Todd and Brookie's Blog

Welcome to Nursery!

2012-01-23T11:22:00.000-06:00

A big milestone in Savannah's short life...Nursery!

Now that Savannah is 18 months she can go to nursery at church. Savannah did great! Sometimes the kids can be hesitant, so I am grateful she did so well. I think I was more excited than she was. Not that I didn't want to be with her, I just knew how much fun she was going to have. I was a little sad, because I didn't want to miss out on seeing how much she loved it.

We took her in, which was rather anticlimactic, seeing there wasn't quite anyone else there yet. Todd is in there for the first half of nursery, so I knew she would be just fine. He reported that she played well, mostly carrying around a baby and feeding it a bottle every once in awhile. When he left, he said that one child did cry, but it wasn't ours.

I peeked in to the nursery in between Sunday School and Relief Society, and I saw the kids having singing time with our new awesome primary chorister! Fun! I was so giddy and happy to go pick her up. And I was like a kid on Christmas morning when they gave me her very first picture that she colored at church! And because I'm a new mom, this will be in a frame!

Some things I am so thankful for:
•I am thankful that Savannah has a class to go to at church.
•I am thankful that she has a teacher! When we left, it was fun to have her give her teacher a hug. A new nursery leader got called today, and I am so happy for her. I used to work with her in young women's and I just love this amazing lady.
•I am thankful that I can now have opportunity, in testimony meeting or wherever, to "thank my child's teachers."
•I am thankful for our wonderful ward and for the friends she already had in nursery. I am sure that helped with the transition, already knowing many of the other children.
•I am thankful that I can see her already start to love the Gospel. Savannah is such a good girl. She folds her arms to pray. She loves "I am a Child of God," and will sing along. She likes to look at the pictures of Jesus.
•I am thankful that nursery teaches the children from a very young age that they are a child of God, that He loves and knows them, and that He has a plan for them.

We were at the grocery store last week and one of the sweet employees leaned down to her and said, "Jesus loves you." And I said something like, "Oh yes, she knows." And the woman said that she could see it in her face. How sweet.

What a blessing it is to have a daughter.

New Savannah fascinations: picking her nose and eating what she finds, her outrageously long tongue, singing a "No, no, no" song, dipping food in anything she can dip it in, laughing hysterically at any given moment especially bedtime or diaper changes.

She also has this funny game of lying on the ground and pretending she is asleep, and then we give her a kiss and she wakes up. She's a funny one!

Here she is on her first day of nursery:

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Hip Hip Horray!

2012-01-19T13:57:00.000-06:00

The Church announced that the Kansas City temple will be dedicated on Sunday, May 6th! Yeah! The open house will be April 7th through April 21st. Who wants to go??

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December 2011

2012-01-07T16:02:00.000-06:00

Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile. December busyness. Some highlights of December included:

•Bell Ringing. We tried one night to do bell ringing but got there a few minutes late, so we had to do it another night. It was chilly and windy, but super fun! Savannah was definitely the key to people donating. Who could deny this face?

•Making tons of pumpkin butter and mini loaves of bread.
•Going to Michaels and Hobby Lobby about a million times (more on that later).
•Visiting Santa (twice). We went to Santa at the mall, and she did great.

•Celebrating Christmas with Imma. Since we were going out to Utah for Christmas, we celebrated with Imma before we left. We had dinner and opened presents. We found out that night that Savannah is afraid of little stuffed animal dogs, and rocking horses.

•Utah Trip and Christmas. Last Christmas we had decided that we would go to Utah this Christmas, because this was Todd's youngest brother, Marc's, last Christmas before his mission. Marc is going to Guatemala at the end of March. We left on December 23rd and stayed until January 4th. It was a great trip!

On our way out we stopped at our favorite place in the Denver Airport called It'z A Wrap, and then also visited Santa. Who knew Santa would be in the Southwest Terminal taking pictures?

While in Salt Lake we did some shopping, tons of visiting with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and of course, lots of eating out at our favorite places like: Zupas, Cafe Rio, Rumbi Island Grill, and the Lion House. All the Reynolds Girls' (1 Mom and 3 daughters-in-law) went to the Lion House for lunch together. That was really fun! I don't think we have done something just us girls together. We should make it a tradition! What do you think? Only one more girl to add to the family! But we'll have to wait a couple more years for her.

On Christmas eve, we had a nice dinner at Mom and Dad's with the family, then opened PJ's. We enjoyed hearing the Christmas story via the Church's new Bible Stories app. It was nice to read the scripture story, and be able to watch the accompanying videos at the same time.

Christmas morning we opened presents and ate Christmas crown. Now the reason for the million trips to the craft store. My favorite gift that I gave was a Family Home Evening kit for my sister-in-law, Missy. Todd made a super great sign for the family home evening assignments. But it took us multiple trips to come up with the idea for the sign. We thought about everything from pegs, to hooks, to magnets, and everything in between. In the end, we found magnetic paint, and it worked great, and looked awesome! I made her a resource basket. I picked one theme for each month, and then chose songs, activities, a treat, and lesson resources for each theme. It was a lot of work, but so fun! Missy is super creative and talented, so I was so excited to get to do something fun for her.

My favorite present was from my sweetheart. I have been asking him to draw me a picture of the Savior for a long time. He never wanted to because he didn't think he could do it well enough. So that is what he gave me for Christmas, and I love it! You'll have to come see it!

It was so nice to have Christmas on Sunday so we could go to church. After church and nap, we went to my Grandma & Grandpa's in Alpine for a nice dinner.

The rest of the trip included a temple trip, more visiting, and tons of overeating. And we were glad that Savannah got in lots of playing with her cousins.

One of the main highlights of the trip was being able to go through the Temple with Marc. I know that Mom was so happy to have all four of her boys in the temple at once. It was a blessing to be there with all Todd's brothers/wives, and Mom and Dad. We are so proud of Marc. He was 11 years old when we got married, and we have loved to watch him grow up. Before we moved to KC, we loved hanging out with Marc. We are so proud of the man he has become. We know he will be a fabulous missionary in Guatemala, and he is so looking forward to his mission.

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! And we wish you a super happy new year!

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2011 Goals

2012-01-02T15:57:00.000-06:00

We will post about Christmas and December at the end of the week, but in the meantime, we wanted to report the success on a couple of our 2011 goals.

Two of Brooke's main goals that she completed were to read Jesus The Christ and every issue of the Ensign during the year. Todd completed two of his main goals by running in three 5K's and reading the whole Bible. Our family goal was to complete the approval process for baby #2. If Savannah had a goal, it would probably be to learn how to climb, which she is becoming quite good at.

2011 was a great year for us. We were very blessed this year, and we are so grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives this year.

Happy New Year!

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Yipee!!

2011-12-01T14:46:00.000-06:00

Yipee! We are approved and live for another adoption through LDS Family Services. Of this we are very thankful for!

Here is a link to our profile.
Click here.

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Thank-imony

2011-12-01T14:41:00.000-06:00

A few things we recorded all during November on our "We Give Thanks" door (no particular order):

The Savior, Jesus Christ and His Gospel
Todd/Brooke
Miss Savannah
Family
Book of Mormon
Pizza (twice)
Journals
Holy Ghost
Covenants
Commandments
Faith
Sacrament
Baseball
Good health
Sunshine
Trash Service
To know I am a Child of God
My Testimony
Talents
Parents
Kids
Facetime
Brownies
Refrigeration
Our Home
Bread
Veterans
Cotton Eye Joe
LS2 YW
Prophet
Brothers
KC Temple
Priesthood

And of course, this noble & amazing woman, who we will forever be grateful for:

On Thanksgiving Day, Todd got to run in the Spring Thanksgiving Day 5K. We were really proud of him. He had set a goal to run three 5K's this year, and this was his third!

When we brought up the Christmas stuff on Friday, Savannah was super excited to play with another Teddy Bear, this one we call Cranberry. The hat she is wearing is super funny because Imma gave it to her last year, so it is really tight!

Happy Thanksgiving! Happy December!!

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October Pictures, Pumpkins, and Dress Up

2011-11-18T16:00:00.000-06:00

Earlier in October we tried to get some family pictures for adoption paperwork. Our friends were super sweet to help us out, and did a great job. There was just one little problem...Miss Grumpy Head:

Things improved slightly, and temporarily, when she found a super cool rock:

We went to get pumpkins in Louisburg, Kansas and, since it was so far, we couldn't go home to get the cameras we had left there. Oh well! We got some good porch pictures when we got back.

A side note about the pumpkins. A week or so ago, we were going to have "The Great Pumpkin Slaughter of 2011." (Each year we process our pumpkins so we can enjoy fresh pumpkin muffins, pancakes, and soups all year.) Unfortunately, that turned into just processing one pumpkin. Now we still have several in the basement waiting. Thanks to a friend's tip off, we doubled our supply with Wal-Mart's $1 pumpkins after Halloween.

For Halloween this year we chose Star Wars. I am not a big (or at all) Star Wars fan, but Savannah's obvious costume for this year was an Ewok. She is the perfect height, walking just the right way, and jabbering up a storm. And she was the best Ewok ever! The costume part is actually a sea otter that we found for a good deal online, and then we just tucked the tail in. Then I made the hood part with some fabric and twine. Super easy and fun!

We went to "Boo at the Zoo," and people just thought she was so funny! Her favorite part of the costume was the stick, of course. When we asked what Grandpa (or Pop Pop as Savannah can say now) would like for Christmas, he said an Ewok. That's easy!

It has been a pretty mild fall. Yeah! So Savannah and I have been going on lots of nature walks, her favorite thing. We raked up some leaves, and here she is in the pile.

On a personal note: I was recently released from young women's. I served in that calling for a long time, and my heart was attached to those girls. It has been so sad! It is a ton of work, working with the youth, but how the Lord has molded and shaped me. I am so grateful for his tender mercies in allowing me to stay in as long as He did. It was such a blessing to be able to share testimony with the Young Women about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such a blessing to be in the presence of their sweet and strong spirits so often. They come from amazing families that are teaching them well, and it was a joy to learn from them. I am so thankful that the Lord directs His work, and that He continues to lead His young women with new, amazing leaders. The work continues! Have a super great weekend!
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New Adoption Collage

2011-11-01T21:36:00.000-05:00

Well, if you didn't know we were starting the process for another adoption, you do now. Here's our newest adoption collage. What do you think?

Some Stuff We've Made Recently

2011-10-09T14:42:00.000-05:00

1) Apple Butter from the Louisburg Cider Mill's annual CiderFest

2) General Conference Stuffed French Toast

3) Belgium Waffles for our Family Culture Night when we celebrated Belgium

4) Todd "made" second place in his age division and a new personal best at his work-sponsored 5K run up at Sporting KC's Livestrong Park.

5) Gnocchi, which we decided that we would call Bear Claws, because of a Food Nanny episode.

6) New table runner and chair covers with fabric from Ikea

7) For our Ward's day of service, we went to a local elementary and helped with landscaping, painting, and refinishing gym doors. Todd, and a few other dedicated friends, redid their sign, and it turned out great! It was such a fun project, and so great to come closer as a ward, and in the community. I am really grateful for the opportunities we have to serve together in the Church.

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September Celebrations

2011-09-23T15:58:00.000-05:00

September 4 - Todd's Birthday
This year for Todd's birthday we went to a Royals game, went out to eat at Waldo Pizza, went to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead, and on his birthday I made a sour cream chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate glaze, by way of request.

Here she is at the Royals Game, just before the major downpour, enjoying her hot dog.

Happy Birthday, Todd!

September 13 - Court Date
One year ago, on September 13, we were able to became legal. Here is a reminder of this awkward, but happy picture.

After court, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch to celebrate. So that's what we did this year too. This year my Grandma and Aunt were in town, so they got to join in on the celebration!

September 18 - Brooke's Birthday
This year for my birthday Todd took me to a restaurant in Westport called Cupinis, and we loved it! I got the Cannelloni, and Todd got the Mostaccioli with Italian Sausage. They both came with a pink sauce. They make all their own pasta...Yum! Hopefully a return visit coming soon! Todd got me a pair of hand weights, an Alex Boye iTunes soundtrack, and a new shirt. For dinner, he made me chimichangas (basically, fried burritos, if you haven't had them before, and oh so good). He also made me a pumpkin cheesecake.

September 25 - Sealing Date
One year ago (Sunday) we had the blessing to be joined with our family and friends in the St. Louis temple, as we were sealed an eternal family.

When we went to the temple this month we took an almost-one-year-later picture. Funny story: after Todd's session, I wanted us to get a family picture outside the temple. It was pouring rain, so he was already skeptical. We decided just to pull up to the front and hope that someone could snap a photo of us. As we drove up though, Todd kind of hit the curb and also honked the horn, which only added to the embarrassment. He had been talking to a man and his wife in the lobby before he had come to get me, and they were still there. I peeked my head in and asked if they would mind taking a picture of us, and being the proud Mommy I am, I explained why. He took the picture, and when we got back in the car, I asked, "Do you know who that was?" "No." "That was the Temple President and his wife."

A fun, exciting month!
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Salt Lake Summer 2011

2011-08-25T15:44:00.000-05:00

Our Summer trip to Salt Lake began with a difficult plane ride, but was a great little vacation! We left on a Friday night at 7pm. We were doing good, got to the airport still with time to spare, and made it in with all our bags and dinner. We got into the southwest line, and it dawned on me that we had left the carseat in the car...in economy parking. So Todd ran back outside and took the next bus back to the car, while I got us all checked in. Thanks to some very kind airline and airport workers, we made it just in time, and we were still able to sit all together in the very last row.

The plane ride was a little rocky, since Savannah normally goes to bed at 8pm. I will spare you all the details. Just know that there was much crying, frustration, and little sleep. Luckily, the next night she was right back on schedule. When we made it to the Salt Lake airport about midnight (1am Savannah's time), we were relieved that our bags had made it and happy to see Grandma and Grandpa there to pick us up.

The next morning, after breakfast at Golden Corral (what a treat...a breakfast buffet!) we headed to Alpine, UT to spend the day with my Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt, and cousin. We were so happy for the time we got to spend with them, and Savannah loved playing!

On Sunday, we headed to church to see lots of good friends. Afterward, the family came over for a dinner that Todd had made, in his mom's brand new kitchen! We were so excited because part of this trip was to meet our only nephew, Cooper. Yes, he is only 3 months! In the evening all Todd's extended family came for a visit with lots of treats and root beer floats, too! Savannah loved swinging with her cousin, Ellie.

On Monday, we all went out to breakfast, followed by our shopping trip at IKEA, and lunch at Cafe Rio. Tuesday we were able to go to the temple. Yeah! Free babysitting! Thanks Uncle Marc! We also got to meet up with my Grammie for lunch at the Lion House on Temple Square.

We were supposed to come home on Wednesday. We went to the airport, and our plane was being delayed due to its still being in Los Angeles because of mechanical issues. They decided to reroute all those not staying in Denver. Finally they called up the Kansas City people. Our flight was originally supposed to leave at 10:45am. Now the next flight they could get us on would not leave until after 4pm, and get us home at 10:45pm. We were not excited to do the late night flight with Savannah again, so we opted to give her a good night's rest, and just take a flight the next morning. The next morning flight was much better!

On a few non-trip related subjects, I have been doing Savannah's hair in little twists, and it is so much better. I went into Sally Beauty Supply to get a comb and was sharing my woes of Savannah's hair with the cashier. She showed me how to do the twists and it has solved lots of problems! She doesn't pull out her hair, it stays more moisturized, and I only have to do it like once a week! Is it bad that I let Baby Einstein entertain my child while I do her hair?

Today, Savannah and I took a nature walk, and the thing she was most interested in was this rock. I think she was pretending it to be a phone, she kept trying to put it by her ear.

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Finally Another Five Minutes of Todd's Time

2011-08-12T12:13:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since my weekly "Five Minute Friday" reminder popped up and I could actually spare the time. As it stands today, I was at a natural stopping point in my workflow, and was about to grab some lunch.

It's hard to believe how fast Savannah is growing. She's still a little tipsy, but she walking everywhere now. If she crawls at all it's to get to somewhere that she can pull herself back up to walk. It's fun to watch her toddling around the house, arms out to her side for balance. Based on my projections of her current gate, I'd say her Halloween costume is going to be pretty sweet. It should be perfect for the way she'll be walking at the end of October.

Speaking of which, I can't believe it's already the middle of August. Glad that the month-long heat wave has finally

That's all for this week. But here's something new:

What I'm Designing Right-This-Second

Savannah's Birthday

2011-07-25T13:24:00.003-05:00

Already, one year ago...

"So, with everything (and everyone) we needed in the car, we started our long drive home. It wasn’t easy, but taking turns behind the wheel every two hours, and the excitement of what was waiting for us at home, made it possible. While we were driving, we got a text message from Sam telling us that the baby had been born and it was a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

...A girl? Okay. For the past eight months we’d just assumed it would be a boy. We had boy stuff in our basement. But it turned out to be a girl, and we couldn’t be happier. So, what would we name her? None of our preselected girl names seemed right. Then, literally out of nowhere, the name Savannah popped into my head and it wouldn’t go away. I told Brooke and she liked it too. Then I wondered if Tanzania was in the African savanna. I called my mom and asked her to find it on a map. Tanzania is south of Kenya and includes part of the savanna. When a name is that inspired, it’s hard to choose anything else."

