Due Date March 10th!

I have been holding off posting on this blog for a while because I wanted to wait a little longer to post about Adrienne's pregnancy. She's nearly 22 weeks now and last week we found out she is having a boy! The important news is that everything is progressing well and the baby is healthy and due on March 10th.

I have included a scan of a few ultrasound photos below. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers!

Jason and Adrienne

Lake Powell 2010

We had another great vacation with our cousins at Lake Powell this year. A couple more storms than usual, but they didn't stick around. Beautiful skies, smooth water, and an overall good time was had by all. We were there from the 11th through the 20th of August. Joining us on our "cruise" this year with Eric and Machelle and their three kids were some other cousins, Marci and Evan with three of their kids. We hadn't seen them since the last time they came out to Lake Powell 8-10 years ago.

I've got a bunch of pictures I would like to share. I'll see how many I can get in this post.

It will be tough to narrow down the choices. The first shows off the latest thing in boating...it's called wake surfing. You can actually surf the wake behind a boat if it is going the right speed (8-10 MPH) and you have it weighted right (all on the side you are trying to surf. It's a blast and falls don't hurt at all because the speed is so much slower than other activities.

Picture #2 shows off just how beautiful the sky can be at Lake Powell.

Ade and I went on a hike with Machelle, Matt, and Robbi (Kayla). Here's a shot from the top of the ridge we climbed.

And here's another shot from almost the same vantage point. You can see our ski boat (Wipeout) way down below on the lake.

It has been a few years since I tried slalom skiing. They have a beginner ski and Eric's ski. The beginner ski hurts my back foot and Eric's ski is pro level (very very difficult). I had never tried Eric's since everyone basically said it would be virtually impossible for me to control it coming out of the water...well after 3 tries I proved I could. By the way, I was being pulled at 34 MPH at this point. I didn't wreck, I just got too tired and let go. This really works your core muscles.

And here is Eric showing how slalom skiing is really done on his own ski. He is usually being pulled between 38 and 40 MPH depending on how smooth the water is.

Catching up part 1 - Lake Powell

Sorry that we messed up our usual posting schedule last week. We were away at Lake Powell with our cousins (Eric, Machelle, Matt, Rachael, and Sable) and some of their friends from Florida (Mark, Ginger, Brian, and Bailey). It was a wonderful trip and it was great to meet our cousins' friends. Their daughter is starting school at the University of Utah and has a ballet scholarship. We were at the lake for 8 days and did all kinds of fun things.

This first shot has Sable and Bailey getting bounced around on the tube the first day at the lake. Sable was tossed first, but Bailey followed right after.

We took a trip to "Hole in the Rock" and hiked to the top. This is the place that some Mormon Pioneers blasted and dug a path from the plateau down to the river (which is now a lake/reservoir) so that they could cross.
Here is the whole crew. We made sure and got a picture with everyone together and used my camera timer to get it done. From left to right and starting in the back row. Jason (me), Mark, Brian, Matt, Eric, Machelle, Bailey, Adrienne (my wife), Ginger, Sable and Rachael.
We actually did a few hikes this year. This one was up the San Juan at one of Machelle's favorite canyons. Makes Matt look rather small. I can't believe he is a freshman at FSU now.

The new toy this year was the Wake-Surfboard. Wake-surfing is done right behind the boat. You start with a rope. Once you find the groove you toss the rope and surf the wake just like a wave at the beach. Rachael was the best at it in our group so I thought I'd share a picture of her.

Here I am up the Escalante arm of the lake wake boarding. This shot looks nice, but a few seconds later I took a nose dive.

Lots of fun

Hey everyone, my wife's company had their annual summer party today. We all went up to Sundance and had a great meal and some fun games. There were face painters, an air castle, and even volleyball. It's always fun at their company parties. Our cousin, Eric, was even there. He flew in from Florida to make an appearance.

