February 2, 2011

Yes, I wrote the right date in the title. I know it's almost the end of March, but I haven't posted Tj's pics from her wedding and reception from the above date, yet. Now some of you will think, as Taylor does, "The poor last child. Doesn't get as much attention. Didn't take as many pictures of her as a baby. Didn't post her wedding pics until almost 2 months later!" Well, you're all wrong!! This time it's the photographer's fault! It took her a long time to give us these because she did Sundance Film Festival the week before the wedding, so she had a lot of pics to go through. Anyway, here's just a few pictures from that day. If you were wondering when the coldest day of our winter was, it was this day! FREEZING cold! I was afraid Taylor's nose was going to get stuck to Brandon's cheek in this pic. Thank goodness one of Brandon's cousins had this pretty, white coat they let Taylor borrow for pics after the wedding. The wedding itself was marvelous, and they were very lucky to get a temple sealer that was interesting, and spiritual. No pictures were of course taken at the wedding, since it was in The Salt Lake Temple (no cameras allowed), but here are some taken right after out on the temple grounds.

We ended up in The Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg for a lot of the pictures because of the cold. Thank goodness that building is so beautiful!!

I better give kudos to Andrea Hanks Photography. She is a sweet, young lady with an amazing, artistic eye. Taylor picked her out of hundreds that she looked at because of the art the pictures become, not just photographs.

After pics, we had the luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg. It was absolutely scrumptious, and gave us energy for the next half of the day!!

We decorated our butts off! They had their reception at Noah's in South Jordan which is beautiful without any decor, but we had to add a few touches, and we didn't have a lot of time. That and helping set up the food - well, let's just say I got dressed minutes before the official start time of the reception. Thank goodness for family and friends who came to help!! I can't thank them enough!

I'm sure glad my girls get along. Cali took care of helping TJ get dressed. And Kierra helped get the little girls dressed. I think they all had fun!

And I was downstairs helping create this...

These were the centerpieces. For being simple, they sure were elegant. We had a big tree limb by the door that people were supposed to put advice, or hellos onto as they left, with the papers you see hanging on the centerpiece.

Taylor always joked that she wanted a toast bar at her reception, because she loves toast! Well, we did the best we could. We had a bunch of different flavored breads and different flavors of hot chocolate. A perfect thing to serve on the coldest day EVER!!

Taylor ordered a simple and small cake knowing that no one ever eats what is left over. I think it's beautiful. Taylor wanted everything simple-looking. It adds to the artistic look.

Taylor and Brandon shared their first dance together as husband and wife to a Van Halen song!!

Then it was time for Taylor and her dad to have their dance; which has been planned since Taylor was 3 years old!! Seriously! They picked out a slow song that they could dance to, then it morphed into a Toto song called "Africa". It's a very upbeat, wild, crazy song! Ever since Taylor was little they danced to this song. They hold hands and Taylor jumps as high as she can while Mike helps lift her up.

It's a little harder to dance that way when the little girl is as tall as the dad!

The song ended with a mosh pit! Everyone was happy and enjoyed the weirdness of this father/daughter dance.

Then the cutting of the cake, which ended up with frosting on both faces...

Then we sent them off to their honeymoon amidst the ringing of wild bells.

I'm not quite sure how they got in the car...!?!

But they did! And they live happily ever after!

Untitled....

I didn't know what to put as a title for this post, because I'm sure I will just ramble.

So much going through my head and my heart. Worry for my friends who are battling cancer. Fright for their families. Anxiety for those that don't know what they're battling! Anger at the mom who ran away before giving birth to the child some relatives were going to adopt. Concern and sorrow for those same relatives. Anxiousness (is that a word?) for Alex as he deals with pneumonia - AGAIN!! Pride, yet fear for Mike starting his new job. Emptiness, just because.

But not alone. I have so many people that I can turn to for peace. I was going to write friends instead of people in that last sentence, but that doesn't seem like a good enough classification. And to say family is a given. I have the BEST family in the world. Both extended and close family.

I just wrote an e-mail to Alex's birth dad. What an inspiring young man. Fighting drug addiction at a very young age. Becoming a dad at a very young age. Deciding to become someone, again at a very young age. He did more in his short life than I've ever dreamed. But the greatest thing - in my mind- that he did was allow Alex to be adopted, yet continue to live his life in such a way that he could become a person that his son's adopted family would grow to love and respect. He's not only raising 4 beautiful children with his sweet wife, but he keeps in touch with us about Alex, and I know he truly cares about him.

I guess I'm just in one of those contemplative moods. It's not a bad thing. But kinda funky nonetheless.

For those of you who are LDS, I'm sure you've heard the song, "From Gods Arms, to my Arms, to Yours" by Michael McLean. I love this song. I loved it even before we adopted. Just a beautiful message. Well, I truly believe that for those that adopt, the children just had to make a pit stop into the birth family's lives before merging into the family that raises them.

Just The Same by Diana Lynn Lacey
Sometimes-
God sends rain
Straight from the sky
To nourish the young flower
and it grows.

