In the family

My sister and her husband were recently approved to adopt through LDS Family Services as well! It is fun to experience the adoption process and the wonderful world of adoption with my sister! It is fun to think that when we adopt, he/she will have cousins that are also adopted. What a blessing!

My sister spoiled me rotten when I was younger and we have always had a special relationship. She married an incredible husband that LOVES kids! He will be a great father sometime soon. They love to travel and love to spend time together hiking near their house, skiing, etc. They have a dog, Nutmeg, that all my nieces/nephews adore. They are a very talented, fun-loving couple and we think the world of them.

Check out their awesome profile here: https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/25589617/ourMessage.jsf

The pic below is from a cruise that we went on with Russ' family. Last minute, Erika and Jared decided to join us! Russ' parents were so excited to have them there and we loved hanging out with them. They even joined us for a fun stop in Puerto Rico, where we drove past the last area I served in as a missionary!

Russ's brosephs

One of Russ's younger brothers, Brad, entered the Missionary Training Center today to serve a 2 year mission for The Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Roseville, CA! He is SO excited and will do a great job teaching people about Jesus Christ. Russ has another brother that is currently serving a mission in the Dominican Republic, but will be finishing his 2 years soon. We look forward to seeing him in a few months. Caden is especially excited that his uncle will be able to speak Spanish with him when he comes home.

Caden is proud of his uncles that are serving (and have served) missions. He asked us "when can I be a missionary?"

Side note: Russ's youngest brother, Matt, (on the right) was just diagnosed with type I (juvenile) diabetes. He has had an amazing outlook, and has really learned a lot already. He is such a positive, happy young man. We are proud of his example and happy that we get to learn more about diabetes and help out when we can. Russ's other brother (there are 6 boys and 1 girl in his family) has had diabetes for about 18 years, so he was a huge help to Matt. He even drove his family out to Denver for a few days to help Matt with everything. What a great family!

New Year, New goals

What do you do on New Year's Eve? Have a fondue party with all the fun family that was still in town! Russ's Mom and Dad put on this AMAZING fondue party...my first one ever. It was delicious! Russ's favorite part was the meat (of course). It was so tender! My favorite part was the chocolate! I think I ate half the bowl of rice krispy treats and a ton of strawberries, dipped in chocolate goodness.
After the fondue party, Russ and I left Caden sleeping in the care of Mom and Dad and we went to chaperone the youth new year's eve dance. We had a blast dancing (or chaperoning) with the youth from our ward (congregation) and with Russ's younger brothers that were there. What a blast!

Also, it is a time to think about goals for the next year. I am a planner. I LOVE planning. One of my goals is to run a 5k this year. I have never run a race and really want to build up to a lot more, but you got to start somewhere. Lucky for me, we had our yearly planning meeting with Families Supporting Adoption and we are going to put on a 5k race for adoption! It is perfect! So, stay tuned for pictures and stories of how our family does in our adoption race! They are even going to have a kid's race after the 5k, and Caden is already practicing for it now. So fun!

We are excited for the other adventures that 2011 has in store for us!