Our case worker had an interesting question for us. I guess there is one birth mom that is looking for many of the qualities that we have, but with one addition. She wants the baby to be taught sign language and our case worker was wondering what our feelings were on that matter. We talked it over and decided that we did plan on using sign language to assist in early language development, but that we probably couldn't commit to reaching a fluent level. We don't know if that was what she was looking for, but I hope it helps her. We know everything is going to work out when the time and the situation is right. We hope it is sooner rather than later but we know we need to leave it in the Lord's hands.

Updates

Jason's parents arrived yesterday afternoon. After Jason and his dad watched the Jazz/Lakers game we headed up to Salt Lake county to have dinner with Sarah, Austin, and the future in-laws. The food was great and it was nice to get to meet the rest of Austin's family. Jason's parents are staying at a hotel in Salt Lake to make sure they are available for anything Sarah needs help for with the wedding.

After dinner, Sarah had all the bride's maids and groomsmen meet to go over instructions and responsibilities. We had to laugh a little because Sarah had a full page of instructions (front AND back) outlining everything that we each had to do. It included responsibilities, assignments, times, dress codes, etc. In the end it will probably be very useful to have that all written down, but every once in a while I still see her as my 11 year-old sister and it weirds me out that she is getting married.

This week will be swamped. Sarah is going through the temple for the first time on Tuesday, we have a family wedding dinner on Wednesday, and Thursday is the wedding itself and reception. I don't know when we'll get to sleep again (probably after it's all done).

We don't have any news to report on the adoption front. Still trying to speak on the phone with the girl out of state and nothing new from the one in state. We'll try to keep everyone updated as we get more information.

Friday night we went to the BYU/UC Irvine Volleyball. It is always amazing to see the ability level that college athletes achieve. We got there over an hour early so that we could get good seats. We were just a couple rows from the front (as you can see in the picture I took with my phone). We lost the game, but it was close. UC Irvine is #1 in the country but BYU is #6.

Much of the weekend was spent in meetings for the LDS semi-annual General Conference.

Saturday, before the first meeting, some neighbors and I rented an aerator and did our lawns Saturday morning. We were hoping for clear weather, but it snowed overnight and snowed the whole time we did the lawns. The irony is that the weather cleared up later in the day.

Sunday, aslo befoer the first meeting, we had our neighbors (Seth, Jill, and their 3 little girls) over for breakfast before General Conference. We also had Heidi and Trevor come by. We had pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit, juice, and even hash browns. Just a great breakfast with good friends and family. I'll pick a favorite talk from General Conference to review later this week.

Arizona Trip

Well, we went down to Arizona for Heather and Nic's wedding. All the sisters from Adrienne's family are married now. Alex is the only one of the siblings that is still single. Here's a picture of Nic and Heather Harenberg as they first came out of the Temple.
And here's Nic with his jump for joy. We flew down Thursday night and came back Monday night. Before the wedding events started we headed over to Chandler to have lunch with my cousin (Kim) and her family. My Aunt Pam came down from Glendale as well. I realized I hadn't seen Kim and her husband since Ade and I got married. Here is a picture of Eduardo, Annalise (Spelling?), Kim, and Aunt Pam. Their son, Ian, had just been put down for a nap.
Friday night was the reception with the wedding and wedding luncheon on Saturday. I'll include a few more pictures below for everyone to see. The first is all of the bride's maids with Helen and Liberty. From left to right: Heidi (sister), little Liberty (niece), Stephanie (sister), Helen (mom), Adrienne, and Mandy (Heather's best friend).
Heidi's husband, Trevor, likes to take pictures too.Stephanie's husband, Will, leaning against the Mesa Temple with Liberty.

Guys Night Out

This week Trevor, Will and I decided to have a guys night out to watch a movie. Unfortunately, Will realized he had too much homework and had to ditch out. Trevor and I still went and had fun. I think that we should try to get together like this on a fairly regular basis. Our wives are all sisters, but we (the brothers-in-law) don't know each other very well. Maybe we could figure out something on a monthly basis.

