting, so now, I planted even more, and I still think I have a ½ cup of seeds!
Broccoli. This is also a first and we are growing cauliflower too, but it isn't as big yet, and it is covered by leaves, so it is harder to get a picture of. But, the broccoli looks great…and in fact, I cut some today, and we steamed it for dinner…and it was so good. And so green!

Tomatoes! I love tomatoes. Andrew doesn't, which really is too bad, because I think I planted 6 plants. Four of the plants are Beefsteak and two are Cherry. Last year none of my tomatoes did very well...which is why I had to have 6 plants this year, right? Just in case.

Lettuce. The best for last. Really. I love growing lettuce. It is my favorite, because, like pumpkins, it always grows. At least for me. When the bugs attack everything else, they stay away from the lettuce. Unfortunately, you can't really stock up on lettuce or can it, dry it, or freeze it; but it grows fast. And you can plant more for a fall crop. I love lettuce.

Our New Old Place

2009-06-17T13:20:00.000-06:00

In November of 2008 we had to move to a new town for my work and there are some nice things about our new place. Well first I should mention when I say new…it is not a new house/apartment by any means, but it is new to us. This place was built in the 50’s and has plaster walls, nine foot ceilings (which I really like because I’m 6’5”) and a crawlspace underneath that I wouldn’t even want to go in if there was a tornado! The problem with plaster walls is that when you want to hang up a picture you have to really work to get the nail through the wall. Then once the nail makes it through you can hear the crackling of plaster chips falling on the inside of the wall…it was real interesting the first time that happened. Our place is small and cozy, but we like it and we are happy.

There is a small fenced backyard with a clothesline and some kind of tree in the corner; we think it might be an apple tree. We have some raspberry bushes, strawberries and rhubarb that were growing here already and that has been nice. I always thought that I didn’t like rhubarb…it just didn’t sound good or look good. Brianna was really excited about the rhubarb however and said she was going to make a pie or something out of it. I told her she could, but I wasn’t going to eat any of it. A funny thing happened. When she started baking this stuff it smelled really good and I thought, “how could rhubarb smell that good?” Then when it came out of the oven it even looked kind of good. Well to make a short story a little bit longer, I tried it and liked it! Now I like rhubarb. It is crazy. I never thought it would taste good. The only thing that is not good about rhubarb is if you try to eat it raw. I felt so brave after eating rhubarb crisp that I decided to try some raw rhubarb…not a good idea. I don’t recommend it.

One of my favorite things about our new place is that it has a garage! Not a garage for a car, but a garage for my tools and a little storage space! Gone are the days that I have to use the drill press in the kitchen! Although anytime I did work on a project in our old place I would always clean up with our Shop-Vac…Brianna is glad too that I can set up my wood shop in the garage. I really enjoy working on projects and building things. When I was a kid I use to go in my dad’s workshop and tighten random pieces of scrap wood in a vice and cut them in half with a small handsaw. When things break I like to find ways of fixing them. I suppose I got this from my dad. Well Brianna and I are happy in our new old place and now we call it home.

Most Amazing and Fun Vacation

2009-06-17T12:49:00.001-06:00

I love the ocean. There is something about the sound of waves crashing or rippling water lapping at your feet as you walk across a beach barefoot that I just love. I didn’t grow up anywhere near the ocean. I grew up in Utah and was nowhere near real beach (the Great Salt Lake doesn’t count). Now we live in Colorado and are even further away from the seashore! I served a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Canada, Vancouver Mission and spent some time on Vancouver Island. While I was there I got to see the ocean just about ever day as we were out and about contacting people on the streets and such. I think it was from the time I spent on Vancouver Island that I really learned to love being by the ocean. Watching tugboats pull huge barges from Pulp Mills across the Straight of Georgia or just being able to see the ocean. Anyways I love the ocean.

One of my favorite vacations I took with Brianna we went to Seaside Beach in Oregon. We rented a car and drove from the Portland Airport out to a little motel a couple of blocks from the beach. We stayed there for about three days and it was great. We were about one mile from the main part of the town because it cost a lot less to stay there than at the huge hotels right on the beach front. It was so nice! Every night we would walk along the boardwalk to the main part of town and then walk back on the beach. In Seaside there is a shop that sold real saltwater taffy and we got a bunch of different flavors, it was amazing how many different flavors they had! When you walk in, there are all of these tubes full of saltwater taffy that pour into wooden bins. It was fun in that shop!

