Brad's Wedding

Gosh I have gotten a little behind on my blogging...

The day after Relay for Life was my Uncle Brad's wedding. Brad is Linda's husband for those who can't keep track of all the crazy players in this saga we call life. It has been over two years since Linda's death and I have hoped that Brad would re-marry for his own happiness and for the happiness of his kids and the time came. I can't lie and say that the event was without emotions- and for everyone in our family the emotions seemed to be coming from different places- but we are really thrilled and excited for Brad and his new wife Holly.

I was a bit emotional at the wedding just because I was missing Linda. Everything is a reminder that she is not here and that it is "final" (though you would think that I still wouldn't have to remind myself sometimes that she is gone, but I still do). Brad's new wife is also a widow- her husband passed away about a year ago from cancer, leaving her and 5 children behind. How about an instant family of 9 kids?! Pretty awesome. We are praying for them all during this transition time. I am genuinely happy for them to have found each other and I am excited to get to know Holly and her kids further.

Now, without further ado, a random assortment of pictures that I got from the big event.

This is not from the event- but I realized that none of the pictures I took of the wedding actually show their faces, so here is their engagement picture. 

A trip to Brigham City (where they got married) would not be complete without a trip to Maddox! Yum!)

Holly's friends were kind enough to let them have the wedding in their backyard. It was gorgeous. The whole thing was decorated so cute. 

These two...

Nice face there Dev

Actually being nice to each other for two seconds. It's a miracle!

Here they come!

We were seated in the very very back, thus the not-so-great pictures.

Devin hauling around Jace's Mickey in his pocket since Jace can't go anywhere without the thing.

This grandma of mine. Quite possibly my favorite person in the whole world.

Just cute.

The sun caused some serious shadows here, but proof that we all made it! And in one piece after not sleeping at all the night before. Yeah. I am using that as the excuse for why I look rough.

Fun treat table. 

And this actually happened on the way home-- which never happens!

Congrats to Brad and Holly and the new fam!

Relay for Life 2013!!

Another Relay year has come and gone...can you believe it? It is seriously my favorite time of the year. I love it all. The fundraising, the garage sale prep (Devin and I's biggest fundraiser), and the actual Relay. This was our 5th year in a row participating in Relay for Life and it just keeps getting better and better. We had a great time as usual remembering and honoring Chris and others who have battled or who are battling the terrible disease of cancer. Our team raised over $3900 this year-- our biggest total yet-- and we are so grateful to ALL who helped in some way to make that goal. It means so much.

Now, for the obligatory picture dump of this year's event. Be prepared! :)

Each member of our team brought a baked good to sell at the Relay to add money to our team total. Devin and I decided to make homemade donuts. They were delish-- as was everything else our team sold! 

Very nearly my favorite woman in the world and my favorite man in the world. My grandma is so cute-- when she saw Devin, she rushed right over and said "oh, my favorite boy! How is my favorite boy!?"

Claire bear is so stinkin' cute. She loved my glasses apparently...

The cotton candy machine was a BUST. It lit on fire at a few points before we decided to give it up. Boo!

Brookie's cute "cheese!" face

Not the best picture-- I blame the setting sun-- but still cute. The theme this year was "Re-lei for Life" thus the Hawaiian gear we have going on.

Grandma Lisa was nice enough to take these girls to get glitter tattoos-- such a dream come true for them! Hallie's lasted a week-- seriously, she would not let me scrub it off until I finally insisted. 

Hailie and Mari are always such good supporters. Hailie stayed all night this time too! Whoo hooo!

The luminarias for just our team. Amazing.

Just some middle of the night man talk. Devin actually went to bed and slept most the night, but that's only because he had only had 4 hours of sleep the night before. I made it until 4:30 or so and then I thought I was going to die (this getting old stuff sucks!) so I laid on the ground and was OUT. I slept for maybe an hour and it did wonders. :)

I stole some of Lara's pictures too-- thanks Lara! Grandma Lisa with some of the kids

Oh these sassy girls...too cute.

Not sure what is going on with Mike's face, but we do need to definitely give a huge shout out to Lara's sister Alyssa (the middle one) who walked for our team the ENTIRE night through. Not kidding. She probably walked for 6 hours. I think I walked around the track for maybe 5 laps total the entire time. Sweeeeet- thanks Alyssa!

Isn't this just to die for cute? Flor and Claire. 