Savannah is 1! And she can even tell you so:

To celebrate her birthday, we had all kinds of fun: grandpas, grandmas, uncles, friends, food, and of course, cake and ice cream.

Her birthday celebrations began with a visit from Grandpa Pyrah (or Grandpa Py as Todd has nicknamed him). His visit included a stop at the Liberty Jail, the Money Museum, and all-you-can-eat Chinese at Hyvee. Yum!

When Grandma and the three Uncles on the Pyrah side got here, one of the pre-birthday highlights was going to Jazz, a Louisiana Kitchen Restaurant. It was delicious! And super fun with a live band. Savannah just loved the music:

That was on Thursday. As we pulled into the driveway on Thursday night, there was a car in our driveway, and inside...Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds! They had flown in from Salt Lake as a complete surprise for Savannah's birthday! So fun!

On Savannah's actual birthday, we went to the art museum where we opened presents, had a visit in the afternoon from Imma, and then later swam and ate at the Elder's Quorum pool party. Following which, Savannah got her first tastes of frozen yogurt ice cream at Orange Leaf. Up until now, she always had to watch us eat it, with just a few bites of some fruit.

On Saturday, Savannah got all ready to go on Safari. Todd and the expert field guides (my brothers, Bryce & Brady) went ahead early to prepare the Safari. When my Mom, Savannah, and I all arrived, as well as Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds and some friends, the kids had a great time looking for all the animals with their hats, whistles, and checklists. After they had located all the animals, they got a special prize. Lunch, presents, and of course, the ceremonial first cake and ice cream, tuckered Savannah right out.

Zebra, cheetah, and giraffe cupcakes!

After her nap that day, Savannah went to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds at their hotel while we took Bryce and Brady to see Harry Potter.

On Sunday, we all headed to church, and as an added bonus, Todd was speaking.

Now that Savannah is 1, she knows how to do all kinds of things: walk across a room on her own, point to different body parts (hair, toes, belly, tongue), do sign language (please, thank you, more, eat, all done), clap, dance, throw tantrums, and best of all...drink whole milk instead of formula!

Happy Birthday Savannah!! We love you!
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Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2011-07-01T15:17:00.003-05:00

It all started with an audio book...Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean, by Les Standiford. We listened to the book together and were intrigued. I won't tell you much about it; you'll have to read it yourself. It was a good book, and it made us really interested to someday drive US Highway 1, which now replaces the railway all the way down to Key West, the southernmost point in the United States.

So, when a work opportunity came to Todd to go to southern Florida, and better yet would get us there during our anniversary, Todd jumped at the chance. He called me one day from work, and said, "I have a surpise."

I was nervous at first, how Savannah would do in a hotel that long, how I would do flying with her by myself (Todd went down a day early due to airfare prices), and what I would do with her while Todd was working. But we had a great time!

Todd left on Monday, and Savannah and I flew down the next day. We left around 9:00 for our 11:45 flight, and I am glad I left that early. I wish I had a picture, but if you can imagine Savannah strapped onto me in the snugglie, me pushing the stroller with one hand, her giant cow-print car seat sitting on top of the stroller. Her overflowing diaper bag and my purse were shoved into the stroller, then I pulled the two suitcases strapped together behind us. I am sure we looked ridiculous! Special thanks to some people on the economy parking buses who helped me on and off, and a sweet lady on the plane who didn't seem to mind Savannah's inability to sleep on the plane, who made it all possible.

Todd met us at the airport, and that was a welcome blessing! We loaded up all our cargo and headed to the hotel that would be home for the next three days. Todd had to work a night shift from 7pm to 7am in a nearby hospital helping their staff navigate through Cerner technology. So from 7pm to 9pm, Savannah and I hung out. Then at 9pm, I tucked her in bed. When Todd came back at 7am, he slept until about 11 or so. Savannah got up at 9, and we tried to be quiet. We ate breakfast and swam for a few hours. After he got up, then we went out to see the town for a few hours before nap time. That was the routine for the first three days. During awake hours, we tried to explore the city. We went to a giant flee market, the beach (we just aren't beach people), a pier, and did lots of driving around.

Todd's assigned shifts ended on Friday, June 24th (our anniversary!). After getting a few hours sleep, we all went out for the day. We went to a big outlet mall (which was was way too upscale for this family), IKEA (a must), and Applebee's for lunch. Then we headed to our new hotel for the next three nights for nap time. After nap time, Todd had a special surprise for me. One of his friends from high school is down in the Ft. Lauderdale area for a couple years, so we dropped Savannah off with her for a few hours so we could go on an actual date for our anniversary!

Todd took me to a little restaurant called Flip Flops. It was right on the Intracoastal Waterway in the city. The weather that day was dreary and kind of rainy. But it made for a lovely evening out. I guess people only go outside in Ft. Lauderdale if the sun is out, which made it so just a few other people were there. I told Todd he didn't have to rent the place out just for me. It was a really fun restaurant; we sat partly outside, and we could see the few boats going by, and the water taxi.

Saturday was our big day. Key West or bust. We headed out around 10am, only about 2 hours later than we probably should have. After making our way through the outskirts of Miami, we were on Hwy 1 in Key Largo. We made a few stops to let Savannah play in the water, found some seashells, and took some pictures of what we thought was part of Flagler's original railroad system. We stopped in Marathon (about halfway through the keys) for lunch at the Cracked Conche Cafe. Thanks to a coupon, we both enjoyed our delicious Key Lime Pie for dessert...a must in the Florida Keys apparently. Don't let the picture fool you with the two spoons, we both had separate pieces!

After getting back in the car, we hoped that Savannah would sleep the rest of the way to Key West, but instead she found crying (screaming) the rest of the way much more amusing. We finally made it to Key West about 4pm. We had only 1 hour until we needed to be leaving to get back in time for Savannah's bedtime. What to do? Go to Reynolds Pier, of course. We drove down Flager Avenue, then turned onto Reynolds Street.

After a short visit at the Pier, we made our way over to the picture spot marking the southernmost point in the Continental US, where you were actually closer to Cuba than the mainland. And it was SO hot! I think you are actually closer to the sun down there than anywhere else in the country.

By that time, we needed to get back in the car, which Savannah was less than excited about. I fed her a bottle, and she finally got a little shut eye for a while. We stopped off at Anne's Beach on the way back, and she liked this portion of the Atlantic Ocean much better than the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. Next time we will be smart and bring our swimming suits to the beach! It was a great time driving down there; so fun to see water on both sides of the road, and little islands all over the place.

On Sunday, we went to church. I just love our church. I love how no matter where you go, you will get the same thing. Same lessons, same message, same wonderful people. Everyone was so nice and friendly. The lesson in Relief Society was on developing a testimony and it was a wonderful review. The ward there had at least three sets of missionaries, there were lots of visitors, some investigators, and even a baptism that was happening after church. It seemed like a very big, busy ward! It was such a joy to attend church after a full week. That day we just relaxed and enjoyed our day of rest. We tried to take a walk, but the weather was not very cooperative. And Savannah made some real progress at taking actual steps while we were at the hotel!

Monday morning we all got up early and headed to the airport. This time, Todd was with us for the flight. A wonderful trip! Just too bad Savannah won't remember. Guess we'll have to go back sometime.

Five Minutes This Friday: Back Home

2011-07-01T14:57:00.000-05:00

Going on vacation is always fun. We had a great time in Fort Lauderdale. I'm so glad Brookie and Savannah could join me down there. I would have been pretty bored without them.

Coming home is always nice. And, as a nice little bonus, on the way home from the airport via I-435, we get a great view of the Kansas City Temple. It's gorgeous how it just seems to pop out of the trees. We can hardly wait for it to be completed.

Getting back to work can be hard. After our trip to Florida last week, I've had a bit of trouble getting back into my routine. Those middle-of-the-night 12-hour shifts finally started to take their toll on me a little bit this week. I've been a little more likely to lay in bed after the alarm goes off.

A Post from Savannah

2011-07-01T13:15:00.000-05:00

Oh what do you do in the summertime
When it's so hot outside?
Do you put on your swimsuit
And play with the hose
While the cars on the street drive by?
Is that what you do?
So do I!

Nothing better than drinking from a hose on a hot summer day!

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June Temple Trip

2011-06-30T15:07:00.001-05:00

Thanks to some wonderful friends in Council Bluffs, Todd and I were able to attend the temple together in June, just about a week before our 7th anniversary. Doesn't 7 years sound so much different than six?

I recently ran into one of my best friends from young women...so long ago...at the Winter Quarters Temple. She and her husband live about 15 minutes from the temple, and so she offered to babysit anytime! Well, of course we were very excited to take them up on that offer in June so that we could go together.

Normally, it would take three hours to get to Omaha from KC, but this time it took four hours because of all the Missouri River flooding and necessary detours around I-29. It was nice to see the countryside, though, with a special stop in Savannah, MO to change a diaper.

It was such a blessing to be in the temple together, and to remember our own sealing 7 years prior.

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Five Minutes from Fort Lauderdale

2011-06-24T15:34:00.000-05:00

This week there is actually something interesting to write about. We're in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I attended a client support trip for Cerner and finished three consecutive 12-hour night shifts (7pm-7am) this morning. I flew down on Monday for orientation and then swung down to Sun Life Stadium to catch a Marlins baseball game. Brookie and Savannah joined me Tuesday. The sleeping arrangements weren't that bad.

Now that the business component of this trip is over, we can really start having some fun. Today also happens to be our 7th anniversary (Yay us!). So after checking out some of the shopping attractions this morning, we're going to go find a good seafood restaurant and enjoy a nice dinner together.

Tomorrow we're going to drive down US 1 to Key West. After reading the book "Last Train to Paradise" about Henry Flagler's impossible

Small and Simple Things

2011-06-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

I just spent 15 minutes working in the Vineyard. Have you heard of it yet? Brooke introduced me to it Friday. The Vineyard is a new online service campaign of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After you sign in and choose the tasks you would like to help with, you can spend as much or as little time as you would like performing that task, which helps the Church prepare digital media for production.

For example, in my 15 minutes this afternoon, I tagged photos that had been submitted by members of the Church (submitting photos is another way you can work in the Vineyard). If you're interested in the Church's online media, you should definitely check it out.

There is a quote from a scripture on their homepage that I was thinking about yesterday at the Temple. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (Alma 37:6).

There is no one that has enough time to do all of the work in the temple that needs to be done. But we can all do our part, even if that is only a few hours a month. Little by little, an hour from one member here, one from another member there, this great work is rolling forward.

That is the same principle at work in the Vineyard. There are so many photographs that need to be tagged; so many documents that need to be verified; so many ways that anyone can help. In my 15 minutes I only tagged 15 pictures. But if you add that to the pictures that 15 other people tagged in their 15 minutes, the impact of the service we are giving is being multiplied.

What's more, I think this principle might be able to help me conquer my tendency to procrastinate. Most of the time I feel like I don't have enough time to do anything of real consequence unless I have at least a good, solid hour. But, in actuality, dozen productive 10-minute chunks is greater than 90 minutes of dedicated time to work on a project.

I was hoping to wrap these thoughts together with something witty and profound, but I think I'll just keep it simple and stop here.

Five More Minutes for Friday

2011-06-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

Our summer is just starting to get a little busy. Do you ever feel like there's not enough time to get everything done you'd like to do?

We have some fun trips coming up fast, and we're really looking forward to them. I'm sure we'll post plenty of pictures here so you can all take our vacations with us vicariously.

Speaking of vicariosity (if fortuosity can be a song, I can use vicariosity in a sentence), we hope to be able to make it to the Winter Quarters temple this weekend.

11 Months and Memorial Day Pics

2011-06-16T14:29:00.001-05:00

Savannah just turned 11 months. Since we haven't posted any pictures in awhile (sorry) here are some recent pictures.

For Memorial Day, we were finally able to go to a Royals game since it was in the afternoon. We made this shirt for Savannah since we couldn't ever find a shirt we liked in a good size that didn't cost too much. Savannah did really well at the game!

Check out these sunglasses I got for her at the dollar store:

Happy 11 months, Savannah! She is now standing up all on her own. She really wants to walk...but just can't seem to figure out to to move the feet without hanging on to anything. I'm sure it won't be long. This is a picture with her teddy bear, Cream Soda. She loves Cream Soda!

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Another Friday, Another Five Minutes

2011-06-10T13:35:00.000-05:00

If you read our blog using a RSS feed reader like the one Google offers, you may not notice anything different about our blog. But, if you actually visit our blogger site, you'll see the beginnings of the new theme I've been working on.

Usually, I develop the theme using a separate blog I've set up for testing designs before implementing them on our actual blog. But this week, after working on some CSS for an hour, I realized I had been editing the actual CSS, not the test code. So, all of the changes I thought I was testing were actually live and in full color on our blog. At that point, I cleaned up a few things and just decided to keep going.

There are a few functional things I'd like to work on after I polish the design. We also have a great new header that I

Five Minute Friday: If I had $1,000,000

2011-06-03T14:26:00.000-05:00

(This week I cheated and copied a post from my private blog that I'd written recently. But it still took me more than five minutes to get the images to show up right.)

I always hear about people blowing enormous sums of money, whether they won the lottery or signed a huge contract with a professional athletic franchise. This morning the thought occurred to me: If I won a million dollars today, in one lump some payment, what would I do with it?

Tithing (-100,000 = $900,000)
Buy this house in Lee's Summit in the New Longview subdivision.
(-$350,000 = $550,000)
Buy this car for Brookie.
(-$30,000 = $520,000)
Buy this car for me.
(-$25,000 = $495,000)
Buy matching iPads for us, and one each for the grandparents (5 total iPads).
(-$3,400 = $491,600)

After that, there may be a shopping spree for new clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture, etc. So, I'll take $11,600 for that, just to be safe. That leaves a total of $480,000, plenty of money to invest and allow to grow with annual interest. The interest alone in one average year would be enough for Savannah's college education. I'd still keep my job at Cerner, so we'd still be able to live off of my income each month. Our home and our vehicles would be paid for, so it would allow my income to go even farther. Plus, we wouldn't just go down and buy brand new cars. We'd find good used versions of those cars, so we'd save even more.

It's good that I'm making these decisions now, just so I won't have to debate the issue in the event I run into a million dollars this year.

Five Minute Friday

2011-05-27T12:25:00.000-05:00

Seminary is done for this year. Our last day of class was last Wednesday. At the beginning of the school year I looked at the calendar's for both of the high schools attended by students in my class, and made the seminary calendar to match. The trouble was snow days. Our stake's policy is that snow days count towards the total of days needed ... but, I don't have time to explain why the kids are still in school and seminary is over.

The point is, with seminary over, you might think that we've been catching up on sleep, which is not the case. Brooke discovered that the time between when we get up for seminary (about 5:30am) and when I leave for work can be very productive. So we're still getting up early and I'm using that time to achieve some goals and work on projects that I haven't had time to

Teeth!

2011-05-25T15:42:00.001-05:00

Savannah's first teeth have finally come in!

She has been a little extra cranky, but not too bad. One night she woke up several times around 12:00 or 1:00, but when Todd went in there he didn't know if she was waking up because of bumping her head on the side of the crib (she is now too tall to fit sideways in the crib) or if it was her teeth.

And she loves brushing her teeth already!

Savannah is 10 months and can (if she wants to) fold her arms, wave, smile on command, give kisses and hugs, and lie down when asked to do so. She can also do the signs for "eat," "drink," "more," and "all done." She knows them pretty well, although sometimes it is hard telling the difference between any of the signs.

Not sure what this face is:

And if you haven't seen it, Savannah's new favorite video is the "I Am A Child of God" Mormon Message.

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First Installment of Five Minute Friday

2011-05-20T16:41:00.000-05:00

Since I started working as an Interaction Designer at Cerner Corporation, Brookie has been left to pick up the slack with our blog. In an attempt to provide a weekly dose of Todd, I will be trying out "Five Minute Fridays." Basically, I decided that I can find five minutes a week to write something for our blog. So, here it goes...

Last night, while Brookie was making some visits to a few of the young women in the ward, Savannah and I had a chance to bond via window shopping at Target and a few of the other stores in the Lee's Summit shopping area.

One thing I noticed that really made me mad

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What We Did This Weekend: Temple Run

2011-05-01T16:01:00.000-05:00

We haven't done a "What We Did This Weekend" post for a little while...so here you go:

Friday night we headed out for a fancy dinner at Costco. We ate pizza, and then shopped for some flour, BBQ sauce (Jack Stack, of course), oatmeal, oil, and sugar. We love the Costco date night. Not too many more of those left, though, as our membership will be expired in July. We had originally signed up for the membership for the baby formula, but we haven't used Costco formula now for several months, as Savannah finally decided to stick with one particular kind at Wal-Mart.

Saturday morning we headed up to the beautiful new Kansas City temple site.

We were there to participate in the 5K temple run. We borrowed a friend's jogging stroller, which definitely came in handy! I wasn't planning on running, since I hadn't "trained." But once I got started, I decided that I really wanted to run the whole thing. It's funny how closely life itself can be paralleled to running. Running is such a mental sport. If you tell yourself you can do it, and no matter what you are going to finish, then you probably can. Of course, the opposite is true, if you tell yourself that there is no way you could accomplish such a thing, then most likely you won't. That is true for just about anything in life. It all begins with having a little faith in yourself and in God being able to work through you.