Each morning we took little day trips to different beaches in the area. We went to this place called Hug Point (it was called that because the water hugs the beach and nearby cliffs) and explored around the shallows. We also spent a day at Cannon Beach and walked probably three or four miles down the coastline towards Haystack Rock. It is strange how when you’re walking on a beach time slips by and you don’t realize how far you have gone until you look behind you and see where you started way in the distance.

A funny thing that happened at Cannon Beach: When we finally got around to eating lunch that day we were starving. Luckily we had packed a lunch in our backpack. We found this nice big log on the beach and sat down and started pulling out sandwiches and crackers. No sooner had we done this then a whole flock of curious, persistent and crazy seagulls had us surrounded. Nothing we could do would get them away from us. We didn’t know what to do. If we had our backs turned for just a second they would fly up just a little closer and then perch next to us on the log. We found quickly that we would not have an enjoyable lunch unless something was done. Then inspiration struck! Just in front of us there was this huge family eating lunch with huge ice chests and a few blankets full of people and food. If we could only introduce our seagull friends to this great family! By this time the seagulls had gone into relentless mode and nothing we could do would keep them away from us and our lunch…it was time to carry out our plan. All we did was causally gather up our stuff and walk nonchalantly towards the family in front of us.

Things worked out perfectly. No sooner had we started walking, and then all the seagulls in perfect unison started following us in the air and on the ground by the dozens. Then the critical moment came as we passed by the huge family party on the beach. As if by magic or a stroke of luck, one of the little boys in the group tossed a piece of bread to a seagull. This gesture was done in all sincerity, but none of the other members in his family appreciated it. As the bread was flying through the air they all cried out “NO!” But it was too late…all of the seagulls shifted their interest from our meager meal, toward the great smorgasbord that was strewn out in front of them. It was really funny to watch as we munched on our sandwiches and crackers a safe distance off. All of a sudden the people were waving their hands trying to get rid of the pesky birds. There were a few younger kids there that got assigned the task of chasing the birds away, which they did with a smile. Anyways, that was a fun lunch and much more enjoyable when we relocated!

One of my favorite memories I have of that trip was our last night there. We walked into town (Seaside) and got some really good ice cream and ate it on a bench over looking the beach at sunset. Then we walked back to our motel along the beach. I think I'm ready to go back to Seaside Beach again!

The Orchard House

2009-06-16T21:48:00.000-06:00

This is a story dedicated to our favorite home thus far in our married life: the Orchard House. When Andrew and I were first married, we were blessed to be able to rent a home from his aunt and uncle. It was a beautiful home they had recently purchased and fixed up. The house was built on a hill, and we had mountain views all around us. You can see some of those views throughout this post. We named it the Orchard House because it was on a small apple orchard with a few peach trees as well. It was built in the 1950s and hadn’t been occupied for the last 20 years. We were excited to be able to live there…and we loved it; especially our many adventures that happened during that first year.

All houses seem to have strange sounds that you have to get used to, and this place was no exception. There was an unfinished basement that we closed off and only used to store boxes or our Christmas decorations. Sometimes I think some of the noises came from the basement…but it was a big open house, so they felt like they came from everywhere. Soon after we moved in, we were informed that there may be some mice in the house, and it might be a good idea to get some cats. Andrew worked with someone who needed to get rid of some kittens, so it worked perfectly. We brought home Frank and Heffe (which means boss in Spanish). They were brother and sister…but looked and acted nothing alike. Heffe was white, and looked a little Siamese; when we brought them home, she was bossy. She would always beat up on Frank. And then they changed, and she became a wimp! It would take her hours to get the courage to go outside. Frank, the black cat, was the smartest cat I’ve ever known! And he was crazy, and would take off outside as soon as we opened the window. He loved sitting in the kitchen sink…and everywhere else. Most of all, Andrew and I loved that their new home was the basement. We loved having them there because from then on, anytime we heard some weird Orchard House noise, we said, “it must be the cats.”

