What do our friends and family think of us adopting?

Well let's see what they reply.

set up

We just changed our blog address so that our blog will be the same as our email address (brianandjennifer1 at gmail dot com) and our LDS Family Services online adoption profile name at itsaboutlove.org (brianandjennifer1). This will simplify our life a bit.

Family Reunion

This weekend we had a family reunion up at the ranch with the descendants of my parents. The tough part for me was being there without Jenny (she had to work). It was really difficult for me with out her there. It was great, however, to see everyone and have time to talk with them.

Things I think we should do again next year are:

• Take a family picture again (thank you everyone for your participation so I could have an updated photo to post on our online profile)
• Greg's Gourmet Breakfast
• Some outing/hike (like the hike to the bear cave)
• Jared's Star tour (I know there are a lot of constellations/stars that I can't find now)

I thought that people saw more stars after a bright flash :)

Things I think we should change next year:

• Have everyone assigned to something except for Mom (and Dad)- Mom was overly stressed about organizing every thing and having it all work out. I noticed that everyone was helping out, but that didn't seem to change Mom's stress level.

Here are some more pictures from the reunion:

You've got to watch your step when you do morning aerobics in the cow pasture :)
Dad playing catch with his grandsonsWho's driving this thing?

Bear at the ranch

There have been signs at campgrounds near the ranch warning of bears, but this is the first evidence that I've seen. I think that my Dad and nephew (Bryce) just reset this trough at the beginning of the summer.

My Uncle Mike wrote the following about it:
"Aunt Julia Ann and Aunt Neucile were at the ranch in Julia Ann's truck passing by the green trough and looked over and saw this bear walking over to the trough. They stopped and watched. It tested the water with it's paw then took a drink and then climbed in. They had turned the truck engine off and watched it for quite a while. It was not frightened at all and just laid in the water trough. They were upset with themselves for not having a camera but little did they know that there was a motion sensor one strapped to the tree by them that Neucile's grandsons, Luke and Nate, had set. When they left, the bear was still bathing and unconcerned about them."

Hiking Timp

This weekend we got together with some of Jenny's brothers and sisters and Hiked Mount Timpanogos! It took us about 9 hours. Because we hiked it on a Saturday there were a lot of people there. One hiker recognized me from the Day's of 47 Parade when I petted (is petted the right word?) his dog and talked with him and his wife - amazing memory. I also saw Jubi on the trail (Jubi is LDS Church member from Switzerland who my friend, Ted, worked with in Switzerland and introduced me to after we were home.)

Amazingly Matt and Emilee (Jenny's youngest siblings who thought they might find it too difficult) seemed to come out the best - no blisters and they still had energy at the end. The big downer was that Matt's beautifully carved walking stick got broken. His friend made it for Matt's birthday. One of the best parts was we got about 50 yards away from mountain goats! I've never seen mountain goats before. They reminded me of ponies with bigger chests and more angle to their hind legs.

L to R: Katie, Brandon, Emilee, Jenny, Mathew
Background: Mt. Timpanogos 11700 ft.