Todd did great on the run! He got a personal best time, was 22nd overall, and 7th in his age group. It is not hard to get the spiritual symbolism of running toward the temple, just finishing the race no matter your time. Just like this life, we are all on our journey to return to our Heavenly Father, and while it is difficult along the way, we must press on. Keep going, there will be people there cheering you along your way. And it was wonderful to have my daughter there too, adding to the symbolism of helping our children return to their Heavenly Home.

Here are pre and post-run pictures:

After the run, we headed to the farmer's market for a few minutes for some flowers, spices, and samples. Then we ran home, where Todd quickly finished mowing the lawn before we were out the door again. We had another open house (which no one came to...) for our house and we hung out at a friend's house for a few hours so Savannah could have a nap.

On Sunday we went to church. This week was fast & testimony meeting, so we got to hear all the wonderful testimonies, and be strengthened from the wonderful meeting. And tonight we are making pizza for dinner! Yeah!

So, it was a weekend of firsts: first temple run, first 5K for Savannah, first sunburn (for Todd), first time playing catch this season (for Todd at our friends' house), and first trip to the farmers market for the season. A great weekend, which made Savannah happy, as you can see:

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Under Construction

2011-04-25T13:03:00.000-05:00

Dear Loyal Readers and Friends,

Just a quick note to let you know that our blog will be back to normal soon. We had a small 'falling out' with our previous web hosting provider today. But we have a new host and I was smart enough to back up all the old content before they deleted it. The new account I signed up for was a six-year deal, so this shouldn't happen again for a long time.

As a side note, we've been meaning to refresh the look and feel of our blog for a while, but I haven't had much time to do it. With seminary ending in three and a half weeks, hopefully that new blog design will finally get created.

–Management

Happy Easter

2011-04-25T08:58:00.000-05:00

Here are some fun Easter Pictures:

Here are Savannah's Easter PJ's:

And notice the splashing food in this picture. She loves food, obviously!

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9 Months!

2011-04-15T11:00:00.000-05:00

Things Savannah can do:

Stand up on her own, plays chase when we say "I'm gonna get you," eats lots of different finger foods (beans, veggies, fruit, noodles, cheese, etc.), dances, waves bye-bye (sometimes), turns pages on a book.

Savannah has such a funny personality. She already thinks that she is the funniest person in the family...she is going to have to challenge Daddy for that spot. She grins with her whole mouth! She loves eating, playing with balls, giving her baby kisses, climbing on Mommy, being held by Mommy, and jewelry. She gets a smile on her face when she sees Daddy after work.

The other day she let go of the laundry basket she was holding on to, on her own, and stood for a second or two before falling down. Yeah! And then one morning this week, I went in to get her from her crib, and she was kneeling, blankets off, with hands on the side of the crib. Next day - bumpers off, and crib lowered. She definitely loves to explore her world!

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Personal Progress

2011-04-07T15:54:00.002-05:00

If any of my young women read this, they will probably just roll their eyes, but...

I love personal progress! It is a gift from Heavenly Father to His daughters, and it leads them to receive the great blessing of the temple. I recently completed the process as a leader, and got my Young Womanhood Recognition Medallion! Yeah! I actually finished my personal progress in August, but never got the medallion...I think partly because I didn't want to be a "show off," and partly because I didn't like the projects I had done. But I realized, that neither was a good reason. I felt like I wanted to complete it so that I could have the experience to share with Savannah in the future, and be able to teach her what I have learned. It is not an easy program. The girls work so hard to get it done, and it takes many years, and a lot of diligence, effort, and work. As leaders, the requirements are less than the youth. We just have to do two projects in addition to the Virtue project, which is to read the Book of Mormon again.

When I felt like I needed to follow through and get my medallion, I thought that I would do two new projects. Classic overachiever. I completed the first project (which I am actually really happy about) and then was halfway through the second project (which got way overcomplicated), when I realized that I needed to simplify, a lot! Halfway through that other project, I learned a bigger lesson, prepared just for me.

So, I had to make a conscious decision to actually be satisfied with what I had done, and for once in my life, move forward. I kept the original two projects, and got my medallion, and I am very pleased!

I am very grateful for this inspired program. Truly, it leads the Young Women to have a better relationship with their Heavenly Father, and prepares them for the temple, which is the objective of the Young Women organization.

So, if you are wondering what I did for my projects...

The first one was for the value of Faith. We planted a garden, which was a complete failure. But I stuck with it, nonetheless. I do have a picture of a pepper, and the picture probably makes it look bigger than it was. Most everything that did grow was either tiny or just died. Oh well...there is always this year! I think we are going to do an above ground garden in a box and in pots, that way we can control what kind of soil it is in, and how much sunlight it is exposed to.

The other project was that I researched sewing machines and bought one (thanks Weston & Missy!), and then made some throw pillows for our home. Although I got pretty frustrated with such a simple thing as a pillow, it gave me motivation to try some other things later.

Here is what President Ezra Taft Benson said about the award, "Give me a young woman who loves home and family, who reads and ponders the scriptures daily, who has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me a young woman who faithfully attends her Church meetings, who is a seminary graduate, who has earned her Young Womanhood Recognition award and wears it with pride! Give me a young woman who is virtuous and who has maintained her personal purity, who will not settle for less than a temple marriage, and I will give you a young woman who will perform miracles for the Lord now and throughout eternity."

I am very grateful for the chance I have had to get this award because of my calling in Young Women's. I am grateful that it can accompany the medallion I received when I was a youth. And I look forward to the opportunity I will have to get another one as a mother when Savannah is working through her personal progress when she gets into Young Women's!

To learn more about personal progress, go to personalprogress.lds.org

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Savannah swinging

2011-03-23T07:32:00.000-05:00

Swinging from Todd Reynolds on Vimeo.

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March Weekends

2011-03-16T14:22:00.000-05:00

March came in eventfully with Savannah officially beginning to crawl on March 4th. She has been crawling/scooting backwards for a little while, but she took forward movement finally! She is much quicker now with a few weeks practice.

We took Savannah to her first Royals event, a showing of a spring training in the Diamond Club. Of course, we took advantage to see the Diamond Club, free of charge, with complimentary Royals hat. Here she is sporting the baseball shoes from Grandma for all of this season's games.

Two weekends ago, we all went to the annual Kansas City Auto Show. We love this event; and this year Todd got to test drive a few cars. I think my overall favorite car was actually a honda fit. That weekend, we also had Stake Conference. We had never done the adult session with a child before. Todd and I were both singing in the choir, so we asked a friend from the ward to watch her. Shortly after the meeting began, Todd said that he left with Savannah. When we stood to sing, I didn't see him anywhere, so after we sang I went out into the lobby to try and locate what I presumed to be a very fussy little baby. As I made my way down the hallway, I heard her crying, which got progressively louder as I approached the Relief Society room. There was Miss Savannah with our friend, just crying her eyes out. As soon as I took her, she settled right down. Needless to say, she is going through a bit of a separation anxiety phase.

This past weekend we were able to go to the temple in Omaha, and we are happy to report that there were no "Nebraska-hates-the Reynolds" incidents. The temple was very busy, which is nice to see. We went with some friends, so it was nice to be able to go into the temple with Todd, instead of taking turns. We are so grateful for temples within driving distance. It is such a blessing in our lives, we always feel strengthened after we go to the temple. Even though it is sometimes hard because it is a long day for Savannah, we are grateful to have her in on that tradition. Sunday was regular church day, and Savannah did much better at "springing forward" than she did in the fall at the time change. We had amazing talks given at church this last week. One of the Young Women spoke about the standards in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. Another sister talked about her conversion story, and the last talk was about hope. How great is that!

Savannah is becoming a very funny little girl. 8 months now! She recently started eating peas, bananas, and avocado. She wasn't too fond of the avocado. This week we will start on apples. Just recently she started making a really funny pouty face, with her bottom lip and chin sticking way out. She is already a master at wrapping us around her little finger. Here are a few pictures of her funny faces.

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Grateful

2011-03-16T07:10:00.000-05:00

I was able to attend a church meeting last night in Lenexa where we had a general authority come to speak to us. It was a fabulous meeting, and I was just really grateful to have the opportunity to go. I was able to go because of my current calling in church. It brings so many blessings into our life, most of which is knowledge about our Heavenly Father and His plan for His children.I was so grateful to have the opportunity to feel of Heavenly Father's love for me. I am grateful for the responsibility of being able to serve in church. I know that God loves and knows each of His children personally, and I am truly grateful for the Gospel which has taught me that. Just wanted to share.

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New Beginnings

2011-02-24T14:41:00.000-06:00

Last night was New Beginnings. As a youth leader at church for the young women (ages 12-18), I have the opportunity to work with these girls each week. New Beginnings is a program we hold each year to welcome in the new "Beehives" (the 12 year olds that will be joining us this year). The girls planned New Beginnings, and they did such a wonderful job. They planned the program, the beautiful decorations, the game, the music, and the theme. They worked so hard to make it a beautiful event for all the girls and their parents. I had the opportunity to make the refreshments:

The theme was, "We, we, we all the way home," based off the 3 little pigs nursery rhyme (or more current, the "new" Geico commercial). They chose that theme to represent all of us returning to our Heavenly Home someday, and how Young Women's helps us do that.

I am so blessed to be able to serve with these amazing girls. They are such strong leaders, and when I am with them, I feel strengthened. The time I spend being with the youth and in serving in this calling is always rewarding. I learn so much from these girls, and I am so grateful for their examples. They are amazing young women. They are strong, courageous, they choose the right, the stand for the Lord, and they are so loving toward us as leaders and to each other. I would not be the woman I am without them and the other women I serve with.

P.S. Todd and I are "celebrating" our 80-month anniversary today. Just in case you forgot or weren't keeping track, thought I would remind all our readers. And in honor of that, here are 8 of my favorite things to do/have done with my hubby. (Sorry, I am sure I could come up with 80, but I only have the time to write during Savannah's nap).
*In no particular order...
1. The adoption process. It brought us closer to each other and the Lord than anything else.
2. Our honeymoon in Chicago. We had such a fun time together, going to all the museums, eating out, seeing the city.
3. Being dirt-poor as students, living in a basement apartment, which we thought was charming and wonderful!
4. Road trip(s) to Salt Lake, Indiana, and Arizona.
5. Becoming parents with him, struggling through learning how to do it all, and laughing together at all her silliness.
6. Cooking, baking, every time we make something in the kitchen.
7. Too many baseball games to count. But there was this one time where he actually caught one of the hot dogs that Sluggger was throwing into the audience. The foil was coming off of it, and he said it was probably the worst hot dog he had eaten, but he had to eat it because it was from Sluggger.
8. Temple trips each month.
Love you, Babe! Here's one from the archives:

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What We Did This Weekend: Valentine's

2011-02-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we kicked off our Valentine's weekend by getting the house ready for another open house. Then we headed to Lee's Summit so I could attend a Leadership Training meeting. Todd and Savannah ran some errands while I was at the meeting. Afterward, we took Savannah to our dear friends' house and then headed out for our dinner (or late lunch) and a movie date. Normally we just take Savannah with us when we go out, so it was kind of nice, but weird, to just be us again. Plus, I don't remember the last time we went to the movies.

On Saturday night we attended our ward's "Rock Band" activity, in which Todd and a few other friends (including one of our little friends acting as security, and doubling as a backup dancer), performed an amazing rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Sunday we went to Church, and we were able to sing with the choir, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love." After church we got dinner ready for the sisters. We made "Girlicotti." It is a version of manicotti, but made out of lasagna noodles, instead of the traditional manicotti noodles. So, Todd named them girlicotti. I also made a red velvet/brownie/cream cheese filling trifle for dessert! We were very grateful to have the sister missionaries in our home. They bring such a feeling of peace and love and always share a wonderful message!

On Monday, a friend and I took lunch (pizza, of course) to our husbands at work. Then in the afternoon while Savannah slept, I prepared for our special Valentine's Dinner. I made crock-pot mushroom pork, lemon risotto, mushroom bisque w/ homemade croutons, and cauliflower w/ cheese. We had red velvet cupcakes for dessert. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon I got a knock at the door, and these were waiting for me in a box:

Tuplips are my favorite flower. I got Todd a picture of the Satchel Paige Memorial Stadium that I had taken, and I wrote him a story: The Parable of the Baseball Player. That sounds a lot more lame than it was.

Savannah has been extra clingy lately. I think she is getting into the "stranger-danger & I-prefer-mommy" stage. She was pretty solemn when we picked her up from our friends' house on Saturday, but then instantly was her old happy-screamy self. It is nice to know that she does in fact know and love us! She is definitely going through a mommy's girl stage, and doesn't like to be left alone. But that's okay, since I don't like being alone either. She turned 7 months this week, and also tried and liked a new food - parsnips. No teeth or forward crawling yet, but she gets herself stuck in all kinds of places from scooting backwards.

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Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T05:50:00.000-06:00

Here is a little thought to get the day started off well! Happy Valentine's Day! (We will post more later). This is a quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf given in a talk called "The Love of God." (It can be found in the November 2009 Ensign on lds.org)

"Think of the purest, most all-consuming love you can imagine. Now multiply that love by an infinite amount—that is the measure of God’s love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that He doesn’t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely."

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February Fun

2011-02-11T14:51:00.001-06:00

I have started to post a couple times, but then decided that I didn't have anything interesting to say. So after a few weeks of not much going on, here are some highlights:

1 trip to St. Louis for the temple

1 eye appointment for Todd

2 opportunities to eat with the sister missionaries (okay, the other will be on Sunday).

7 out of ten completed discs of the audio version of "1776."

2 out of 4 discs listened to of the audio version of "The 5 Love Languages." We are listening to it this month, you know, February being the month of love and all.

1 outing to get frozen yogurt, in combination with our trip to the Kansas City Library. (I think that was still in January).

1 cultural appreciation night...China. We made General Tsao's chicken, chow mein, and homemade fortune cookies. We listened to chinese music and learned about Chinese history and culture. (That was also in January).

2 new foods tried and liked by Savannah, carrots and sweet potatoes. The only ice cube trays that we have, not being occupied by the ice we use, make christmas tree shapes. So, consequently, all of Savannah's baby food is Christmas-tree shaped.

10 painted Savannah toe nails.

1 trip to the doctor at the end of January for shots and to find out that her head is in the 95th %tile, and her height in the 92nd %tile! Her weight is about average at 16lb 11oz.

That's it for now. Happy Valentine's! Love, all 3 of us

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Why I Love Hot Sauce: Just a Theory

2011-01-23T08:06:00.000-06:00

Here's my theory of why I love hot sauce:

There are as many methods of discipline as there are parents in the world. When we were little, if my brothers and I talked back to our parents or said something we shouldn't have, we knew we were going to get it. Dad (or Mom) would go into the kitchen and get the dreaded Tabasco sauce, put a drop on their finger, and put their finger in our mouth. Mean, right? It would be a while before we'd forget about the searing heat on our tongues and would talk back again.

But then, I had an awful idea. Little Todd— clever, little Todd had a wonderful, awful idea. One day, when no one was around, I climbed up on the counter and grabbed the Tabasco. I put a tiny bit on my finger and touched it to my tongue. My eyes watered, but it wasn't so bad doing it to myself. I did it again. And again. And again, until I kind of started to like the flavor and the heat. I built up a tolerance to my parents favorite method of discipline.*

And that's why I think I love hot sauce.

*Had I been really clever, I would have faked that I was still affected by the Tabasco method. Unfortunately, I was too proud of my tactic to not let them know their punishment was no longer threatening, and they switched to soap, which tastes much worse than Tabasco.

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Savannah is 6 Months!

2011-01-18T15:08:00.001-06:00

While in Indiana, Savannah turned 6 months! That week she hit a new milestone...rice cereal! Her first time was pretty funny. We tried it the first night just with formula to see if she would understand the concept, and she did! The next night we did the rice cereal mixed in. She couldn't eat fast enough, she loved it.

Savannah is doing a good job sitting up on her own. She laughs and smiles so much more now, and will hang out for a little bit on her hands and kness. Sometimes she gets stuck there, though, and then starts to cry. I am sure crawling is just around the corner.

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What We Did This Weekend: Indiana Trip

2011-01-18T14:54:00.000-06:00

This weekend we took a trip in the XB to see my family in northern Indiana. We left on Thursday afternoon and drove to St. Louis. We did a little bit of temple work, before heading over to our hotel. We have never stayed in a hotel with Savannah before, so since there was only one room, after we put her down, we went to bed too. That was okay though since we were getting up at 4am the next morning. When we do road trips with Savannah, we like to get an extra early start so that we can get several hours of driving in before she wakes up and is ready to eat.

We got to N. Manchester, Indiana just after noon, and our first stop was Manchester High School. I was able to see a couple teachers, and we saw both boys. It is a small school, so it just so happened that both teachers we were saying hi to had the boys in class then.

On Friday night, we all went to Sandwich Cellar for dinner. I got my favorite: a warm turkey bacon club, and of course, pizza fries on the side.