After we had been in the house for a few weeks, my parents came into town and stayed with us. While we gave them a tour of the house, my dad noticed that some water was leaking in the basement around a drain. We also noticed what we thought was mold on the floor. We cleaned it up, and checked on it, but it kept leaking, so Andrew asked a few people from Church to help us with it. Fortunately, they figured out what was wrong. Unfortunately, the problem was not a leak, but a backed up septic tank. His uncle didn’t know where on the property it was located, so we searched for it by pounding rebar into the ground, hoping to hit some metal. We did…but that one was actually an empty septic tank the original owner had installed as a backup. We pulled out the rebar again and searched…for over a week! During this time, we couldn’t use any source of water at all, so we were staying somewhere else, and just working there in the day. Finally, thanks to Andrew, his uncle, dad, and cousin it was found and uncovered. But now we had another problem…we couldn’t get a septic tank company to come to empty it. The driveway was filled with bushes, and they had to drive under some tree branches, and onto the yard, between two large hedges. The septic tank was down the hill from that position, but that was the only way they could get to it. Everyone turned us down, but finally, we got somebody to come. It was a wonderful day! Then, all we had to do was clean up the basement. We didn’t want to take any chances during the clean up process, so luckily Andrew had some weird painting jumpsuits and rubber gloves.
Our next adventure was all my fault. And Home Depot’s. Andrew was on a winning streak for awhile; he won a snow blower at Home Depot (but traded it in for store credit), and then he won a $20 gift card from them as well. We were baking a turkey for dinner that day, and I was boiling the neck meat to make broth for the gravy. I had been simmering it on the stove, and then Home Depot called. We were going to go pick up the gift card, but Andrew decided to call his family first to share the news. I didn’t feel like putting the broth in the fridge, so I turned it up on high to get it nice and warm, and then planned to turn it off, and let it sit out until we got back. Well, his family wasn’t home, so we left right away. And we decided to look around after he got the gift card…so an hour later, we got home.

We were talking in the car, and kept hearing this beeping noise, but we thought it was our neighbors. After a few minutes Andrew realized what it was…the smoke alarm! I left the stove on high the whole time! He went running into the garage, opened up the house, and smoke poured out the door. Then, he ran into that smoke! He turned off the stove, grabbed the pot that was red on the bottom from all the heat, and ran out the other door. I was freaking out, so I followed him; but I forgot to breathe, so I got a mouthful of smoke and then couldn’t stop coughing or crying. There were no flames…only billowing gray smoke. Andrew opened all the windows. I tried to help, but I just kept coughing, and I was not much help. The smoke left quickly, but the smell stayed for awhile. It did finally leave, but we had to clean everything, and air out all our clothes and blankets. My pan was ruined and Andrew had to throw it at the ground to even get the lid off. Our turkey dinner was great…just without gravy.

Because we were on an orchard, we learned about irrigation ditches. Andrew would sometimes take care of it, and open the gate of the ditch for the water to flow into the orchard. Our last Sunday before we moved to Colorado, we went to his family’s house for dinner to say goodbye. We got home at about 10:30 that night and for some reason, I went to the basement to check on Heffe and Frank. Then, I thought I heard some water dripping. We had had some problems with the bathtub dripping, so I thought it was that, but I went down the hall to check. I’m glad I did…because there was water all over the floor. I looked into the back rooms, where there are two window wells that face the irrigation ditch. They were filled up with water! They looked like aquariums, and because the windows were old, they were leaky aquariums…dripping water onto the floor! (Remember, this was an unfinished basement fortunately…that had concrete floors and a drain in one room). I yelled for Andrew, who came running down, and then went running back up to take care of the problem. We were still wearing our clothes from church, and he went outside in his slacks and white shirt. I changed out of my skirt, and then followed.

Now, I have to explain a little background. The irrigation was flood irrigation, and some water wouldn’t make it to the orchard, and would go down a ditch in the yard, about ten feet from the house. We never got too much water flowing through it, but we thought it would be a great way to water the lawn…or at least a small amount of the lawn. So, we created a small dam to try to get the water to build up and flood the lawn. It really only worked one time…barely, but for some reason, that night, the water came with a vengeance, and there was more water than we had ever seen! It wasn’t even our night for irrigation water, so the gate was closed. Back to the story…

The window wells were so full, and there were bushes growing in front of them. Andrew, who doesn’t like spiders, crawled behind them with a bucket, and started scooping water out, and throwing it onto the lawn…which was already pretty wet. This went on for awhile, until finally, they were emptied. Then, we were able to clean up the mess in a dark basement. We were so grateful for that drain in the floor! Finally, at about 1:30 in the morning, we went to bed. A week later…we moved from the beloved Orchard House. Even after all that happened, we loved it and his aunt and uncle still thought we were good renters!

A little poetry

2009-06-16T19:10:00.000-06:00

Here are some acrostic poems we wrote about each other. (We didn’t know what these poems were called so we had to look it up online to find out.)

A-amazing
N-nice
D-dances with me in our kitchen
R-really funny
E-entertaining
W-working with wood and tools

B-beautiful
R-right person for me
I-intelligent
A-animated
N-nice
N-never forgets birthdays
A-always smiling