I especially love the double chin in this one, but Claire looks cute, so it's going up!

I was TERRIBLE about taking pictures this year and have zero of the Yorks! I am glad Lara has some. 

Uncle Mikey and Jacer

Grandma and Grandpa Strobel with Hals and Jace. Love that Hallie is stuffing her face...

That's all! Until next year....

A little Flor

It probably seems like I don't update about Flor very often. The truth is that it is really much easier to update about Hallie and Jace because their lives/development happens quickly enough that it is easier to track changes. However, let me just tell you that when Flor makes progress, it is a big deal to this mama! I am proud of each and every little thing that Flor does. 

Darling little cheeser

So, with that said, here is a little bit about what Flor has been up to.

Flor is in summer school again, which consists of going to school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday each week from 8:30-11:30. It's not much, but it is something! I still wish I could find more programs for her, but alas, all my searching has been in vain so far.

When I think back on first bringing Flor home to now, there are MAJOR changes. She is much more conscious of others' space, which was a huge ordeal when we first came home. I have probably talked about her first doctor's appointment before- where I had absolutely zero control over her and she insisted on sitting on the doctor's lap the whole time. Yeah.....now she doesn't do that and if she did, she knows to listen to mom and dad when we ask her to not do certain things. She is really leaps and bounds better. A different girl almost. This may seem like a minor thing to some of you, but to me it is a big, big deal. Yay Flor!

Flor still goes to Primary each week and I love that our ward takes such good care of her. She has a fabulous primary teacher, plus the whole presidency has been wonderful about accommodating her. I was in primary one week for some reason and they sang multiple "wiggle songs" just for her. It was cute. She is in senior primary now, so she is with the big kids and just looks incredibly cute amongst all the kids who are so much bigger than she is. Flor also gave the scripture in primary for the first time a few weeks ago! It is little things like this that mean a lot to me as a mom. I know that the ward could easily say that it is not worth it to include her and that it doesn't mean anything to her anyway, but it means a lot to me. Flor is non-verbal, so the fact that they even considered her to give the scripture is so sweet. We ended up having Devin read the scripture while Flor was up front with him, while Flor did the sign for "baptism", which is what her scripture was about. The baptism sign is kind of a hard one, so she did the best she could. :)

I don't think I ever mentioned here that Flor and I were filmed about a month ago for a video presentation that is going to be shown at Education Week at BYU about raising children with disabilities in the LDS Church. That was a fun and unique experience. I answered questions while Flor sat there and played with the boom (is that what it is called?) that was hanging in our faces. So, we will probably look a bit silly, but I doubt I will ever see it, so that makes it okay. A number of other families were interviewed and then the whole piece will be edited together. Let me know if any of you happen to see it! I was happy that I was able to share such positive experiences, because that is what we have had. Our ward has been nothing but phenomenal. Since Devin and I went to the senior primary at the beginning of the year to talk to them about Flor and how she is like them (where I cried the entire time--yeah. Why? I have no idea. I was just emotional, okay!?) we have kids who come up to Flor every week just to give her a hug in the hall. So sweet.

Two quick stories about Flor and her progress and then I will be done. I know I am long-winded!

She has recently begun to nod her head yes when she means yes and this has been so exciting for us! She has always been a head shaker (no) whenever we ask her questions, but now you can just see the little wheels in her head spinning when we ask her something that she does want. It takes her a second and then she gets a big grin on her face and nods her head. So proud of herself! Watching her unlock the world of communication is amazing and inspiring.

And...this second story just blows me away. Yesterday, we were driving back from Idaho (Relay for Life and Brad's wedding in Brigham City-- more to come on both!) and I looked back and Flor kept doing the same thing over and over. She was knocking with one hand on the elbow of the other hand. I thought it was weird, but just let her continue doing it. Finally, it dawned on me that she was doing the sign for "cracker"! There was a box of crackers sitting by me, in her plain sight, and she wanted one! I had no idea that she knew the sign for cracker. We have not worked with her on it at all, but she has seen it on the "Signing Times" videos. She is soaking up more than we thought! I wonder what else she has in her little bag of tricks? I was so so proud of her-she got as many crackers as she wanted. She certainly was proud of herself too...as soon as I got it and reacted with praise, she was laughing and smiling and laughing some more...oh that girl, such a smarty.


