Improvements

Welcome to the chateau de Jared and Gillie

Some of our amenities include:

original artwork

King size bed

Critically acclaimed gourmet food

and late last night the aboriginal installed...

a new, shaded pool

The Great Outdoors

What a fun weekend!  Garrison got to experience his first family camping trip.  We met up with families from our old ward in Salt Lake at Capitol Reef National Park.  Everyone from Salt Lake was whining about ow hot it was, but since it was only in the 90's, it felt pretty great to us.  We had never been to Capitol Reef and were pleased to find a little oasis in the middle of scenic red rock.  I guess the early pioneers planted an orchard there, so we were able to have warm mulberry pie one morning and mulberry cobbler on saturday evening.  OOOH, it was so yummy.  Garrison got right into the camping spirit while we set up the tent on thursday by tasting the local dirt.  He enjoyed hiking on Dad's back- up to a point.  He'd be really good for about an hour and a half and then he let us know in no uncertain terms that he was done.  Unfortunately we still had a ways to go to get back to the car when that happened.  He also waded in the river next to the campsite with us, but the water was really cold, which he didn't like so much.  All in all we had a great time.  Garrison slept just as well outdoors as he does at home and it was so great to see our friends from the old ward.  I'm ready to go again- so anyone want to go camping this summer?

Bad Mommy

Anyone remember what happened this weekend?  Well, we might, but not for long.  Who would want to remember Father's Day?  Maybe it would be fun to have pictures of the relatives that drove 300+ miles to visit for the weekend.  Oh no, I don't think we should try to take any pictures of Jared's first real Father's Day.  And we wouldn't want to capture on film my oldest nephew just before he enters into the MTC.  Why would I want pictures of the triplets making Garrison laugh?  I don't know what I was thinking, but it obviously wasn't much, because I did not get one snapshot of anything this past weekend.  AAARGGH!  Regardless, it was so fun to see my sister, Marikka, and her family.  Good luck to Stefan in Hamburg and maybe Marikka will email me one of the cute family pictures they took before they started out on their crazy road trip west.  So to apologize for no real Father's Day pics, here's a fake one from a couple of weeks ago...

Up to my elbows in it

Okay, so I guess the joke's on me, but I don't feel like laughing.  Garrison just pooped up the back of his diaper for the SECOND time today.  It was everywhere.  So how long before you can feed a baby cheese?  Anyone know?  Any other suggestions on creating constipation in a baby?  Maybe he's just telling me I need to bathe him more often...Or maybe I should just buy ugly clothes since he only does it to the cute outfits :) 

Maestro Garrison

So Garrison is officially 7 months old as of Sunday.  I kind of lost track of time while working this weekend.  When you're up all night, and sleep doesn't come until the morning, you're never quite sure what day it is.  I do hope you enjoy the video.  We were over at gramma and grampa's house and Gramma Judy sat Garrison down at the piano.  He took it very seriously and I only put the music out of reach finally because I thought maybe he wouldn't find anything in the hymnbook that he would want to play.  He did continue with an original composition, which we are proud to share with you at this time.

By the way I am opening up our blog so that anyone can see it.  That means no more passwords!  And it means that all you non google account people don't have to worry about your time trial expiring.  One thing that I am asking is that you don't put any identifying info in your comments.  I'm sure this is just a hereditary paranoia thing, but since this is out on the internet for all to see...  Anyway, thanks for your help and enjoy the video!  

Ramblings

This is my favorite latest pic.  We've set it as our wallpaper on our computer, so every time I turn it on, I see this cutie all splashed up in the tub.  Love it! 

So last night we went to our adoption support group meeting and they presented stuff on foster care/adoption stuff.  What a heartbreaking subject.  There are over 2000 kids hoping for permanent homes in the state right now and most of them have suffered some kind of abuse.  I wish I could take them all in.  We heard from 2 women who have or are in the process of adopting through foster care.  They were very strong women and their families have gone through a lot in order to be together.  

I've been thinking about foster adoption for the last week.  I really didn't remember the mtg was about that (except maybe subconsciously).  I updated my adoption questionnaire because we hope to get our profile active as soon as we can on November 13th.  Garrison needs a brother or sister!  If we did do foster adopt and took the classes in August, we could be eligible by september and have a child quickly.  My thoughts about why we would go through foster care are that it would be fast.  They said most people have a child within 6 months.  I also would like to have a baby that looks somewhat like Garrison.  I don't know if we just got lucky with Garrison and his tan, because I don't really know what the stats are for racial mix and LDS family services.  They probably have a higher percentage of white babies than most agencies, but I don't know what the actual numbers are.  The cons with foster adopt would be drug exposure or neglect issues.  I don't know if there is any solid research on the long term effects of prenatal meth exposure, which is probably the most common drug of choice in this area.  

I kind of feel selfish in that I really just want a healthy baby with no problems.  I love watching Garrison develop and learn every day.  

I think I'm officially rambling now, so I'll give everyone else a chance.  Tell me what you think....

Sealing and Blessing Weekend

What a weekend!  Here are some of our pictures we took around the temple.  Garrison hasn't quite learned to smile for the camera yet, but we got a few really good pics- thanks Vicky!  

It turned out really nice that we had the sealing late in the day on saturday.  Nothing felt rushed and everything went well.  We got to the temple in plenty of time and were able to sit and talk with the sealer for a few minutes before the ceremony.  It turned out that he and his wife are friends with my parents.  I'm pretty sure my dad is better than Kevin Bacon because it only takes one or two degrees for my dad to find a relationship with just about anyone.  

Garrison was super good for the ladies in the nursery at the temple.  He made eyes at everyone in the hall and then got cranky once he saw me.  We kept him pretty quiet up until the actual sealing which the sealer had to rush through at the end when he started to scream.  All in all it went well, though.  After the sealing Dad and judy fed us all the yummiest burgers ever with cheese and stuff in the middle.  Garrison's birthmother, Michaelene, gave us a beautiful scrapbook for Garrison that has some of her baby pictures and things about her and then pictures of garrison when he was born and a really touching letter for Garrison about how much she loves him.  

On Sunday I felt a little more rushed, but every thing went smoothly and Jared gave Garrison a really beautiful blessing.  I didn't realize until after the baby blessings were over that I was still wearing my birkenstocks and had forgotten to put my heels on before we left home!  Oh well, I guess I'm just happy my birks matched my skirt.  

Thanks to everyone who was able to come and help us celebrate this weekend.  It was good to see those of you who came from out of town and our friends from southern utah as well.  For everyone else, I hope this little post makes you feel like you were there!  We love you all!