We are getting excited for this weekend. Some of our friends (Brent and Andrea) in St. George put on a black tie dinner each year on Valentine's Day. The proceeds go to charity (a different one every year). This year it goes to Dixie Care and Share. We've never been because this is the first year that the dinner falls on a weekend. We are really excited to see them and have a nice night out. The event website is: www.unforgettablestgeorge.com.

Brent and Andrea are also blessing their baby on Sunday, so this is going to be a pretty packed trip.

Birthday Fun and Other Things

Last night we went to Jazz basketball game for my birthday. We got a fantastic deal on lower bowl tickets and we just couldn't pass it up. The only problem was that the sky decided it was time to dump snow. By the time Heidi and Trevor made it to the meeting spot to drive up it was only 15 minutes until tip-off (with a 45 minute drive when the roads are clear). We didn't actually get to the game until the second half. We met Austin and Sarah there so there were 6 of us total.

The seats were fantastic. It was technically the handicapped section so there was extra leg room AND the seats were PADDED. Good times!!! It was a good close game until the end so I'm glad we managed to see at least half of it. Next time I'll take off work early and get up with plenty of time to spare (and I'll have everyone else riding in my car do the same). It really was fun though. It's just such a different experience being in the lower bowl versus the upper. You get a much better idea of just how big and athletic the players are.

Adrienne bought me the sound track to the Phantom of the Opera for my birthday. There was also a movie, a new basketball and some khaki pants. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was perfect.

Our Adoption case worker called yesterday to find out if we were "registered" Native Americans or if we could become registered. We told her no, but that we'd look into it. It will basically come down to genealogy and proving our heritage. We are both only 1/16th, but there are some laws in place for adoption that require moms with babies that have Native heritage to at least consider adoptive parents that also have Native heritage.

The new adoption profiles go "live" next week so that they'll be available for viewing. Ours is almost done. It will actually be really good for us to finish this weekend. When the website goes live there will probably be only a couple hundred on there (instead of the 1500 which is the total number looking to adopt). Those others will slowly trickle online as they finish, but for a few months our odds would be much higher.

MY SISTER IS ENGAGED!

Lost in all the shuffle of my last post is the fact that my sister got engaged last Wednesday!!! Here she is with Austin at Heidi's reception. They make a great couple. I'm so excited for her...even though he is a U of U fan.You can tell Sarah is engaged in the next photo. This was the bouquet toss. She doesn't even lift her arm to catch the flowers even though they were practically thrown right to her. Arms at her sides, she just watches.

Weddings Galore

So we had two weddings this past weekend. I figured people might like to see photos from both. Before we get to the photos though...the weather was crazy. Han was married in Bountiful and Heidi in Provo.I can't believe Han is all grown up. I taught Han and her cousin, My, the gospel in Australia when I was a missionary there. This first photo was taken right as Han and Kyle came out of the Bountiful Temple. I can't believe how well it came out. I love the snow falling and the expressions of those watching.Heidi is my wife's littlest sister. I got to stay behind with Heidi and Trevor while the photographer took all the pictures of just the two of them while everyone else headed over for the luncheon. It was cold, but it gave me the chance to take some really neat pictures. There are two fountains at the Provo temple. One was turned off which allowed us to take this beautiful reflection shot with the temple and the 2nd fountain behind them.

The In-Laws left with Heather and Nick this morning. It was nice having them with us for the Wedding festivities, but it was definitely nice to have this afternoon to ourselves.

Tuesday is the day we head down to the time share in Vegas for Christmas. I can't wait to see Phantom of the Opera with Adrienne at the Venetian. Also, it will be good to spend some quality time with our friends (Dan and Kim plus their kids, Danielle and Bryce).

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

Hello everyone! I know I keep promising pictures, so here is one to tide you over. Adrienne and I went to dinner in Salt Lake City with her department at work. My parents should know the restaurant since we ate there after my last graduation ceremony (the name is The Garden). It is on the top floor of a building at Temple Square. I took this photo as we were walking around Temple Square right after dinner. There will be more pictures added later.

