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.

Adoption Paper Work is in!

Jenny turned in our adoption paper work today! We were amazed at how things came together for us. Our case worker was out of town and wanted to approve our photo collage and birth parent letter before we made the 20 copies for the other offices. But amazingly we emailed her everything and she emailed back and only had minor changes. We had a great ward member who did our photo collage on photo shop in exchange for us taking her and her husband out to dinner - there's no way we could have done all of that!Each photo collage page is a 8.5x11 inch picture. We also needed a 4x6 inch picture that represented us so we had our neighbor take this picture a few weeks ago.
I think with projects of this importance one can always find some flaw, but I'm happy with how things came out.
Here is our complete Birth Parent Letter (the online profile is just an adaptation of this document)

Moving the Cows

We moved the cows from the winter range (the desert) to the summer range (the ranch) this weekend. I don't remember ever moving the cows and having things work out so well. It was amazing. I think the reason why it went well was that we had a lot of people. We had my dad and all his sons, my uncle and all but one of his sons, and my dad's 1st cousin and his grandson plus my nephew and some of my cousin's small boys. We found most of the cows (I think all but 3) on the first day!
One of the best things was when we pushed the cows into the corral we had so many people there that we were able to form a human wall and not one calf got out at the end. Also, on the second day Robert saw 2 cows and calves, but then lost them. Robert had been in the saddle a lot the day before and most of that morning looking for those cows so when I got there I switched him to give him a break. My cousin and found them soon after and drove them the 3 miles to the corral. My cousin and I were able to keep them together the whole way and when we got to the corral the cows were spooked by a horse that was left in the loading pen near the gate to the corral. After we moved the horse the cows went right in - amazingly.
When my cousin and I were done there we tried to meet up with others that were getting the last cow that was far from the corrals. Its calf had a broken leg so we couldn't drive it to the corrals. When we met up with them they had the calf in the back of the truck, but we didn't know where the cow was. Bruce then told us that Robert was following the cow on foot so we set up the cattle trailer in the middle of an open valley with 5 12 foot panels funneling into the trailer.
We had just gotten everything set up and sent out riders to replace Robert when I went to pick up Robert in the truck. I was motioned back when I got to the trees at the edge of the clearing. Everyone hid - I went in the cab of a truck with Bruce's dog (so it would scare the cow). When the cow was in the funnel everyone crashed in and closed the outer panels and the cow jumped right in the trailer. That never happens - usually the cow get too scared of the trailer (or never makes it to the trailer because the dog barks) and it takes 1 or 2 more hours before we get the cow in a corral or near the trailer again. Bruce jokingly said that this must be one of the blessings we received because of Dad's mission. My cousin joked that that's how our ancestors did it in the olden days when every thing just worked - in the days when both dogs, horses and cows were well trained their roles.

Brian Introduction

So I guess the best way to start is with an introduction. I started this page as a Mother's day present for Jenny. We're using this page to share information about us with friends and family so that people who are considering us a adoptive parents to their children can know more about us. I think that is a big decision and maybe there are other people like me that would want to spend the time to research everything out before hand.

I grew up as the youngest of 8 children and have felt loved by each of them and my parents. My brother's and sister's names in order of age are Marilyn, Christine, Kathy, Barbara, Holly, Bruce and Robert. Each is married and has children so when we get together there are 40 of us including my mom and dad. My dad was a professor of Mathematics for 40 years and has been retired for almost 2 years. My mom is a homemaker and always took a class at the university as her outlet from the kids. My mom and dad just finished an 18 month proselyting mission to England for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I also served a 2 year proselyting mission speaking German in Switzerland when I was 19 years old. It was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) learning German and talking with others about what they think about God.

I currently am a full time student and am studying to get a master's degree in electrical engineering. With that degree I have mainly studied about light, but have also studied micro fabrication principles. I am currently doing an internship with a company that does communication systems - like fiber optic cables and radio antennas for telephone, video and internet. Professionally I hope to get an MBA after obtaining some technical experience. With the MBA and technical experience I hope to contribute to developing telecommunications throughout the world.

That is some of where I've been and where I hope to go. I look forward to comments posted by family and friends. I hope that we will grow closer together with sharing this information.