July

July started with Jared going on a trip to Utah. One of our nephew's was blessed on the 4th and there was a family reunion. I had just gone to Utah in April and I'm going again in Sept., so I stayed home because I couldn't find any really cheap plane tickets. On the 3rd, Jared got to go to a July 4th pancake breakfast and parade with nieces, nephews, his mom, a sister, and grandpa and they went and saw fireworks that night; he had also gone to the family reunion at Grandpa Ted's house. On the 4th, he went to the baby blessing and get-together afterward, then went and visited my sister, Kiki, and her family for a bit. On the 5th, he went to lunch with some of his roommates from Ricks College. On the 6th, he went fishing with Grandpa Ted and Jason and caught lots of trout! On the 7th, Jared and two of his sisters' families, his mom, and brother camped out at Grandpa Lingmann's. On the 8th, he and Jason went to Utah Valley and visited Kiki and Nikki and went and played at Nickelcade. On the 9th, he hung out with his dad for a while, then started his drive home. His company needed a truck from Salt Lake City and, when they found out he would be in Utah, they asked him to drive it to Baton Rouge. So he left that Friday and got home on Sunday. It was a great trip for him. Some pics from his trip:

I'm pretty sure that everyone that reads my blogs knows this already but, if not:
Jared found while he was in Utah (on 7/2) that we were chosen to adopt. He finally told me on the 5th (my birthday)--he didn't tell me earlier because he was with family the whole weekend and didn't have a good opportunity to tell me. He got home on the 11th and on the 13th, the birth mom called and told us she had an ultra-sound that day and that it was twins! We were laughing and crying and speechless but OH SO HAPPY! The original due date was Feb. 8 but, since we now know it's twins, the due date will most likely be up to four weeks earlier. I will probably fly out to Utah the first week of January and wait for the babies to be born, then stay until the adoption is final. Jared will come as soon as he can after they are born and for the finalization of the adoption.

We had a hard time getting Jared's and my dad's schedules to line up so we weren't able to tell my family until 7/25 (we also told all of our other family that weekend). We got videos of us telling my family here in Louisiana and it was hilarious! Jared wore a t-shirt with the "we're adopting" from above and I wore the "2 peas in a pod" t-shirt. You can see them going nuts in these videos:




We told my sister, Kiki, about the adoption while Jared was in Utah (I was on Skype with her); we didn't get that on video but we did video me telling her about the twins:


On 7/15 I got to spend a few hours with just Brenna. We played on the marimba, colored, and took Praia for a walk by the pond. She's quite the cute, spunky little girl and chatters a lot!
I have to show off this apron that Kiki made and gave to me for my birthday. Isn't it awesome??? It's too pretty to wipe my hands on! :)
On the 22nd, I watched both Brenna and Belle for a few hours. We watched a movie (with popcorn and everything), colored and drew pictures, and played a lot.

This video is of Brenna holding a stuff cat that meows and hisses:

This one is her telling me how a wasp stung her arm. Does she not have the cutest voice ever???


Our 11th anniversary was on 7/23!!! We celebrated on the 24th by going to our ward Pioneer Day pancake breakfast, going shopping together, going to his boss' house (where we took the picture below) to tell his wife about the adoption, and going out to eat for dinner at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro.


Last weekend, my cousin, who is a Marine, was in town with his wife and new baby and I got to see them at a baby shower for them. It was fun seeing a couple of my cousins. They have really cute kids but it's still hard to believe how grown up all of my younger cousins are! It makes me feel old, ha ha. I'm the oldest grandchild, BTW.

August will seem very long, not just because of horrid heat and humidity down here--heat indexes up to the 120's!!!--but because we are on pins and needles waiting to find out the sexes of the babies. I'm also anxious for my trip to Utah, during which I'm going to Disneyland with Kiki and her family, lots of her in-laws, and my parents; I leave on Sept. 1. Lots of good stuff going on!!! :)