Saturday we strolled around the main street of Manchester, then headed home for lunch. My mom cooked us up some of her famous meatballs. That evening we drove down to the church for Brady's Eagle Court of Honor. In addition to just going for a visit, we were so excited to be able to combine our trip with this special event. We are so proud of both he and Bryce for getting their Eagle Scout Awards.

On Sunday, we went to church, and then came home and made some deep dish pizzas and cupcakes for dinner. Yum!

We got up early again Monday morning, and headed out. It was a quick trip, but great! And Savannah loves her uncles!

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What We Did This Weekend: We ♥ Buffets

2011-01-11T22:18:00.000-06:00

Last weekend began on Thursday evening when we met up with Lori Thompson, our realtor, at Peach Wave. Yes...our realtor...more on that later. It is always delightful to eat frozen yogurt, even if it is in the dead of winter.

On Friday, after Savannah and I picked up Todd from work, we headed to Lee's Summit for an awesome date night activity of grocery shopping. It was actually much more fun than it sounds because normally it is just Savannah and I doing the shopping, so it was great to have Todd with us. Our last stop was Hyvee for a few final ingredients, which is where we also ate our date night dinner. Yes, very fancy. The Hyvee Chinese and Salad Bar Buffet. Now before you make fun of us, you have to know that it was only $5 for the Hyvee all-you-can-eat Chinese, and $5 for the all-you-can-eat Salad Bar. Who doesn't love a good buffet? And it was good!

So, here's the scoop on the meeting with the realtor. We have decided to put our house on the market, just to see what happens (anyone want to buy it...it is cute!). If it sells, great. If not, then we will probably refinance. We just want to get into a little bit better situation. Not sure if it will happen, but we might as well give it a try. We were going to put our house on the market last year, but it just didn't quite feel right yet. So, we'll see what happens. On Friday night we emailed Lori what we wanted our list price to be, and she set up a time to come over the next afternoon to do all the paperwork! We have an awesome realtor, we just love her. If you need a good one, let us know. She is fabulous and truly cares about her clients. It is so nice to have someone you can count on completely with something as important as selling your house.

Consequently, Saturday morning we worked feverishly to get the house ready for Lori to take pictures. Paperwork & pictures went well. It was worth it just to get our house that pristine, plus it motivated us to take down our Christmas stuff. Your house always looks empty after you take down Christmas stuff.

So now we have been working hard to get all the closets and cabinets organized, the basement cleaned, and everything else tidied up for open houses and showings.

On Sunday, we went to church. Church is now at nine instead of eleven, and it actually is much nicer for Savannah's nap time later. After church we just worked on our callings, prepared lessons, and enjoyed the day of rest after all our hard work.

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Top 10 of 2010

2010-12-26T22:00:00.000-06:00

At this time last year we had high expectations for 2010. There was a lot to look forward to, namely frogs, snails, and puppy dog tails. But as it turned out, the year had a few surprises for us in the form of sugar, spice, and everything nice. So, without further delay, here's a recap of our Top 10 of 2010, in chronological order.

Kissing the O'Neill Blarney Stone (January)
2010 got off to quite a start, though it wasn't exactly the start we had in mind (or had planned and prepared for during the final months of 2009). On January 14 we packed up the car and drove to Nebraska thinking that our lives were about to change. The result of that weekend in O'Neill, NE was life-altering, but in more of a 'refiner's fire' sort of way. Nonetheless, the experiences we had in O'Neill (both good and bad) will always be sacred to our family. Patience is a virtue, but it's not an easy one to come by sometimes.

Baseball Trip to Phoenix (March)
At the end of March, we flew to Phoenix and met up with the entire Reynolds family to see my baby brother Marc play in a baseball tournament. My parents, Weston, Missy, and Ellie; Cameron and his then-fiancee Leila; and Grandma Reynolds all met us at the airport. It was a great trip. The tournament could have gone better, but the weather was amazing, and we even got to spend a few extra days in Arizona visiting the Baumans in Thatcher over Easter weekend. We had so much fun that I think we should make it a sort of family reunion. Soon there won't be any more high school baseball tournaments to go see (which is hard to believe, since my parents are entering their 12th season over the past 17 years), but there's always baseball in Arizona in the Spring. I'm thinking we need to do this again every other year and go to a few Spring Training games as a family. Any takers?

Another June Bride (June)
Oh, they say when you marry in June
You're a bride all your life.
And the bridegroom who marries in June
Gets a sweetheart for a wife.

The Reynolds family tradition continued with another June marriage. This time it was Cameron and his sweetheart Leila on the 19th. We were lucky enough to fly in to Salt Lake City for the occasion. It's always wonderful to attend a live temple sealing. I am always happy for the couple and to be reminded of our own marriage ceremony. With the addition of Leila to the family, the number of girls equaled the number of boys in the Reynolds clan (the balance of which was later swung to the female side, but we'll get to that in a second).

Stake Pioneer Trek (June)
Our summer was pretty busy. The weekend after Cameron and Leila's wedding, we celebrated our own anniversary...on the plains of Nebraska, dressed in pioneer clothes. Brooke and I were asked to be a Ma and Pa for our Stake's Pioneer Trek for Youth Conference. It wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend our anniversary, fighting off mosquitoes and 'sleeping' in a tent, but when the Lord calls, we answer.

Trek was a great experience for us. As far as the physicality of our Trek, it was a pretty tame journey. But as we finished up and were greeted by Brother Brigham in the Salt Lake Valley, I couldn't help but think of our own spiritual trek, wondering where we were along the trail. It can be difficult not knowing how much further we have to go, but the important thing is to have faith and keep pushing forward. The end will come, and the destination is always worth the price of the journey.

Driving Home from Salt Lake City (July)
As it turned out, the end of a personal trek was just around the corner. It wasn't long after Trek that I had the impression to again ask for your fasting and prayers on our behalf so that we might be blessed with a child.

Less than two weeks later, we were in Salt Lake City for a conference at work. I was eating breakfast in the ballroom of the downtown Sheraton, when my phone rang. It was Sam, our adoption agent. He called to tell us we had been chosen and our baby was being born that afternoon—in Overland Park, KS, only 20 minutes from our house, but about 1,100 miles from where we were at that moment. We said goodbye to my co-workers, and my family, and started for Kansas City. We were somewhere in Wyoming when we learned our baby girl had been born. Around 4:00am the next day (about 15 hours later), we pulled into the driveway, threw our stuff on the floor, and collapsed in our bed.

Savannah Natalie Reynolds (July)
Of course the biggest event of the past year was our precious daughter Savannah. We slept for a few hours after our drive back to Kansas City, and when we woke up we drove to the hospital to meet her and her angel birthmother Imma. Savannah was born on a Thursday, and Saturday afternoon she and Imma were discharged from the hospital. Watching Imma lovingly place her in our arms outside the main entrance of the hospital was one of the most selfless acts I've ever witnessed. As we drove away with our daughter in the back seat, we were overcome with emotion. We had to stay at a friend's house in Kansas until we were cleared to return to Missouri, and when we got there we laid our miracle Savannah on the bed, dropped to our knees and thanked our Father in Heaven that our prayers had been answered.

New Jobs (July and August)
When Savannah joined our family, Brooke quit her job as the principal's secretary at Blue Valley Middle School and took on her new responsibilities as a mother. We had always planned that when we had kids, she would stay home with them. We knew it would stretch us financially, going from two mouths to feed on two incomes to three mouths on one income, but we determined that it wasn't our brilliant idea, it was the Lord's. We trusted that we would find a way to get by. Brooke called her employer Monday morning (remember that we had found out we would be parents on Thursday while on vacation) and told them that we got a baby and Tuesday would be her last day. Less than 24 hours later, I received an email from a friend telling me to get a portfolio ready because he knew of a job opening for a designer on his team at work. I finished it in a day, and sent him the link. A week later I had a phone interview. The following week I interviewed with a pair of superiors, and a week after that, I had a job offer (a low-ball offer, but an offer all the same). After thinking it over that weekend, I countered their offer on Monday. They came back with a final offer that afternoon, and suddenly we found ourselves in a much better financial situation.

Both of our new jobs have been challenging, but Brookie's more so than mine. I have had to go to work after having had the blessing of working from home for four years for WGU, but Brookie has had the more difficult transition. She does an amazing job raising Savannah, and I'm grateful for everything she does for our family. She has also begun to realize the tremendous talent she has for being a home economist.

Court Date (September)
Although we wouldn't mind if our next child is born in Hawaii or Arizona, thus forcing us to spend a few weeks in those states waiting for paperwork to clear, we also wouldn't mind if all of our children are born in the great state of Kansas. Not long after Savannah was born, our adoption agent phoned to tell us some good news: Kansas adoptions are finalized between 30 and 60 days after placement. We had been told that it would be six months before we could go to court, as per the policy in Missouri. We were thrilled to learn that Savannah would be legally ours much sooner than that. Our Court Date with Savannah was Monday, September 13, 2010–a day we plan to annually recognize by having lunch at the Olive Garden, as we did that day after the judge declared that Savannah Natalie Reynolds to legally be our daughter.

Temple Sealing Weekend (September)
Having our adoption finalized in court earlier than expected was a wonderful blessing, but an even bigger blessing was finding out that we had been granted permission to take Savannah to the temple to be sealed to us once she was legally ours. To help put this in perspective, had we needed to wait six months like we presumed, we would now be anticipating her six-month birthday three weeks from now. It was a wonderful blessing to be able to seal Savannah to our family. We were very fortunate to have been surrounded by so many loved ones on that special day. We had friends and family there from Utah, Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois. We love eternal families. We felt like Savannah's adoption wasn't fully "finalized" until she was sealed to us for time and all eternity. When that day finally came, we felt a great burden lifted off our shoulders. It was the culmination of the entire two-year experience of our first adoption. Our day in the temple in St. Louis was a day we will never forget. Our prayers (and yours) had been answered, and we had a family.

Utah in December
Having had our Temple sealing performed in the St. Louis temple, there were still many members of our family that had not met our daughter Savannah. We were able to introduce her to almost all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins, and great grandparents when we went to Utah for a week at the beginning of December. It seemed like nearly every second of our trip was scheduled as we tried to spend time with both sides of our families living in the Beehive State. We also celebrated Christmas early with the Reynolds family at my parents house. We were barely able to fit everything in our suitcases when we came home. It's always a good time when we're able to see our families.

There you have it…
After a bit of a shaky start, 2010 turned out to be just as exciting as we thought it was going to be. 2011 is shaping up to be a year of firsts for us–first words, first steps, first birthdays and more.

We are so grateful for all of our friends and family. We are getting to be quite spread out, literally from coast to coast, from South Carolina to California, Utah to Indiana, Arizona to Pennsylvania. We feel so blessed to have so many people in our lives that we can call our friends. Here's hoping 2011 brings more opportunities for us to cross paths.

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Merry Christmas

2010-12-26T19:55:00.000-06:00

The Reynolds Family Christmas of 2010:

Beginning on December 1st, we did something related to Christmas or the season each day...read a Christmas book, sing a song before bedtime, watch a Christmas movie, do service, make treats, etc. We will just include the highlights from the last few days.

Thursday, December 23rd: Made Christmas goodie dough, ruined caramel, and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (but only half because we fell asleep). The ward had a great activity planned at the Visitor's Center in Independence, but we had to miss, due to Savannah getting a cold.

Friday, December 24th: Finished How the Grinch Stole Christmas, made and delivered Christmas goodies, read The Night Before Christmas, read Luke 2, sang a Christmas carol, read about Christmas traditions of Church leaders from the Ensign, opened (again) our Christmas PJ's, and ate our traditional Christmas Eve meal of homemade pizza. This year's was a delicious Chicago Deep Dish pizza filled with cheese, green peppers, and mushrooms, and topped with the sauce, tomatoes, pepperoni, and sausage. We also watched Home Alone 2. A classic.

Saturday, December 25th: While waiting for Savannah to wake up, we made a few Christmas dinner foods, and ate our Christmas breakfast of German Pancakes. When she woke up, we fed her, and then opened presents. Santa brought Savannah some puzzles and we got her a beautiful Kanga. We decided that we will get her a Kanga each year for Christmas and that it would be something that she could collect, and one day use however she would like: make a quilt, make clothes, make curtains or other projects, etc. This year's was beautiful blue and white, with blue Christmas trees along the edge, and bells in the middle. The Swahili proverb on it means, "Blessings for Christmas and a happy new year." We thought that was very appropriate for her first Christmas. She now has three Kangas: one from us, one from Mary Kay Green, and one from Imma. Savannah, though, was really only interested in the wrapping paper and bows. For the rest of the day we called family, made and ate our traditional Christmas dinner, and visited with some friends.

This year was much different for Todd and I. And much more meaningful. We both commented how it took a little longer for us to get into the Christmas spirit. We were both feeling the constraints of time and budget. But as Christmas neared, and as our desires and efforts to keep things simple and Christ-centered increased, so too did the feelings of love and peace. While the gifts were few and simple between us, we couldn't have asked for a more wonderful Christmas. My favorite part was actually opening a little box we had been working on all month. It was filled with pieces of paper on which we had written down things we had given to Christ during the month. Just simple things, but special. It will be a tradition we continue with our family as we grow. This year, we have drawn closer as a family, and closer to the Lord. We have felt His peace. We have learned more about parental love, particularly of our loving Heavenly Father.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on His name should be saved."

We are grateful for the example of our Savior, of His love, forgiveness, and mercy. We are grateful for a chance during this next year to more fully try to model our lives after His. A wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

Here's some pictures: PJ's on Christmas morning, Savannah opening presents, Savannah with her baby doll given from Grandma, and two little outfits from Imma.

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Christmas Stockings

2010-12-23T15:34:00.000-06:00

A recently completed project: Christmas stockings. I don't take all the credit...prayer was involved. Not so much with this one, but some other projects, I would get so discouraged, and frustrated. That's when I knew I couldn't do it on my own. With something as small and simple as sewing, over the past couple months I have been learning more and more that the Lord's hand is involved in our lives, that He desires to help us when we ask, and that He wants us to develop talents for the benefit of others, as well as for our own happiness. I look forward to many happy sewing projects in the future!

And how fun that there are THREE stockings.

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Savannah Visits Santa

2010-12-23T15:22:00.003-06:00

Last Friday night we ventured out to Bass Pro Shops to get a picture of Savannah with Santa Claus. For some reason, I thought it would be nice to have that picture of her first Christmas. We waited in line for an hour, and would have waited another hour, but it was getting late, and Culvers was still calling (so was Savannah's bedtime). So we left our place in line, and headed out for some delicious burgers.

We decided to try again Saturday morning, and thought we would get there right at the beginning. We did, but we were still about an hour away from him. I know, we probably could have just gone to the mall, and paid the $5 for a picture. Being a Saturday morning, though, we decided to stick it out. Luckily, they had "A Christmas Story" playing (no doubt for the parents' benefit). Finally we got up to see Santa, and the picture was worth it! Not smiling...but at least not crying! And Santa was extra impressed with her little outfit, and Mom and Dad got to eat the candy cane!

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Sustained by the Spirit

2010-12-15T20:46:00.000-06:00

Warning: If you aren't a fan of sappy posts, this one isn't for you.

Here's an excerpt from an entry in my journal from last month:

"Being at work all day is difficult. By the time I get home there are only three hours left before she goes to bed. But even with work there are two moments with Savannah that I cherish: waking up and putting her down for bed...

"Putting her to bed soon became my everyday job since it is the only feeding I am home for during the week. It can be a struggle getting her to eat sometimes, but most of the time she does great. I sing to her while feeding her, and sometimes I need to stand up and feed her towards the end of the bottle. She’s infatuated with our ceiling light for some reason, so standing seems to help.

"Then when the bottle is empty and she has burped, I get to wrap her up and put her to bed. Brooke kisses her goodnight and I take Savannah into her bedroom. That is where I sing her the “patinhos” song before kissing her and placing her in the crib until morning, when she’s all smiles again.

Soon after that entry she starting throwing a fit each night when I'd try to feed her. I'd hand her to Brooke and she'd calm right down and eat just fine for her. I tried again the following night, and again, she screamed at me until I gave her up to Brookie.

Because of our trip to Utah, tonight was the first night in a long time that Brookie wasn't home for Savannah's bedtime feeding. I tried being sneaky and feeding her earlier than usual, because it had worked once before. Unfortunately, I only fooled her for two ounces out of her usual eight before she caught on and screamed for her mama.

I knew she couldn't go to bed having eaten so little, and I knew it was going to be rough. I said a quick little prayer inside my head while I tried to calm her down that I would not lose my patience.

Savannah screamed, wriggled, convulsed, cried, and then screamed some more until she was so tired she'd forget about who was trying to feed her and eat about an ounce before she'd remember, and start over with the screaming, wriggling, etc.

That went on for about 50 minutes. By that time she had eaten six and a half ounces and was basically too asleep to eat any more. I called it a victory, wrapped her up, sang our Portuguese lullaby and put her down for the night.

Despite the fight she put up, when it was over, I was grateful for the Lord's help. I managed to stay patient, and refrain from getting frustrated, and I know it was because of my small silent prayer for help.

Tonight I experienced a very small dose of the spiritual support that Brookie receives from the Lord each day as she raises Savannah. What she does all day, every day, while I'm at work is hard. We both know that the Spirit sustains her, and now I've had a little taste of what that feels like.