Sometimes-
God sends rain from the sky
To the mountaintops,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until it reaches the flower
and it grows. Just the same.

Sometimes-
God sends a child
Straight from His realm
Into a mother's arms
and love grows.

Sometimes-
God sends a child
From heaven to another's arms,
Then over hills and through valleys
Until he reaches the arms of his mother
and love grows, just the same.

I love all 4 of my children, whether I gave birth to them or not. I'm so blessed to have them in my lives, and to know my 3 grandchildren as well as I do. I wish I knew Mac a little better, but I will get the chance to know him in the next life if I live as I should. He gives me reason to be better, that's for sure!! And those two, rascally little girls? Well, I'm so proud to be their Nanny and so lucky to babysit them everyday. They make me laugh, they make me smile.

Thanks for reading my mindless rambling. I hope you got something out of it other than craziness!! But what else would you expect from me?!?

I can't complain

You know, sometimes you feel sorry for yourself and think, "Life sucks!" And then you get slapped upside the head with reality, and realize that life is actually very incredible.

First of all, it's such a miracle. A miracle that 2 tiny things like an egg and sperm could actually connect and then grow and develop into precious human beings. Amazing. And a miracle. And then for that mush of a human to become a maniac that runs around your house avoiding a diaper change. Amazing. Think about it... even the fact that our bodies can create and excrete what is in said diaper is amazing. And a miracle.

I haven't felt sorry for myself. I've actually been blessed with comfort while Mike was looking for a job, and even more comfort with the job he has been offered. I've had some thoughts on Alex's behaviors that have helped me with my patience for him. I've enjoyed my life.

But I have watched others receive their slap upside the head, although it might be considered more a punch in the gut, and it's helped me realize, again, how wonderful our Heavenly Father is and how much He loves us. Even with trials, pain, suffering. Maybe I should say ESPECIALLY with trials, pain, suffering. All we have to do is ask for His guidance and protection, and we've got it.

So to all those who have been slapped, or punched lately, know that God lives and loves you. He understands your pain, your grief, your sorrow. You are very important to Him and His plan and you are NEVER alone.

You'll always have Him, and you'll always have prayers on your behalf.

Wintry day!

We went from having no snow on the ground for a few weeks, to a bunch in one night. Which led to an eventful day!

Here are a couple of pictures of the kids watching the school bus outside...

...Notice Alex is one of the kids watching the bus, not on the bus! He had made the trek out into the snowy landscape to get on the bus, gotten all seat belted in and said his good-byes. As the bus tried to leave the back end fishtailed and hit our neighbor's brick mailbox causing it to rock back then into position again. It scratched up the bus pretty good, and banged up the actual mailbox, but it's not going anywhere!! Later this same day, the snowplow backed into my parent's mailbox, pushing it almost onto the sidewalk.

And this is Brendon slaving away while I'm indoors watching. Now before you call DCFS on me, you should know that he BEGS to go shovel the snow! He even will shovel the snow on the grass if I let him. Besides, he didn't stay out too long. Only lost 2 toes to frostbite. Kidding!!

But I do have a funny story to tell about Brendon. (Sorry Mike for embarrassing you!)

To start this story I have to let you in on some private information. One of the granddaughters has had constipation problems. Yup. I said it. Poor thing can't poop! So she has some medicine that is mixed in her morning drink and it helps things move more smoothly. Well, the other day she didn't want to drink it so I was doing everything I could to convince her otherwise. So here is the conversation around our breakfast table the other morning.

Me: "You have to drink this! It's your medicine!"

Mike: "Yeah. So you will poop with ease!"

Brendon: "WHAT did you say?!"

Mike: "Make it easy to poop. You know, poop with ease."

A few seconds hesitation, then with a look of disgust and arrogance, Brendon said, "Why doesn't she poop with O's?"

After laughing for 10 minutes, we decided it would be easier to poop with O's than with E's!! And Z's would be a killer!!!

My new granddoggies!

Meet Brutus......

...and Dexter!

Brutus (aka BooBoo and Dumb Dog) was a Christmas present from Santa. He is a Golden Retriever with huge paws and a lot of love.

Dexter (aka Dex, and probably Dumb Dog, too!) was adopted from Kierra's brother just last week. Colby and Kierra moved into a new home, and he is helping them 'break it in'. I haven't officially met Dex, yet, but isn't he cute? He is a shiatsu.

I guess I'm a 'complete' grandma now that I have a boy, 2 girls and 2 dogs to count among my grandchildren!!

Cute, cute, cute....

In our family, this is what we call a "Hairy Mog-a-han". (Unfortunately that's how salespeople say our last name!)

And this is a "Hairy Hinckley". In our house, most of us wake up looking like this. Kinda cute and weird, all in one!

These two girls just LOVE helping with the baby. They always want to help change his diaper (unless it's dirty then they just stand there saying, "Ewww. Ewww!") they want to wrap his blanket around him and feed him his bottle. Today they kicked me off my chair while I was feeding him his fruit and cereal and completely took over.

Thanks girls for making my job not only easier, but a heck of a bunch of fun!!