We have been home with Flor for about 18 months now. To any families who are adopting an older child, I would definitely say just to be patient for the first year. Things get better after that, though honestly the first year was kind of rough for us. Now, we have a rhythm down and honestly I think it helps that we are not hauling her off to a new doctor every other week too. This past six months has been wonderful and it has been so nice to feel "normal" and at equilibrium again. It feels like Flor has been with us forever and I know that there would be a huge hole in our family without her. We sure love this sweet girl and we are grateful for all she teaches us.

4th of July Festivities 2013

We had quite the fun-filled 4th of July. The 4th has always been one of my favorite holidays, but to be honest, I have kind of felt out of sorts since living in Utah (it's only been 9 years- cut me some slack) because the 4th was so full of tradition in Idaho that I haven't felt that it was quite the same here. I have been back to Idaho for the 4th only a few times since living here, so it is high time that we make our own Utah traditions, right!? I think we are on our way. It still isn't quite the same as the Riddoch ward pancake breakfast, I.F. parade, swimming/floating the canal with friends in the afternoon, long nap, Riddoch BBQ, and then of course the best firework show west of the Mississippi along the Snake River (see I am nostalgic just talking about it), but we are getting there!

I am ashamed to say that I have not taken my kids to a parade on the 4th here yet. Until this year. We braved the crowds and went to the Provo parade, where we actually got front seats without camping out overnight. Us-1, them-0. Ha. The weather started out perfect, but after a while it got quite hot, which was fine because we were paraded out after about an hour. Che', Landon, Hudson, Carlie, Tim, Lynn, Barb, and Barb's daughter all met us for the parade, which was great fun.

Ready for the fun to start!

My Utah sisters

Love the Tim photo bomb on this one...

These two boys...they're just best friends and it is so cute. 

My favorite nearby Uncle :) 

Florinda has a strong affection for Tim. Carlie theorizes it is because they have the same color of skin. :) Whatever it is, she cozied right on up to him throughout the parade. 

Only in Provo, Utah would a crowd of missionaries first of all be in the parade and second of all have a standing ovation as they walked by. Serious. The vets, the governor...no one else got that.

After the parade, we walked home (so lucky that we live right by the parade route!) and got ready for our big BBQ. We had some of Devin's family over last year, so we thought we would continue the tradition this year. We had a blast with Shawna and kids, Alisa and kids, Shane and Marcene and kids, Mom and Dad, Kirston and Travis and kids, and my cousin Sarah, her husband Daniel, and baby Josh. We had great food and even better company. 

Some of the kids enjoying their hot dogs.

Cute Brynlee

Our house is not huge and our yard is not huge, but we do have a good little pavilion and some trees for shade, making it a great place to gather people. I love our little yard.

Megan

Shane refused to look, Brylee was to busy eating, so I got one person looking. Wahoo. 

Sarah, Daniel, Josh, and Hals. We love that Sarah and family live so close to us. They are great to have around.

After eating, the kids decided to play in the sprinkler, have a water balloon fight, and put on a dance party for us. Sean is a real professional as he takes clogging lessons, so he was not afraid to show us how it is done!

Hallie and Brynlee joined in...this picture is my favorite. So funny.

The kids all got a few sparklers (yes in the day-time-- Devin had to go to work so we wanted to do a few fireworks before he left). 

Our family. No need to worry that two of the three kids are in swimsuits and one is pulling her shirt off. Gotta love it. 

Shawna and Flor. So glad that they are here for the summer!

Throwing water balloons at Kayden. Really more like bouncing water balloons off of Kayden. :)

This one should be up top, but I am too lazy to move it. Cooking our mound of shish-ka-bobs...which were delicious. We just had wayyyyyyy too many! Better to have too much food versus too little, right?

Grandpa and Flor. 

lighting off some pretty lame fireworks

This picture cracks me up. Devin has always been a magnet for the kids, but for some reason  Miss Brylee  wasn't having any of him. 

Marcene, Alisa, Shawna, and me with Brynlee and sweet baby Emma

"Don't bother me while I am eating!"

Part of the crowd

just handsome

I think this is how we all felt after the partying was over! 

I debated taking the kids to the fireworks that night, but decided against it because we were all tired and the kids were a tad bit ornery. SO we opted to stay home and have a fun movie night instead, which was a good choice. Everyone had a good time, even if Hallie's face doesn't show it. :)

Hope your 4th was great!