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Silly Savannah

2010-12-12T21:50:00.005-06:00

Four new posts tonight! :) Enjoy!

Her coat...nice

Daddy did her hair this day, while Mommy was doing some debate tournament judging. Looks like some good daddy-daughter bonding time.

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Salt Lake Visit

2010-12-12T21:19:00.006-06:00

We recently had the opportunity to visit Salt Lake to see family and friends. And we had a very fun, full visit. Here is what we did:

Day 1: Left the house right after seminary got over so that we could get to the airport in time to feed Savannah breakfast. And it was good that we left extra early because by the time we walked into the gate area they were already boarding...and you don't want to waste those Southwest Airlines A boarding passes! She did pretty well on all the flights; we were so glad! When we got to Salt Lake, after going home, the first place Todd went was, of course, Cafe Rio to get us a salad to share.

Day 2: We headed to Alpine to see my Grandparents and Aunt and Cousin. We had a wonderful day together. And how glad I was to see my Grandpa hold and play with my daughter. That evening we went to Wheeler Farm for a tractor ride through their woods and then ate soup for dinner with the whole family. Cam & Leila slept over that night too at Mom & Dads. Here she is playing with my cousin Reva.

Day 3: Mom put together a wonderful open house, held at our Cousin Wendy's house. We had a wonderful time seeing all the family! That afternoon and evening we headed up to Ogden for my Grammie's Christmas Party. In order to get your white elephant gift, you have to perform a little talent. Savannah showed off her rolling over skills, standing skills, and just being cute! Todd and I tried to sing a Forgotten Carols song, but that didn't exactly work out...

Day 4: Went to Church, saw many wonderful friends, and then had the Reynolds Family Christmas dinner (with turkey, stuffing, and all the works) and presents (for us anyway). Savannah actually did a great job opening, until she got too tired. She loves the little baby doll that Grandma gave her. She immediately started giving it slobbery kisses all over it's face.

Day 5: Took pictures with Savannah and Ellie and went back to Alpine in the evening to see another Aunt and Grandparents again for dinner.

Day 6: Todd and I went to the Salt Lake Temple, and took the opportunity to walk around temple square briefly while Grandma was watching Savannah. Later that evening, some of Todd's friends came by for a little pizza party and visit. His friends are known as the "Loser Club"...cool, huh?

Day 7: Went back to the airport to come back home. We are thankful to see all of our family, many which we had not seen in a long time. I also had the goal of Savannah getting pictures with all of her great-grandparents while there, and we were successful!

Overall, a great visit, with many firsts for Savannah: snow, mountains, new family and friends, airplane ride, opening presents, tractor ride, sleeping away from her own bed, new formula half way through the trip, meeting 6 great grandparents, and a new hairdo compliments of Grandma.

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Thanksgiving Day & Day After

2010-12-12T20:42:00.003-06:00

As much as we love cooking, we haven't ever done a Thanksgiving Day at our house, so we were very grateful and very excited for some wonderful friends to join us on one of Todd's favorite holidays. We were able to have the sister missionaries, the Calls, and Imma & Liz over for the meal and we had a great time! We were most excited to make the stuffings. We hadn't made homemade stuffing before, and we made an apple/cranberry kind, and a sausage/sage kind. Yummy! I still would like to go out to eat some year for Thanksgiving, just for the fun of it. But I am not sure if we would like it very much, since we really love cooking. The only real benefit I can see would be that you would avoid the whole clean up thing...but that really isn't that bad for someone like me who loves cleaning. Crazy, I know.

The Day After Thanksgiving, we did several of our regular traditions. After feeding Savannah, we headed out to do some shopping. We perused the ads on Thanksgiving, but there wasn't really anything that we were definitely out to buy. But I still think it is fun to be out there with all the shoppers, and we did get a few things for our brothers. After the morning, we headed home to put Savannah down for a nap. While Savannah was eating lunch, Todd went to get our Christmas tree from Hy-vee. We always get real ones...a tradition that I always had growing up. While Savannah slept, we put up the tree and our Christmas decorations.

After her nap, we went back out to go get some fabric for new stockings that I am going to make. We have been enjoying using our talents as we have been preparing for this Christmas. We have also had a lot of fun thinking of some wonderful traditions that we would like to add to our other traditions, just about how to keep Christmas Christ-centered and very simple. And we are so excited to be able to share them with Savannah.

We will do a Christmas/2010 wrap-up blog post as the year comes closer to an end.

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We are thankful for...

2010-12-12T20:31:00.002-06:00

We have to play catch up with a few of our blog posts...

Here are some things we were thankful for during the month of November (in no particular order):

Restoration of the Gospel
The Holy Ghost
Love at Home
Our Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement
Todd and Savannah
Naptime and Playtime
Music
Good Health
Employment
Being Able to Pray to a Loving Heavenly Father
Family and Friends
The Spirit
Opportunities to Serve
Our Little Brothers
Todd's Calling as a Seminary Teacher
Food
Clean Water
Colors
Internet
Education
Pumpkins
Laugther
The Baumanolds...you know who you are
The Gift of Faith
Brookie is Able to Stay Home with Savannah
Weekends!
A Good Night's Sleep
General Conference
The Priesthood
Our Good Friends
Moms
The Beauty of the Earth
My Two Girls
Gift of Life
Kind People
Good Weather
Imma
Family
Smiles & Laughter
United States of America
Talents
Thanksgiving Day!
The Hand of God
A Home
A Mode of Transportation
Temple
Date Nights
Adoption
Kansas City
Visiting Teaching
A Ward Cozy Home
Scriptures
Prophets
We are Given Strength to Wake Up
God's Patience with Us

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Good Morning Savannah

2010-11-12T20:30:00.002-06:00

We are THANKFUL to have this to look forward to each morning!

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By Request: Buffalo Chicken Chili

2010-11-06T13:39:00.001-05:00

This year we decided to enter our ward's chili cookoff, but first, we needed a good chili recipe.

The first one we tried out was called Fiery Chicken Chili. It. Was. Hot. Of course, that could have been due to our unfamiliarity with the ingredients–specifically chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Brooke bought a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, but we didn't know if all we needed was one from the can, or if the whole can consisted of one chopped up chipotle. We ended up throwing in the entire can, sauce and all. It smelled delicious. My mouth waters just thinking back on it now. But after that batch, we're pretty sure that we only needed one, maybe two of the chunks of pepper in that can.

Then I had an idea. We'd come up with the Sloppy Buffalo because of how much I like the flavor of hot wing sauce. What if I made a chili based on that sauce? I Googled it first and found that Rachael Ray had already "invented" it. Dang. Oh well.

Still, there were plenty of things I thought we should change from here recipe. Her's had no beans. Ours had to have beans. Her's had chopped up pieces of carrots and celery (because that's what you have on the side when you're eating hot wings), but when we did that the first time we made it, it tasted good, but it was a little off-putting to see those two ingredients in my bowl of chili. Lastly, her recipe was more of a stew (I think she calls it a stoup?) than I wanted.

So, here's what we did:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1–2 lbs. ground chicken breast (we just bought chicken breast and put it in the food processor for a few minutes before cooking it–instant ground chicken)
1 large carrot
2 celery ribs
1 onion
5 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
¾–1 cup chicken stock
½–¾ cup of your favorite hot wing sauce (we use Cookie's)
1 15oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of pinto beans
1 can of black beans

Heat the oil and melt the butter in a big pot. Add the chicken and brown it, breaking up the clumps as you go. Next, add the celery, carrots, garlic, and onion (We processed this combination of ingredients too, but that is unnecessary. The reason we did was so that I didn't have a big piece of celery staring at me from my bowl of chili). Also add the paprika, the bay leaf, and some salt and pepper. Cook it while stirring for a few minutes. Add the chicken stock, the hot sauce, the crushed tomatoes, and both kinds of beans, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the chili for about 25 minutes.

I liked to top mine off with a little bit of blue cheese dressing. Yum.

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First Halloween

2010-11-04T11:51:00.001-05:00

Finally fixed the problem we were having with the images...
Todd and I love dressing up for Halloween. We have had some good costumes over the years: Sponge Bob & Patrick (of course, no one knew that I was Patrick), the Princess & the Frog, Mac Geniuses, an email and attachment, just to name a few. This year, with the addition of Savannah, we now had to pick something that involved three people. We were going to be the three blind mice, but after I saw an Anne Geddes picture of a baby as a daisy, Todd suggested that she be a sunflower. Of course, we were gardeners.

With Halloween on a Sunday this year, most of the festivities were on Friday and Saturday. We had our first babysitter on Friday night (Savannah slept the whole time) while we went to a murder mystery. Neither of us were the murderer, luckily.

On Saturday, we dressed in our gardener/sunflower costumes and went to the church's Trunk or Treat or whatever you call it. Todd made some chili for the competition, and it was so tasty! A buffalo chicken chili.

On Sunday, we had a few friends over for a "spooky" dinner. Eyeballs and Brains (meatballs and spaghetti), bloody bones (bone-shaped breadsticks with marinara sauce), monster booger juice (green lemonade), witches fingers (peanut butter mixture around pretzels), and graveyard pudding. We were so excited about the graveyard pudding. We found some gummy skulls that were perfect for a hidden surprise in the pudding. Only two trick-or-treaters this year and they were sisters, and we told them to come over...

A great first Halloween for Miss Savannah!
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A Few Firsts

2010-10-27T13:34:00.003-05:00

Here are a few firsts for Savannah this week:

1) Standing up. Her legs are now strong enough to be able to stand while we help to hold her hands. It is adorable because she sticks her head out so you can actually see that she has a neck.

2) Rolling over. She has figured out how to get from her tummy to her back (as long as one of her arms is already underneath her). We will call to her so that she tries to look at us and then she wiggles her way to her back.

3) Sitting up. Kind of. She will sit unassisted for a few seconds before toppling to the side or falling to the front.

4) Getting sick. Her first little cold.

Savannah is getting good at bringing her hands to her mouth, she smiles all the time, and we think she is getting very close to figuring out the laughing thing! She loves to listen to books, take baths, and go on walks. She is an outdoors girl!

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Recent Date Nights

2010-10-17T07:54:00.000-05:00

We are slowly coming to the realization that Savannah in large part determines whether or not we have a good date night. The past two are a great illustration of this principle.

Two weeks ago we decided to check out a new Indian restaurant in Lee's Summit called Mirchies. Neither of us had ever really been to an Indian eating establishment, which made choosing Mirchies a little difficult (especially with established favorites like Culver's also in the running for where to eat that night).

When we actually went in, after some last-minute deliberation in the parking lot, I was put somewhat at ease. It looked like so many other restaurants we had been to because it was following the "Café Rio" formula. If you've never been to a Café Rio, then just think of Chipotle, only cooler, with better food, and bigger portions. Basically, you stand in line and then they help you build your order, piece by piece. At Café Rio it's black or pinto beans; what kind of meat; and hot, medium, or mild salsa. At Mirchies it was coconut rice or brown rice, what kind of meat, and what kind of sauce.

The employees there were very nice, and didn't mind answering a few questions from some first-timers. We ended up with a bowl of coconut rice covered by a little of each meat they offer (pork, chicken, and beef), and topped with a cucumber-yogurt sauce. We also ordered some plain naan on the side.

The food was delicious. I was totally hooked and couldn't stop talking about how good it was and how impressed I was with this new place. The next time we go, we're bringing friends, which is the highest compliment we can pay a restaurant. The only trouble was that Savannah made us eat our dinner in the car.

For some unknown reason, she was extremely fussy that night, which turned into screaming, which made Brooke take her outside to calm her down. When they came back and she sat down, Savannah resumed her disruptive behavior, so we gathered up our food and went to the car. But even then, Savannah couldn't be left in her car seat, so we took turns holding her while the other one ate dinner.

The food was great, but the date night, not so much.

This past Friday was entirely opposite. Savannah must have approved of Blanc Burgers in Leawood, KS, because she was calm the entire time, allowing us to have a nice dinner together. We never even had to pick her up. She just quietly sat in her carseat, looking at the surrounding scenery. Part of the difference may be that we were seated on the patio, and Savannah loves being outside. When we got home, Brookie thanked me for a great date night—and I thanked Savannah.

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Even Miracles Take A Little Time

2010-10-03T17:28:00.009-05:00

I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me, I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

On Saturday, September 25, Savannah Natalie was sealed to us for time and all eternity in the St. Louis temple.

The events of the weekend began on Thursday when the Bauman's arrived from Arizona. How thankful we are that they came! We miss them and their family dearly, and it meant SO much to us to have them with us. After the airport, Panera was our first stop for some salads, soups, and mac n cheese. That evening we cooked up some good lettuce wraps and spent time catching up.

On Friday, after breakfast with the Baumans, Savannah and I went to greet the Reynolds family at the airport. Ellie was so excited to meet her very first cousin! Apparently she had been talking about going on the airplane to meet Savannah for awhile. After they headed off to get their rental car, we waited for my Grandma, aunt, and cousin who were arriving about an hour later. After lots of hugs and kisses, everyone got settled into their hotels, and we all headed to Oklahoma Joe's for dinner. Some great BBQ was had by all, and Grandpa got his first hold of Miss Savannah.

On Saturday morning, we headed out early with Grandma to get to the temple by 10:15. When we arrived, my family greeted us. My youngest brother Brennan (6) had written a book about "his niece" and how he loved her! Adorable! Then "Grammie" and "Grandma" headed into the infants room in the temple to get Savannah fed and ready, while Todd and I took care of paperwork. Many friends and family were there with us for that special occasion, and we are so grateful for their sacrifices to be with us. It was a beautiful, simple, exciting, and joy-filled event.

After the sealing and some pictures outside, we all headed to the Old Spaghetti Factory for some pasta in their big banquet room. Despite a scheduling mistake on my part, the lunch was wonderful and we highly recommend them for any large family or friend events. They were very accommodating and the food and service was excellent!

The drive home was special as Todd and I reflected on our little family, the Savior, and the Plan of Happiness.

On Sunday, we prepared for the blessing. She looked beautiful in her little dress, which was also my dress as a baby. It was wonderful to be surrounded by family and friends for that special moment. Todd did a beautiful job, he sounded like such a happy daddy, and we are so thankful to have that special blessing for her to remember always.

Imma came to church also, and we are glad that she was able to meet family and friends. After church, we served up some great pulled pork sandwiches for lunch, and spent the evening playing games, talking, and taking pictures. On Monday, after visiting a few church history sites, it was time to say good-bye to everyone who had come into town. The long anticipated weekend was over, but we felt such an outpouring of love and support from our family and friends.

It is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that our families can be together forever. I can't say that the last six years have been easy, they have been hard. Every time mother's day rolled around, or a baby blessing, or a baby shower, seeing someone expecting, etc., it was hard not to dwell on our own hearts desires. I know that our trials are given to us and designed specifically for us to help us return to live with our Heavenly Father. In no other way can we come closer to the Savior. But we must put our trust in Him. We must know that whatever we go through is designed to help us better know the Savior and know how to follow Him, to help us become like Him.

Heartaches are a part of this life, but casting our burdens upon Him gives us power to complete our purposes. Heartaches can be replaced with joy when we wait patiently for blessings and answers to prayers. By putting forth our faith, fasting, praying, and ever-striving to follow Christ, we are strengthened during times of difficulty. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Now we have a new focus. How to teach her in this every-changing world of shifting values. How to keep her safe. How to keep her healthy and strong. How to teach her of the Savior's love. This is why we have prayer, scriptures, and prophets.

Thank you again with all our hearts to everyone who has fasted, prayed, and yearned with us over the last several years. We are grateful and blessed because of you.

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Happy Birthday to me

2010-09-19T21:10:00.002-05:00

On Friday the birthday celebrations began when our friends took me to Zona Rosa for some window shopping and lunch. Of course we couldn't leave without getting some frozen yogurt. Thanks girls!

Friday night, Todd, Savannah, and I ate at Sunset Grill in Overland Park. Todd got the Guacamole Burger w/ Fries and I got the Paradise Chicken Sandwich (yum!) which came with a salad...of course. He had also planned on us going to the 1st Annual Midwest Hot Air Balloon Fest, but Savannah had started to get fussy. Funny how your priorities change. That's okay, I still got to see about 6 hot air balloons up in the air. I love hot air balloons. As a kid my mom would always take me to the Provo Freedom Fest Balloons during their 4th of July celebration. Ever since then, seeing hot air balloons makes me happy!

On Saturday morning, (after eating the homemade McGriddle sandwiches for breakfast) Savannah and I went to the Stake YW volleyball tournament for a bit. The girls even sang to me and treated me to a birthday cupcake!

Later that morning, Todd and I went to the Farmer's Market...if you haven't been, please go! It is the best place for produce, baked goods, pita bread, kansas city culture, etc. We love it! If you want someone to go with, let us know!

This visit to the farmer's market we came home with a baguette from Bloom, salsa mixes, some cherry tomatoes, and the world's best birthday carrot cake cupcake. See...

Sorry, I thought to take a picture of it after I had devoured it.