Oh Christmas Tree

So the "construction project" for Heidi's reception was canceled. It turns out that I didn't have to build it. She was able to get what she needed from a friend. It sure saved time, but it would have been fun to build something.

We finished our Christmas decorations this past weekend. Saturday was everything but the Christmas ornaments on the tree. Those we saved for Sunday when Ade's sisters came over. It is always a neat experience to go through the ornaments and put them all the tree. My mom bought a new one for each member of our family every year. I have specific memories with a lot of them from growing up. She gave me all my personal ornaments when I got married. Adrienne and I have continued the tradition in our home. It really is a neat experience to decorate the tree when each ornament has special meaning. I'll try to get a good picture in the next couple of days so that you can see what I mean.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was our 9 year anniversary and Adrienne gave me an Olympus DSLR. While we had everyone in Adrienne's family together, we thought it might be a good idea to take a picture or two.

In the group photo we have all my in-laws including a boyfriend AND a fiance. Front row: Will, Me (Jason), Trevor (Heidi's fiance), Nick (Heather's boyfriend). On the couch: Liberty (my niece), Stephanie, Adrienne, Heidi, and Heather. In the back: Alex, Helen, and Dennis. It's the first time they've had a family photo since the kids were actually kids.

I thought a picture of the Turkey would be appropriate as well. It turned out really well. Since the bird was 24 lbs, it wasn't quite as juicy as last year. I do better with a 16-18 lb bird. It was still really good, but the legs were a little dry. The rest was great. The gravy was awesome, stuffing fantastic, cornbread pudding delicious, and so on. All in all it was a great day.

I also included a picture of Adrienne by herself. I don't seem to get many good pictures of her alone.
The last picture is my niece, Liberty. Will (my brother-in-law) is holding her for the photo. Isn't she cute!!!

Updates, Thanksgiving, and Fun

Adrienne and I spent another few hours working on our adoption profile this last week. There's still a ton to do. It's a just a matter of taking the time to fill it all out again. It's really a shame that the data was not exported very well from the old system. It's ok though, we'll get it done and it will be fine.

We had dinner with my sister and her boyfriend (Austin) last night at PF Chang's. The food was great and it was really fun. They are headed to Missouri so they can meet up with my parents for Thanksgiving. Sounds like a fun trip.

Ade's littlest sister (Heidi) is having her invitations printed today at my work. It's weird that the little girl I met over 9 years ago is engaged to be married on the 20th of December. What's even weirder is that a girl that I baptized in 1997 has just moved to Utah and will be married the 19th of December. What happened to all the little kids I used to know? How did they get so big? I'm starting to feel old.

Speaking of 9 years, Thanksgiving Day marks our 9 year anniversary (and my parents 38th anniversary if I remember correctly). Ade's family is driving up from Arizona to stay with us for the Holiday and help out Heidi get ready for the wedding. We bought a 24 pound turkey to cook up for everyone. I'll be cooking that with 2 kinds of stuffing and a Pumpkin Pie Cake...but that's about all I can handle cooking. I've delegated the rest of the "fixings" to everyone else.

I guess I should mention that BYU Football lost on Saturday to our biggest rival, Utah. It was 24-27 in the third quarter before Utah's defense stepped up and BYU fell apart. Congratulations to the Utes and bring on the bowl game so that we can end the season on a high note. If we win the bowl game, that will make 3 seasons in a row with 11-2 records. Not bad!

While I'm making a post, I just want to wish all our friends and family a very Happy Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday. It seems to me to be the least commercialized, and is one that helps us focus on gratitude. I am very grateful for all of you. I am grateful for your love and your prayers. May God bless each of you in your lives.

Fun Weekend

Another week has gone by. I can't believe how time flies. I helped put on our Stake BSA Court of Honor to recognize the Boy Scouts who earned awards in the last 6 months or so.

Our friend who usually let's us sit in the box with him for the BYU Football games had us sit in the Legacy seating instead this week. It was awesome being so close to the action. Our team beat UNLV in an exciting shootout. Then, later that night, we were able to get together with some friends to play volleyball.