After the farmer's market, Todd had another surprise. We went to Apple Fest at Deanna Rose Farmstead. Note to self...much more farm than apple fest. Okay, we didn't really know why it was called the apple fest. Anyway, I was very surprised that he took us there since Todd is not a fan of really any animal. And not that I am a huge animal-lover myself, but I had wanted to go there. I think it will be a great outing in the future w/ Savannah. Definitely worth the trip, especially on a weekday when there is free admission.

After the farm, we hit Chick-Fil-A for lunch on the way home.

Another wonderful surprise, Todd make me "Brookies." They are brownies, wrapped in sugar cookies. Yum! I was very impressed!

The best surprise of the day was a beautiful new temple dress Todd & Savannah got me for this coming weekend! It was a great birthday...And I was so grateful to have it to share with friends & my little family!

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Happy Court Day!

2010-09-15T04:55:00.000-05:00

Legalese has never been so beautiful as this:

"IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the adoption of BABY GIRL MINCHUM, a minor child, by TODD JEFFREY REYNOLDS and BROOKE KALENE REYNOLDS, husband and wife, be and hereby is granted; that said child is hereby adopted as the child of said petitioners; and that the name of the child is hereby changed to SAVANNAH NATALIE REYNOLDS."

That is the last paragraph of the "Decree of Adoption" we brought home with us from the Johnson County Courthouse after our adoption hearing on Monday. The proceedings went fairly quickly. Once the judge came into the courtroom and started, it only took about 10 minutes. What made us anxious was that before he came in and adjudicated our petition for adoption, he poked his head in and asked to see our lawyer, Sarah Johnston, in his office. He kept her back there for about 15 minutes, though it seemed much longer. The entire time we tried to stay positive, but it was hard not to think that there was something wrong.

Sarah's look of "sheesh" when she returned was followed by a smile and a whispered declaration of "we passed." Moments after she rejoined us, the Honorable Judge Lawrence E. Sheppard entered the courtroom and we all stood. He said a few things about our case, swore us in, and directed Sarah to question the "witnesses." She asked me a few simple yes/no questions like, "Have you come to love this child?" and "Do you feel you have the resources to care, provide for, and educate this child?" When she was finished, Judge Sheppard made a few "notes" about the situation with the putative birthfathers, and how, without any type of paternity testing being done, we could not actually be sure that either one of them were the birthfather.

We thought he was leading up to a question about what we would tell Savannah if she ever asked about who her father was—or worse, we thought he might not finalize the adoption until we had some DNA proof of paternity. Instead, he mentioned the signed acknowledgements and relinquishment paperwork we had from both men, and explained how that gives the court jurisdiction to decree this adoption.

His decision is kind of fuzzy in my mind. I fully expected a gavel moment when we knew that Savannah was officially and legally ours. Instead, he said some jargon, and put the court in recess, then Sarah asked "if it would please the court, the parents would like to take a picture with your honor." We were like, wait, that's it? We're done? I totally feel jipped that there was no gavel involved in our day in court.

Here's an awkward picture of us with the judge.

Here's a picture the judge took of us with Sam (our agent) and Sarah (our lawyer).

And, in honor of Court Day and the fact that Savannah is 2 months old today, here's a little video of the pictures we've taken of her in the past month, but never posted.

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5K for My Birthday

2010-09-05T20:54:00.000-05:00

Saturday was my birthday. It's no big deal if you forgot, because I probably forgot yours. But here's the nice thing about our birthdays: my birthday is a two-week warning for Brookie's birthday. So no excuses there.

Brookie always sees to it that my birthdays are special occasions. I was thinking back on some highlights from the past few, and came up with this short list.

27 - My first birthday in the Kansas City area. At the time, we were living in an apartment in Overland Park. I was sick on my birthday and still trying to figure out how sick-time worked when I couldn't stay home, because I was already home. Brookie had just started her job at Blue Valley Middle School, and she surprised me that afternoon by having a pre-paid pizza delivered to our apartment for my lunch.

28 - By my next birthday we had become really good friends with the Baumans and they came to dinner with us at Waldo Pizza to celebrate. It was really fun to have John, Julie, and their kids there with us. I love Waldo Pizza, but the highlight of this birthday was after dinner we went back to their house to hang out, and Julie whipped out my birthday cake, which was inside a pizza box and was decorated to look just like a pizza—easily one of the top three birthday cakes I've ever had.

29 - One thing I remember about this birthday was going to The Dish in Liberty, MO for the closest thing to actual Chicago deep dish pizza outside of the Windy City.

30 - Thirty. That's enough of a highlight. But Brookie took things to another level when we started celebrating my birthday a month early. The 30 Days of Todd were awesome. And I especially loved the letters and lists of 30 things about Todd that friends and family wrote and sent to Brookie. I had also told her that I wanted to celebrate with friends again this year. The Baumans had moved back to Arizona, but by this time we had made lots of new friends in Missouri and pretty much all of them came to dinner with us at RC's on Saturday, and then came to our house Sunday night for cake and ice cream, and then some came bowling with us on Labor Day too.

Which brings us to this year. One of my gifts from Brookie was the registration fee for the Royals Charities 5K on the morning of my birthday. It is such a cool race, and the best part is that the race ends on the field at Kauffman Stadium. This was my second 5K. The first was about six years ago when I ran in the BYU Homecoming 5K, when I promptly puked after crossing the finish line.

For this race, I was pretty sure that I was in better shape than I was six years ago—but I was still a little worried about puking. Brookie asked that I please not puke on the field, and I happily obliged. The race started at the right field gate. There were some volunteers on the edge of the mass of people lined up for the race that were holding up numbers: 5, 6, 7, 8, etc. I decided that they must indicate mile times, so I put myself between 7 and 8.

The race began and I was trotting behind the crowd. Before too long some space was opening up and I was able to start getting into my stride, which was probably more 7-minute mile than 8. I was passing people and then, just after rounding Arrowhead Stadium, I strained my calf. Not cool. My calf will usually hurt after running for a while, but not usually until the end. I thought we were maybe a mile in, so the sharp pain in my calf came really early. Turns out it was really early, because after a few minutes of hobbling along (skipping?) and being passed by all of those people I had just passed, I came upon the 1 mile marker. Dang.

Most people running were doing so at a very even 4/4 rhythm. I was running in triplet—more of a jazz beat to my stride, which I had to cut back considerably. It hurt, but I couldn't stop because I had been looking forward to standing on the field all week. I kept skipping along and I noticed that I slowly began catching up with everyone I passed and then been passed by. Because I had to slow myself down, I was never really winded. Towards the end I started to get tired, but then realized that we were nearing the stadium again and the race was nearly over.

When I got to the stadium, volunteers told us to run down the tunnel that led on to the field through the Royals' bullpen in right field. As I neared the opening to the bullpen I'd be lying if I denied that the words, "Now pitching for the Kansas City Royals..." didn't cross my mind... at least twice. Despite the pain in my leg and my crippled stride, I was grinning ear to ear as I ran on the warning track along the outfield fence to the finish line. I was pretty much in heaven. Then, I saw Brookie and Savannah near the finish line in the stands waving, and I was sure I was in heaven.

My final time was 24:40, which I was extremely pleased with considering I ran most of the race with a bum leg. Also, not a single child passed me during the race. Six years ago I remember being very winded in the second half of the race and seeing a bunch of skinny junior high kids pass me. This time, I was the one doing the passing as we neared the end. And, perhaps best of all, no barfing this time. But, knowing that I wasn't at 100%, I was a little disappointed because I probably could have been around 22 minutes at least. There's always next year I guess.

Later that night we went to the Royals game (our second one of the week). All participants in the 5K received tickets and could buy extra tickets for friends and family, so we took advantage of that. The race was great. The game was awesome. One of my favorite players even hit a homerun for me on my birthday.

Oh, but I forgot one thing. You may have noticed a distinct pizza pattern in my birthdays. Brookie and Savannah took me out to Waldo Pizza on Friday night. The tradition continues.

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It's Official

2010-09-01T03:47:00.006-05:00

It's official. Savannah is a Kansas City Royals fan...we have a certificate saying so.

On Monday we took Savannah to her first Royals game. It was Eagle Scout night, so in addition to one free and one cheap ticket, we got some free hot dogs, chips, and bottles of water with the rest of the area Eagle Scout-Royals Fans.

We got to the park about 5:15 or so, and got in the hot dog line (oh, Todd got a T-shirt too!). After we ate our food, we headed into the stadium and straight to the Guest Services office to pick up the "official" certificate stating that Savannah is now a fan. It is a fun service the Royals offer to first time attendees (kids...I don't think they give certificates to the adults, sorry).

Next we headed to a few of the different fan stores in the stadium, including the Kids Zone to try to find her a simple pink Royals shirt. No luck. All the pink ones were too big! We had someone take a picture of us with the Royals Statue of Liberty, and then we headed to our seats.

Savannah did great at the game, and Todd had to hold her, of course, so that I could keep score. Despite the Royals loss, it was still a fun game, and then it made it easy to leave early so we could still get some kind of bedtime in for the night.

A few other things Savannah loves: swinging on our porch swing, going on walks, playing peek a boo (but she doesn't really get it yet), listening to books and singing, dancing with daddy, and now baseball. Good thing. We should keep track now of how many games she goes to. I plan on teaching her how to keep score, but... we'll wait until next year to start that.

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One Month and Already Working

2010-08-17T07:46:00.000-05:00

Savannah hit the one-month mark on Sunday. Hard to believe. If I would have been thinking straight, I would have taken a picture of her. Instead, I took a picture Monday morning, which is exactly one month from the first time we saw here. She and Brookie are dusting while showcasing the wonderful Tanzanian Kanga she was given. She's changed a little bit, don't you think?

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Best. Find. Ever.

2010-08-09T07:24:00.000-05:00

For those of you that just want to see cute pictures of the new addition to our little family, we took this before church yesterday:

But this post isn't about her. All she does right now is sleep, poop, and eat (not necessarily in that order).

Saturday we had a mission. In the ongoing effort to transform our multi-purpose room into a legit nursery, we have given away our TV, sold the IKEA TV stand, sold our futon, bought a secretary's desk that is in use as a dresser, set up the crib, and painted. The missing piece was a rocking chair. Being the frugal parents that we are, we checked three thrift stores in two states, and found a great rocking chair that looks great in the nursery. Now all we need to complete the room is some custom art for the walls. Luckily, we know a guy that can do that for us, if he can find the time.

Our new rocking chair was a good find. But it wasn't the best. find. ever. That was found at our first stop, a thrift store in downtown Lee's Summit on 3rd Street. We were looking for a chair, and then I suggested we check out their lamps as well. And then, on our way out of the store I saw this:

Sitting on a shelf, totally not by the rest of the small appliances, was this slightly-dated KitchenAid food processor. It was big—11-cups. It was sturdy. It was clean. And, it was something I've wanted for a very, very long time. I've been pricing food processors forever. For over six years we've been making due with the 1-1/2 cup mini-choppers. I think we've gone through three of them in that span. Each time a motor on one would burn out, we couldn't quite justify the cost for a nice big adult food processor, so we'd buy another mini-chopper for under $20.

I didn't see a price on the machine. I picked it up and looked at it from every angle. Still no price. I also noticed that there wasn't a blade. But, I thought, the blades aren't too expensive. For the right price, I might buy this and buy new blades separately.

Turns out, I had been blinded by the sight of such a fine piece of culinary appliance—the full set of blades were sitting right next to it in a large plastic container. Written in red wax pencil on the outside of the container was the price. Guess what it said.

$25.92

That's when I really started to get excited. $25 bucks for the kitchen appliance I've dreamed of ever since I was a child (okay—that's probably overstating the fact). And then Brookie gave me the really good news: the sign at the front of the store read STOREWIDE—EVERYTHING 50% OFF. Oh my goodness. I almost fainted.

I grabbed the food processor, tucking it under my arm. The base was white, but to me it was gold. There was, however, one deal-breaker; one hurdle left between me and homemade hummus, pesto, and instantly grated mozzarella cheese: I had to plug it in and make sure that it worked. After all, I couldn't imagine someone just donating a perfectly good food processor of that quality.

I sneaked back to the area of the store where they sell TVs because I knew I could find an outlet there. Elation barely begins to describe what I was feeling when I plugged in the food processor and it purred. Every attachment was there. The price was more than right. And it worked.

I came back out to the front of the store where Brookie and Savannah were waiting for me, told them it worked, and I grabbed the attachments and stood in line for the cashier. She punched in the price, applied the discount and sales tax and charged me $13.41.

We used it to grate cheese for pizza that night, and again to help with dinner on Sunday.

Best. Find. Ever.

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What Can We Say?

2010-08-07T09:40:00.000-05:00

I was such a good blogger before we had kids. Savannah is now three weeks old. She's some kind of wonderful, that's for sure. Brookie and I are tired sometimes, but we wouldn't trade anything for this precious angel.

Both of her grandmas have come and gone in the past two weeks. Our house is finally starting to feel like it's normal, after reorganizing the furniture to accommodate the nursery. And, as some of you might have seen, we had a little photo shoot with our friend Meredith (meredithraephotography.com) not too long ago. Here's the video I made with the resulting pictures.

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Adoption Update: Answered Prayers—Fast!

2010-07-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

Not even sure where I should start. How about we start Thursday morning, July 15, 2010.

6:30am: I wake up in our hotel room at the Salt Lake City Little America, where I’m attending the bi-annual WGU academic conference. My alarm was set for 6:45am, but I decided to try to get to the fitness center a little earlier that day. Bad idea. All the treadmills and the ellipticals were in-use. So I walked around the corner by the hot tub and jump on one of the two exercise bikes and pedal for 30 minutes.

8:00am: Showered and dressed, having woken Brookie up long enough to kiss her goodbye for the day, I headed down to the Little America ballroom for breakfast–a bowl of corn flakes with strawberry yogurt, a little milk, and a blueberry muffin (which I broke up and mixed with more yogurt).

8:15am: I’m done eating, and now reading Atlas Shrugged when Darin Hobbs sits down with his breakfast. I don’t know him very well, so I make a concerted effort to start a conversation.*

*All of this is just to show what a normal day it was turning out to be, until...

8:17am: My phone rings. The caller id tells me it’s Sam Scott, our adoption agent from LDS Family Services. Mid-sentence, I break up the conversation with Darin and tell him I have to take this call. Sam says hello and asks how I’m doing as I walk through the ballroom to the hallway so I can hear him better. By the time I’m in the hall, he’s told me the good news: we had been selected by a birthmother again. Then he asked if I was with Brooke, and I told him she was up in our hotel room because I was attending a work conference in Salt Lake City. He kind of laughed and said we might be in for a couple of exciting days, because the birthmother who had selected us was in labor at Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

And from there, the next 72 hours were a blur. I went straight up to our room as Sam filled me in on some details. Brooke was studying her scriptures when I got there. When she answered the door I mouthed to her that I was on the phone with Sam, and Brookie replied only with that frightened look of excitement in her eyes that I’ve come to expect with new adoption news. We put him on speaker phone and he retold the story to Brooke. We had been chosen by a birthmother, a Tanzanian native, who was currently in labor at the hospital. She didn’t know if she was having a boy or a girl, because she hadn’t wanted to know. He said she wanted us to be there, but Sam needed to go down to the hospital to check on a few more things before we did anything drastic like book two tickets home to Kansas City.

The situation was more complicated than just Brookie and I being 1,100 miles from home at that moment. We had rented a car and driven to Salt Lake, so if we flew back, we would need to incur a drop-fee for leaving the rental at the Salt Lake location—not to mention that we would never have been able to take everything on the plane that we had brought with us in the car. Also, Brookie’s brother Bryce was at a BYU soccer camp that week, and was planning on driving home with us, spending the weekend in Kansas City and flying home to Indiana on Monday. So there was a question about what to do with him. But, we couldn’t make any real decisions until Sam called us back.

We looked at flights, and the best we could find was a flight leaving Salt Lake at 12:25pm and arriving in Kansas City at 4:30pm. And, at $350 a ticket, it would have been very expensive. Add to that the drop fee for the car, and we’d be looking at almost $1000 to get home. Nonetheless, we texted Sam and told him about the flight. A little later, after speaking with the birthmother, he texted back, “Book the flight she wants to place.” We called Sam, and after determining that the baby would probably be born before that flight arrived, we decided to just throw everything in the car and drive straight home.

But we still had to figure out what to do with Bryce. We decided just to pick him up from soccer camp early. We had to make a quick stop at my parents’ house to grab a few things we’d left, assuming that we’d be back Thursday night. We repacked the car, said goodbye to Dad and my brother Marc, and pulled out of the driveway. Brooke called her mom to tell her we were going to get Bryce, and she told us that he was just going to drive with his cousins who were headed out to Baltimore, so they were going to drop him off in Indiana on their way.

So, with everything (and everyone) we needed in the car, we started our long drive home. It wasn’t easy, but taking turns behind the wheel every two hours, and the excitement of what was waiting for us at home, made it possible. While we were driving, we got a text message from Sam telling us that the baby had been born and it was a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

A girl? Okay. For the past eight months we’d just assumed it would be a boy. We had boy stuff in our basement. But it turned out to be a girl, and we couldn’t be happier. So, what would we name her? None of our preselected girl names seemed right. Then, literally out of nowhere, the name Savannah popped into my head and it wouldn’t go away. I told Brooke and she liked it too. Then I wondered if Tanzania was in the African savanna. I called my mom and asked her to find it on a map. Tanzania is south of Kenya and includes part of the savanna. When a name is that inspired, it’s hard to choose anything else.

We made good time. We hit some traffic near Denver and stopped for dinner. Brookie saw a Carter’s outlet when we got off the freeway, so while I bought food, she bought some girl clothes. When we left Denver we were about eight hours away from home. With the help of Mary Poppins and my parents’ portable DVD player when it got really late, we safely pulled into our driveway at 4:00am CDT. We literally fell into bed and woke up four and a half hours later.

Friday morning we showered, dressed, unloaded the rental car (which made it look like the Mazda we rented had vomited in our front room), and ran some quick errands before we went to the hospital. We got to the hospital at about 11:00am and met up with Sam, who introduced us to Imma, the birthmother and one of the most courageous women I know.

Sometimes you meet people that you instantly love and it makes you wonder if you knew each other before coming to Earth. Imma was one of those people. She is kind, gentle, humble, sweet, thoughtful, and funny. When we first met her she had some questions for us so she would know that we would love her daughter and raise her well. She also wanted to be sure that we were willing to have an open adoption, which we were. Everything we’ve read on the subject says that an open adoption is better for everyone involved, and we wouldn’t imagine having it any other way.

The rest of the day was spent at the hospital. We held the baby for a little while as we sat in Imma’s room. In the afternoon her lawyer arrived with the paperwork for her to sign, which she did. We also signed some papers in front of a notary. Imma said she felt at peace after signing, and we couldn’t be happier.

That night we went home at about 9:30pm. Our house was a mess. But, lucky for us, a few of our friends were there waiting for us to help put the crib and some other furniture together. Those same friends had been to our house earlier that afternoon in the sweltering heat mowing our lawn. With all of the great friends we have, both locally and nationally, Savannah will be part of quite a large support group—and they’re all as excited as they can be for the three of us.

Saturday we woke up early because we had to make cookies for Imma (we knew she was joking when she asked, but we thought it would be funny if we actually did make cookies for her), went to the gym, and showered and dressed before heading back to the hospital at about 9:30am or so. All morning I was worrying about the baby’s name. Maybe Savannah wasn’t right? I’ve never named a human being before. But when Brooke told Imma that morning that we were thinking about naming her Savannah Natalie, any hesitation I had at her name was gone. Imma’s face lit up. The day before we had told her that we were thinking of naming her Savannah Kalene. Kalene is a family name on Brookie’s side, and it’s her middle name. But Imma seemed disappointed. She had taken to calling the baby Natalie in the hospital. She seemed very relieved and happy at our decision—which was really Brooke’s decision, since I had no idea she was thinking that until she told Imma.

That day at the hospital was mostly spent waiting. Waiting for the doctor to come and discharge Imma. Waiting for the pediatrician to come and discharge Savannah. And, most of all, waiting for the nurses to ready all of the necessary paperwork. During all this waiting, I was getting anxious. Not because I felt like Imma would change her mind or anything like that, but I was just excited to get Savannah home with us. I could tell that Imma was also growing impatient. She seemed anxious to leave the hospital as soon as possible. They had told us 1:00pm—which apparently doesn’t mean that we could leave at 1:00pm, but actually implies that they’ll start gathering all the paperwork at 1:00pm.

Finally, just after 4:00pm, I went down to the parking lot and grabbed the car seat and Savannah’s take home outfit. Brookie, Imma, and her best friend Liz all dressed her and then we tried getting her into the car seat. The nurse came in and Savannah and her car seat passed inspection. Savannah, all buckled in, sat on Imma’s lap in a wheelchair and we all left Imma’s room.

The long walk down the hall to the elevator, the elevator ride down two floors, and the small stretch to the front doors were excruciatingly silent. All day Friday and all morning Saturday Imma’s room had been full of laughter as we got to know her and she got to know us. But it was obvious now that it wasn’t a time for joking. Imma was about to do possibly the hardest thing she’ll do her entire life.

We got outside and I went out to get the car to pull it up to the curb by the front doors. It was hard to believe that it was really happening. In five minutes we would be driving home (to a friend’s house) with our baby in her car seat behind us. I drove up to where everyone was waiting—Brookie, Savannah, Sam, Imma, Liz, and the nurse. Got out of the car, walked around and opened both passenger side doors. Imma stood up and carried Savannah in her car seat over to where I was and put that precious package into our car. She was crying as she put her face next to Savannah’s and kissed her. Everyone else was crying too. It was one of the most emotional moments I have ever witnessed. Imma had made up her mind to give her child to adoptive parents a few weeks ago. She had signed paperwork for nearly two hours the day before. But, I’m convinced that it wasn’t until that act of placing her child into our car that she truly made her choice. And it was obvious from the sadness that showed on her face that her choice was based on pure love for her baby.

Brooke was crying and she hugged Imma. I was crying and I hugged Imma, thanking her and telling her how much we loved her. Brooke hugged Imma again and told her to call us anytime. Imma said, in her East-African accent, “Okay. I’ll call in 15 minutes.” Next thing I knew Brooke, Savannah, and I we pulling out of the Overland Park Regional Medical Center parking lot. Brookie and I were still crying, as we did for the next 15 minutes while we drove to our friend’s house, which would be our Kansas getaway until some paperwork cleared.

When we got to our friend’s house, we did the only thing we could do: knelt in tearful prayer, grateful for the blessing that we had received. Only two weeks after joining our friends and family in fasting and prayer, those prayers have been answered. What a testimony of the power of united prayer. I hope everyone who fasted with us this month; everyone who fasted for our miracle in O’Neill; everyone who fasted for us last August will take the time to record in their journals the results of the fasting and prayer offered by righteous Saints, united in purpose—of one heart and one mind.

We are so grateful for such supportive and faithful friends and family. We are so thankful to have been given our beautiful daughter Savannah. We have truly been blessed by the Lord throughout our entire adoption journey. And, more blessing are coming, I’m sure.

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What We Did Last Weekend: Fourth with Friends

2010-07-13T08:20:00.009-05:00

Late again. Ever since my brother's wedding I haven't been able to get caught up. So here's what we did last weekend, and hopefully, I'll get something up for this weekend before too long.

* * * * *

I think it all started with a cake—a yogurt cake, to be exact. During my mission I had the great privilege of living with Adelaide Pires, or Irmã Adelaide, as we affectionately called her. Did our laundry. Made sure we had hot water bottles at the foot of our beds each night. And even stole our shoes one night after we'd gone to bed and shined them. She also cooked for us.

One thing there was always enough of was cake. She had found a cake recipe on a yogurt label that used the yogurt container as the unit of measurement, and she always made sure there was a cake on the table in the front room. She would later say that she never made as much cake as she did when I lived at her house with my companions.

Her house was only about a two-minute walk from the mission office. We were the first missionaries she had housed that weren't stationed in the office. Irmã Adelaide loved the Elders and we routinely had the office missionaries join us for meals. One of them had been dubbed, "The Most Hated Elder in the Mission," or something like that. He was the mission financial secretary and apparently no one liked him because of the heartless way he would deny their requests for more money after spending their allotment on Oreos and other junk. And he thought he knew how to cut a cake better than I did. I'm pretty sure that's how it all started.

I bumped into him after transferring to BYU, and we've been good friends ever since. Now, just over 11 years after teaching him how to properly slice a bundt cake, he, his wife, and his 10-month-old son came to Kansas City to visit us for the weekend.

Friday night we treated them to some darn-good barbecue, if I do say so myself. Baby back ribs smothered in a homemade apple cider barbecue sauce, with sides of cheesy corn bake and Jack Stack BBQ Beans.

Saturday we got up a little early and took them to the best farmer's market in the world (I don't think that's exaggerating at all). The five of us wandered up and down the isles of merchants sampling everything from black bean mango dip to fresh peaches. We bought some great produce and some bread from Bloom Baking Co. Then, we went home for a nap.

That afternoon we drove to the Plaza and had lunch at in•gré•di•ent (Great food, not-so-great website).

After lunch it was time for another nap before dinner. After dinner and just before bedtime we stopped at Target and bought three games. Those of you that have known me for some time can close your mouths now. I like games. I just have to turn the competitive juices way down, that's all. We bought Rummykube, Phase 10, and Old Maid (for when we're entertaining the younger crowd). Saturday night we played a full game of Phase 10 and had a great time.

Sunday we fasted, and so did many of you. Thanks. Our friends left after sacrament meeting, but not before our bishop tried to sell them on moving to the ward. "We've got homes. We've got plenty of jobs. We've got callings."

That night we had dinner with some other friends—delicious barbecued chicken and baked beans. Mmmmm. Don't you just love the food at 4th of July barbecues?

And that's what we did last weekend. Here's a hint about what we did this weekend: It started off with 17 hours of driving.

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Our Pioneer Trek

2010-07-06T15:30:00.001-05:00

Before we even begin to get into last weekend's pioneer trek, the fact that Nebraska hates us was confirmed again. Our stake chartered three buses to haul the over 150 people to Monroe, NE for our three-day trek experience. We sat directly behind the bus driver of the second bus, which happened to be the bus that broke down a few miles northwest of Omaha. The radiator hose burst. We pulled off the interstate at the next exit and waited for some mechanics to come fix the problem. Coincidence? We think not. Nebraska hates us.* Tender mercy...the exit we pulled off at just happened to have a working Dairy Queen, in the middle of nowhere. So we were able to get all the kids ice cream cones and stay in the air conditioned building.

*So, in case you were wondering, we are driving to Salt Lake next weekend, but plan on totally bypassing Nebraska by taking I-70 across Kansas and Colorado.

The first day of our trek was Thursday, June 24 (which was also our sixth anniversary). We met up with our families at the Stake Center. Brookie (Ma) and I (Pa) had six kids in our trek family, but one couldn't make it, so we trekked with five.

The bus ride to Monroe, NE (minus the time in the Dairy Queen parking lot waiting for mechanics) took about five hours. By the time we arrived at our camp site, the families from the other two buses had their tents pitched and were ready to go. We unloaded our stuff, found our site and quickly set up camp. Before long, the "trail boss" told us it was time to leave. We loaded the buses and drove about 5 minutes to a nearby service road near the Mormon Trail. We got our equipment loaded in the handcart, got our "baby," whom after much debate, we named Ethan in honor of the sixth member of our family that couldn't make it, and started walking.

We did four miles that day, but the highlight was the Women's Pull & Men's Mormon Battalion March. The Boys and Girls separated when one of the stake leaders dressed in an old military uniform rode up to the entire group and said he needed all the men and boys in the war with Mexico. So, while the brethren signed up for the army and were issued wooden rifles, all of the Mas and their daughters were left to pull the handcarts themselves for the last two miles of the day.

Having completed a quarter of our trek on day one, we set out for a 12-mile day on Friday. After breakfast we were on our way. We had only gone about a mile and a half before a horseman on the side of the trail handed us an envelope with our first "hardship:" The soles of our shoes had worn out, and we all had to remove our shoes, put them in the handcart, and walk barefoot for the next 10 minutes. Some other hardships that we came across during our trek were Ma getting sick and needing to be pulled in the handcart, our handcart wheel "breaking" and needing to carry our handcart about 100 yards,* and being misinformed that there was only about a mile left, when it seemed more like just over two.

*As we were carrying our handcart and everything in it, some strapping young men came back from having carried their handcart to the designated spot and asked if we wanted help. Instinctively, while straining under the weight of our handcart, I immediately said something like, "No thanks. We got it." Luckily, the young men weren't asking me, they were asking Ma and the three young women in our family, who gladly and graciously accepted their assistance.

There were times along the way when we weren't sure if our whole family was going to make it or not. But it turns out that ours was a family of troopers. It was hard, and after we finished trekking and returned to camp, no one really wanted to do anything but sit in the shade, but we made it. Brookie and I snapped this picture of our family during the last stretch of the trail. We were definitely proud "parents."

Now it's back to our real trek called life.

And that's what we did last weekend.

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Please Don't Eat on Our Behalf

2010-06-29T17:38:00.000-05:00

It's been almost a year since we asked our friends and families to join with us in a special fast for our adoption. Just five or six weeks after that fast our agent called to inform us we were finalists for a baby boy in Maryland. That chance didn't turn out, but we forged ahead and in November we were chosen by another birthmother.

It's hard to believe, but it's been just over five months since our O'Neill Miracle. At the end of our ropes, we called on friends and family to fast for us again. This time, for a miracle. That miracle was granted as the love of God engulfed us while we dealt with that birthmother's decision to not relinquish custody of her newborn.

It's difficult for us to ask again. All of you have things you and your families are in need of. We know that many of you pray for us every night. Some of you fast for us every month (We don't even fast for us every month). But this morning I felt impressed that it's time for another fast dedicated to finding our children. So, it's time to swallow my we-have-this-under-control-we-can-do-this-alone-pride and ask for your help.

So, if you can, please join with us in "fasting and mighty prayer" this weekend. We believe in the real power of fasting, especially when groups of people combine their efforts. We can't force the Lord to do anything He doesn't want to do, but we can show him just how badly we want this blessing by exercising our faith in Him. Spread the word. Thanks!

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More than Meets the Eye: Father's Day 2010

2010-06-27T21:50:00.003-05:00

With our brother and sister-in-law 12 hours into their honeymoon, the rest of our family was at our parents' house celebrating Father's Day.

Brookie and I coordinated an effort to make these deliciously deceptive Father's Day treats. Just as yummy as they were funny. Our brownie burgers turned out great. My favorite part were the sugar cookie fries. We got the idea from bakerella.com.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

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Cameron and Leila's Wedding

2010-06-27T19:54:00.003-05:00

Dang.

I totally missed a week of blogging. We've been so busy the past two weekends (including this one) that there just wasn't time to post about what we did last weekend before we were knee-deep in this weekend. So, this will be mostly pictures with a little commentary.

Last weekend we flew to Salt Lake City for our brother Cameron's wedding. He and his sweetheart Leila were married in the Bountiful Temple Saturday, June 19.

We arrived Thursday evening, and, as is the case when we visit during the summer, went straight to the ballpark to catch our brother Marc's baseball game. Our adorable niece was happy to see us.

Friday was when the festivities began with the wedding dinner. But before all of the formalities of speeches and introductions, Marc and I found some time to perfect our canoeing technique on Wii Sports Resort.

At the wedding dinner, either Dad didn't want his picture taken, or there was something interesting printed on the back of his napkin.

We were able to snap a few good pictures of him during a contemplative moment, including this one (in other words, we snapped this when he wasn't looking).

Dad must get his aversion to photographers from Grandma Reynolds. She always said that she'd "mash ya," but this was the first time I actually believed her.

Ellie arrived and posed to show off her beautiful new dress. And who new Marc was such an etiquette expert?

By now you may be wondering about the happy couple... Here's our brother Cameron.

And his brand new bride, Leila.

Here's one of the two of them enjoying the evening together. Something tells me that one of them was aware of this picture being taken and the other, not so much.

And here we are—pleased as punch to be spending time with our family. The all-you-can-eat buffet with steak and halibut was nice too. You know it's a special occasion when Brookie breaks out the earrings.

Saturday was the wedding. Here's a picture of the newlyweds, fresh from the temple.

Looks like Cameron just realized that he doesn't have to take Leila back to her place tonight because his place is now their place. Woot!

During the ceremony, we were reminded of some precious truths about life, love, marriage, and covenants. Outside the temple waiting for Cameron and Leila, we were reminded of another truth: our cousins have adorable kids.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

And, ~~Exhibit D~~ well, at some point they start to grow up and they'd rather be funny than adorable.

Here is a picture of everyone starting to gather for family wedding pictures after the ceremony. Marc watched the kids while we were in the temple. Being responsible for five little kids, Marc said he felt like a single dad. We made sure to wish him a Happy Father's day on Sunday.

The reception was Saturday evening. One of these flower girls is our cute niece. Hint: She's the one who doesn't look happy to be there.

Here's Cameron talking to his best man, who appears thoroughly engrossed in the conversation.

Pictures of people eating are great. Here's one of the politest, most boring cake cutting ceremony I've ever had to endure—no napkins necessary.

Lastly, since, you know, this is our blog, here's a great picture of me and my beautiful June Bride in the park at the reception.

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What We Did This Weekend: Trek Prep

2010-06-15T11:59:00.002-05:00

We spent most of this weekend getting ready for future adventures. My brother Cameron is getting married this week, so there were a few things we worked on to get ready for that. Then, just a few days after we get back from Salt Lake City, we are headed to Nebraska (don't worry—we're not driving) for a three-day pioneer trek with the youth from church.

We ran a few more errands this weekend, but not enough to warrant a Google map showing everywhere we went. We also started walking. We go to the gym four or five times a week, but I usually run on the treadmill, and Brookie will do a combination of elliptical and some running herself. For me, though, walking has always been more difficult than running. And walking slowly is even worse. It just wears me out.

So, to start getting our bodies ready for the arduous task of a pioneer trek, Friday we decided to walk to and home from our gym, which is about three miles away. The trouble with walking to our gym is the lack of sidewalks. But, we avoided any unfortunate road-side accidents and spent about 15 minutes in the weight room before heading back home.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at the Raytown Summerfest and caught a few Chris Cakes to go with our sausage links and juice. After breakfast we took another walk to a thrift store we wanted to check out. This walk wasn't as far, but on our way home it started to rain—hard. We starting jogging, but we were still soaking wet when we reached our front porch.