Sunday Steph and Will brought their daughter Liberty over for dinner. Adrienne made Szechuan Steak and it was delicious. Steph made an Apple Crumble Pie that was so good I had two pieces.

We've made plans to visit our friends in St. George for Halloween weekend. It will be nice to take a mini-vacation and see some old friends. Not to mention, the weather is supposed to be GREAT!!! I'm bringing shorts and a swimsuit.

Crazy Busy

Wow, the week started slow enough, but we ended up crazy busy all weekend. Friday I took off early so that I could show my sister the way to the Oral Surgeon's office. She got her wisdom teeth removed. Her boyfriend and I hung out in the waiting room until she was done. One of her teeth was actually growing in sideways...weird! She's doing much better today.

Friday night we had some friends invite us up to a house they rented in Midway. The house was on the Homestead Golf Course, but it was too cold and windy to play. Instead of golf we played pool, watched a movie, talked, played cards, and ate some great food.

On Saturday, we headed back into Provo for BYU's Homecoming football game. On a cold day it was sure nice to be up in the box seats. The buffet was beef brisket with dutch oven potatoes (Yum!). BYU won 21-3. I thought BYU would score a lot more, but the game was exciting and well played on both sides.

Sunday was busy too. First there was OUR Ward...then I had to leave early to go to 3 other Wards to visit their priesthood meetings. I'm still getting used to having a Stake calling. We had Steph, Will, Liberty, Heidi, AND Trevor over for dinner. AND my sister decided she was feeling pretty good so she and her boyfriend stopped by after to hang out and watch a movie.

Great Weekend!

Every weekend is great when BYU wins, but to beat UCLA 59-0 makes it just that much better. It was complete and utter dominance. It looked like the game could not end quick enough for UCLA's players. We watched the game at our friends' house. They have 7 kids and 3 of them came in the last 6 weeks. They adopted two kids from Morocco at the end of July and the mom just gave birth to their 7th last week. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them, cook food, and watch the game.

In other news, it's official...Heidi (Adrienne's littlest sister) is now engaged to Trevor. They are planning on getting married the weekend before Christmas. Her knee is doing much better as well. She doesn't use her crutches or the walker any more.

Just a little more stuff to get done for the online profile. We're excited to finish, but it just seems to always be harder than expected.

Family Updates

My dad flew home yesterday because he had to get back to work. I wish we could have had more time with him, but it was still great to be around each other again. Mom stayed behind (she's driving back later this week), so hopefully I'll get to see her some more before she goes. I got to hang out with both parents and my sister on Sunday, part of Monday, and then a couple hours with just Mom yesterday so far. From what I gather, she's coming down to stay at our house tonight. The plans could change though, we don't seem to do very well at keeping each other informed as a family. I think she is planning on staying until Saturday now. After that, she'll have almost a 2 day drive to get home to Missouri.

Heidi's ACL is recovering nicely. She went to physical therapy today and they are really excited about how well she is healing. She doesn't have to wear the brace any more and she is supposed to walk without crutches now.

Tomorrow is our last Adoption Workshop/Class. Adrienne and I are looking forward to it. There hasn't been one since June, so it's been kind of weird. We need to finish our online profile with LDS Family services, but it's pretty daunting. There is a lot of different sections where you describe yourself. We want to make sure we take the time to make it accurate, clear and easy to read.

Miscellaneous Updates

Heidi (Adrienne's youngest sister) had her ACL surgery yesterday and we've spent the last day looking after her. She throws up every time she has to move, but she doesn't have any pain. She has some friends coming over to watch her while we go to the BYU game. She'll be with us for the next several days as she recuperates.

My family is making good progress on their drive to Utah. They'll get into Salt Lake City tonight around 5 or 6 I think. I believe they plan on going to a nice dinner tonight with my little sister. They are taking their time and finding neat places to stop along the way. I can't wait to see them tomorrow.

Well, I better get going. I'm going to go running, then head to the store for a bit. When I get back it will be time to get ready for the game. I can't wait.