We dried off, and headed to Little Caesars to pick up the pizzas for our trek activity with the youth. The kids tried learning how to whittle, but what we actually learned was that you need a good knife to really whittle, and none of us had one. The kids also helped us design and paint our family's flag.

Other than that, there wasn't too much going on this weekend. But I'm sure we'll make up for it in the coming weeks.

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What We Did This Weekend: Running Errands

2010-06-09T08:45:00.002-05:00

The bulk of our weekend was spent running errands. I thought it would be fun to make a map of all our stops. Click on each stop for a little commentary about why we were there and whether our visit was successful or not.

View Todd & Brookie's Errands in a larger map

But, as tedious as six to seven hours of errands sounds, we made some great "discoveries" this weekend.* Actually, it's more like two discoveries and two new recipes.

Discoveries as defined here simply means that it's new to us.

Spin Pizza
From the outside, Spin Pizza always seemed a little too snobbish, a little too metropolitan. But, since many of our friends have recommended it, and since I love pizza, we tried it out Friday night. It was really good. Waldo Pizza is still my favorite, but Spin has nailed down a spot as one of the top three options in the Kansas City area.

Pretzel M&Ms
We first saw a blue bag of Pretzel M&Ms in the checkout line at the first Walmart we hit on Saturday. Then, on our way out of the last Target we stopped at, I grabbed an extra large bag. We opened it and had our first Pretzel M&M experience in the car in the parking lot. That bag was gone by Tuesday afternoon. Working from home is blessing... and a curse.

As for the two new recipes we tried and loved, one was some grilled pork, and the other was stuffed parmesan chicken.

And that's pretty much what we did this weekend.

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Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-01T07:45:00.003-05:00

Three-day weekends are so much fun. Plus, you don't need to get all of the dishes done Sunday night because you will have time to finish them up on Monday. Anyway, here's what we did this weekend.

Friday night = Date Night. We ate at a new place called The Mixx near the Kansas City Public Library by the Plaza. The food was pretty good, but probably not for everyone. They have enough normal food there for unadventurous patrons, but they also provide taste combinations that push the limits of our self-proclaimed sophisticated pallets. For example, with my Cobb wrap, I opted for the sweet potato fries which came with a pineapple-curry aioli for dipping. It definitely offered something new to my taste buds. We ended up with three meals because Brookie got a mini salad and a half-order of pasta, either of which would have been plenty of food for her.

After dinner we walked for a bit at the Plaza. Brookie let us go to the Apple store where we got to play with their newest revolutionary magical device, the iPad. I was impressed. Too bad there are so many things on our "this-needs-fixing-and-or-replacing" list. Priorities are so overrated. Who's with me on that? Anyone? Anyone?

Saturday we hit the Farmers Market again. We bought five peaches for $5 based on the samples they were offering. But by the time we went to use them on Monday, three-and-a-half of them had gone bad. Oh well. We just won't buy from that farmer again. But we did get a chance to visit our new favorite bakery, Bloom Baking Co., while we were there. We've also found a grower that sells delicious European cucumbers for $1.50 (or $1 if you buy four or more).

We finished up our Saturday working in the yard pulling weeds, stopping by a graduation open house for one of Brookie's young women, and running some errands.

Sunday we slept in again (one of the best parts of a church block that starts at 11:00am), went to church for our usual three-plus hours, and came home to fix dinner. Some friends of ours just received some really good news, so we invited them over Sunday afternoon to eat with us. After dinner we all went downtown and met up with some other friends at the Liberty Memorial for the annual Memorial Eve Kansas City Symphony "Celebration at the Station." It's one of the most patriotic events we've ever attended. We go every year, the Sunday evening before Memorial Day. They play great music, and do a great job honoring our past and present soldiers. We always come away from that concert feeling totally uplifted. In describing it to one of our friends, I told him it makes me proud to be an American and proud to be a Kansas Citian as well.

Monday was Memorial Day. We both had the day off so we slept in again. We went to the gym just before 10:00am. After working out and cleaning up, we went to breakfast at the retro-themed Harvey House Diner inside Union Station downtown. By the time we were through with our breakfast, it was time to head over to Kauffman Stadium for day-game Royals baseball. They lost, but we still had fun. And we found our future season-ticket seats. Last time we went to a game we saw a pair of seats all by themselves. In the upper deck towards the end of the stadium there was a row that was only two seats long. When we bought our seats for Monday's game we told them where we wanted to sit, and the man helping us paused, looked at us and told us there were still lots of seats available. We thanked him, but explained that we had our reasons for wanting those seats. They worked out really well and we enjoyed the entire game without nearby fans forcing us to relocate.

After the game we went home and fired up the barbecue for some burgers with friends that night.

And now it's Tuesday. We didn't (couldn't) sleep in today. Time to go to work and be productive. But, that's what we did this weekend.

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Looking on the Bright Side (or, Nebraska Hates Us)

2010-05-23T16:44:00.004-05:00

We had an event-filled weekend which ended with the two of us slinking into bed at 3:20am Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Back on Friday night (which, after everything else that has happened, seems like a long, long time ago) we spent our date night at Kauffman Stadium watching the home team take on the Colorado Rockies.

The price for parking went up again this year, but on the bright side, it's still only about one-third the price of parking for Chiefs game.

We didn't buy any food at the game because it's also expensive. But on the bright side, the Royals actually allow you to bring in outside food and water. So we grilled four hot dogs at home, wrapped them in foil, and had that, some potato salad, and an orange for dinner at the game.*

*One of these days I will have to write a guide to going to a Royals game on the cheap.

We had to move (twice) because we couldn't take the vulgarity emanating from surrounding inebriated Royals fans. Dirty looks used to mean something in this country. There used to be this thing called "shame," and a quick glance could often quiet an overly boisterous, R-rated fan by reminding him (or her—don't even get me started on how proud the women of the world should be on how they've achieved gender equality in crudeness), that regardless up his own disregard for social mores in public venues, some people don't appreciate being bombarded with expletives. It seems that some people only reach a sixth-grade reading level, at which point the only additions to their vocabulary are by their creative juxtaposition of profanity with an occasional noun, coming up with new and even more offensive ways of wielding the English language.** But I digress. The point is we moved twice trying to find a place where we could enjoy the game and keep our ears from bleeding.

**Although the preceding paragraph could be inflammatory to the rare beer-swilling, land-of-the-free-home-of-the-CHIEFS-disrespecting-the-national-anthem yelling, profanity prone readers of this blog, I hope to have used enough 'big' words to prevent them from actually understanding it. But I digress, again.

But on the bright side, the Royals pounded the Rockies, winning 9-2, in completely un-Royal-like fashion.

We had big plans for Saturday. Last August we had fun driving up to Omaha for a session in the temple, followed by an Omaha Royals game. The Omaha Royals are the AAA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. This weekend the Salt Lake Bees were in town, so we planned to spend the morning on the road, the afternoon in the Winter Quarters temple, the evening at historic Rosenblatt Stadium, and the late-night driving home.

Pretty much everything went according to schedule. We also ran into some friends from our ward at the temple and were able to watch their two adorable kids and allow them the chance to go through a session together, which was a welcome surprise. It's always a blessing to be able to share our friends' kids occasionally.

There was, however, an unwelcome surprise in store for us after the game on our way home to Kansas City. The game itself was really fun. We arrived at the stadium 90 minutes early to ensure that we would be one of the first 1,500 fans through the gates to receive a Johnny Rosenblatt bobblehead. We saw Alex Gordon hit a homerun in his first at bat and a triple in his second. And we were able to say hello to our friend Disco who is on the 7-day DL, unable to play, and was sitting in the stands behind home plate charting pitches.

We weren't sure if we should leave the game early or not, but the Bees made our decision easier. By 9:00pm, they were leading the home team 11–2, so we decided to leave, stopping to pick up a pizza on the way out of town. At about 9:45pm our pizza was gone and we were past Council Bluffs, IA, well on our way home. Unfortunately, that particular section of I-29 is in worse repair than any other interstate I have ever driven, and at 9:46pm, we hit a pothole, deflating the front driver-side tire.***

But on the bright side, it happened 50 feet from an exit, and I was able to pull off right away.

***Sorry, but this time, there was no Flip Video there to capture all of the fun.

So we had a flat tire. During a trip to Nebraska. Again. Nebraska, I ask you: Why do you hate us?

Normally, with a spare tire in the truck, we could switch it out in about 15–20 minutes. Unfortunately, despite repeated impression over the past few weeks, I never took the time to purchase the special tools I would need to remove one of our 18" aftermarket wheels. But on the bright side, at least now I'm certain that those impressions were genuine and not just some figment of my paranoia.

So, to keep it brief, we were sitting on the side of the interstate, barely on an off-ramp for two hours before being rescued by a local resident with a trunk full of tools. We still did some minor damage to the wheel in order to get the socket to fit around the lug nuts, but as it turned out, the wheel was completely cracked and ruined anyway. We were finally back on the road with our "doughnut" tire mounted, about 180 miles away from home, and only able (willing?) to go 55–60mph because of it. But on the bright side, we hadn't invited anyone to come with us, so we hadn't inconvenienced anyone else.

We finally pulled into our driveway just after 3:00am. We brushed our teeth, said our prayers, expressed our gratitude for having arrived home safely, and went to bed. But on the bright side, at least we were home instead of sleeping in our car outside a Walmart waiting for it to open to see if we could buy the special tool we needed to remove our wheel, as the AAA operator had suggested. Thank goodness that Iowan stopped to see if we needed any help.

And that's what we did this weekend. Fun. Huh.

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: Mitts, Muffins, and Meetings

2010-05-17T16:56:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, Todd and I got tickets to the BYU Alumni-sponsored BBQ dinner and fireside. The dinner was catered by Oklahoma Joe's and the speaker, a BYU Church history professor, spoke about the temple lot in Independence. It was fantastic! Plus...we got a BYU pom-pom!

Before the dinner, though, Todd and I stopped at this baseball store (I know, we're junkies), called Line Drive. We haven't been before because it is quite a drive from our house. They are actually relocating to Florida, and were having a liquidation sale. When we walked in, we were thinking about potential gift ideas for brothers and possibly some unnecessary baseball equipment for Todd. But then I saw this little pair of baseball pants, $5. Then I saw that they had some little cleats, $10! And so we decided to get some cheap baseball equipment for a future little baby Reynolds. In the end, we got the pants, cleats, and a little kid helmet all for under $30, plus Todd got a free shirt with purchase. Nice. And...since we don't know what gender said child will be, we made sure to get the black cleats, which could be for a boy or girl.

On Saturday, we were able to attend graduation for one of the Young Women. She is the top valedictorian and did a wonderful job on her speech! So proud! Then we headed down to Lee's Summit for the first of our Stake Conference meetings. After my Young Women meetings, we just did our regular Saturday stuff: cleaning, laundry, gym, etc, before making dinner. Plus we made some giant chocolate chocolate-chip muffins. It was our first time with this recipe, but I think we will change a few things next time.

After a quick supper, we headed to Lee's Summit for the adult session of Stake Conference, and Todd and I both agreed that it was one of the best we have been to in a long time! Plus, we heard a great saying that will soon be on a sign on our walls, but I will wait until it is finished to share.

On Sunday, we went to our last stake conference meeting, which was also one of the best we have been to. In the evening, we were able to go to a meeting for the Ma's and Pa's who will be going on Trek; Todd is especially looking forward to family hugs, as described in the Ma & Pa Handbook... :)

Then we headed down to the chapel at the stake center for Seminary Graduation; Todd had one graduate this year, but will get another new student in the Fall. All I can say, is that it was kind of weird how I missed not having seminary here this morning. It brings a nice spirit in our home every morning, especially hearing the kids sing.

We finished our weekend off by sharing our muffins with some friends. It is always nice to get in some visit time, especially when cute babies are involved!

It was a wonderful weekend. We had several answers to prayers, and had opportunity to learn more about the temple, reaching out to the one, the Spirit, faith, happiness, and following the Savior. How grateful we are for the opportunity we have to pray, and receive answers. Sometimes they are not the answers WE want, but when we listen, and choose to accept His will, and believe that He will help us, then we are given strength beyond our own. We are given peace that things will work out, and happiness!

2 Nephi 31:20 - Perfect Brightness of Hope!

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"L" is for Lysine

2010-05-12T07:51:00.003-05:00

If I don't know something, I Google it and find out. The amount of information available to us today astounds me. I can safely say that Google has changed my life, and probably yours too. Regardless of the situation I'm in—resetting the oil change indicator light after changing the oil in our car, needing to know how to troubleshoot a septic pump, looking for a free desktop application that will do some small task and make life easier, or researching any number of topics from recipes, to the nuances of cascading style sheets—Googling it does the trick.

One thing all of this Googling has taught me is that we're not alone. We're not the first ones to have a mole problem in our yard. We're not the only people that have ever had to deal with stray dogs digging holes on our property. As a matter of fact, just two minutes ago I wondered if there was a way to see all of the searches I have Googled recently. There is. I Googled that too—and I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person to wonder that.

Knowing that someone somewhere has surely been through what you're going through is invaluable, especially when coupled with a powerful search engine. Case in point: I am very prone to cankers. They usually flare up as a result of stress or something I eat, like nuts, seeds, or fruit. I could always count on a sore mouth during finals week. And I have avoided nuts and pineapple (among other things) for years. Or at least I tried. I like nuts and pineapple and pretty much everything else that would cause cankers for me.

I had talked to dentists and friends who told me about Kank-a, which is an oral anesthetic. That helped for a few years. But it didn't help for very long. If I needed 15-20 minutes of relief, I'd dab some of this gel on my lip. But the numbness never lasted long enough.

When I was little my dad told me that putting salt on my cankers would help them heal faster. It's no easier to do now than when I was six years old. It still stings. Bad. But just after Christmas, when I had three cankers on my bottom lip (two of which were merging into one mega-canker), I was back in the bathroom with the salt, trying to speed the healing process so that I could smile, laugh, and talk normally.

I updated my Facebook status: "There has got to be a less masochistic way of relieving cankers than putting salt on them." Commenters suggested baking soda, Orajel, alum, and other topical treatments. There were also suggestions to increase my water intake and decrease my stress levels. But I wanted a magic pill. I didn't want to treat them so much as prevent them.

And now we're back to Google. At 2:26pm on January 12, 2010,* I Googled "canker sores, home remedy" and found this forum. After a few minutes browsing the posts, I noticed many people had decreased the number and severity of their cankers with L-Lysine. It was worth a shot, and it was the closest thing to a magic pill I could find.

*Should I be a little freaked that Google is keeping track of this, or should I be grateful that I can find this type of information when I want it?

Now, exactly four months later, I have not had a debilitating canker sore since. I pop one of my L-Lysine pills each morning with breakfast and I don't worry about it anymore. In the past four months I've enjoyed fresh pineapple, airline peanuts, peanut butter and jelly (and, even better: grilled pb&j—thanks Phelan!), Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and this delicious recipe for Satay Lettuce Wraps, just to name a few. When I go on a canker-binge (eating a ton of food that I know used to cause me weeks of canker grief) I can feel my mouth get a little raw, but it doesn't escalate past that. I haven't had a canker-smile, a canker-lisp, canker-induced bad breath, or a salty, throbbing canker-lip for four awesome months, and I'm loving it. Bring on the brownies with nuts, the peanut-butter-chocolate pie, the roasted almonds, the pesto sauce, the hummus, and everything else I love but tried to avoid.

Add mine to the testimony of L-Lysine for canker relief and prevention. You can find it with the vitamins in your local grocery store if you're interested.

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What We Did This Weekend: A Surprise Visitor

2010-05-09T19:52:00.003-05:00

Friday was a pretty typical day: seminary, work, etc., until I got home. When I walked in the front door I noticed some luggage, and then making my way back to the TV/Office room, there was my mom! Todd and Mom had surprised my by having her fly in the for weekend! What a great gift (for both of us).

After the hugs and initial surprise, figuring out how she had actually gotten to our house (being a one-car family and all...thanks Melinda!), and catching up a little, we decided to take Mom to Ciao! Bella in Lee's Summit for dinner. Before eating, we looked at a few of the nearby shops. One of the shops is a little kitchen place, which also holds cooking lessons, but at $55/person, we will probably just stick with Google for our recipes.

At Ciao! Bella, mom had the Fettuccine Alfredo w/ Shrimp, I had the Pasta Roma (which I HIGHLY recommend), and Todd had a pizza...of course ;). After dinner, we had a few minutes to walk downtown before heading to the Stake Center to clean...Thanks Mom! What a trooper.

When we got home, we enjoyed some Peanut Butter ice cream, while watching some Cosby, and then headed to bed. In the morning, we got up bright and early to go to the Lee's Summit Farmer's Market, where we were delighted to stop at the Sweet Treats by Trudy booth!

Following the Farmer's Market, we met up with a few people from the ward and made our way up to the Temple Groundbreaking. While we weren't able to see the actual groundbreaking due to the number of people, it was fun and very special to be up there at that wonderful sight. It is beautiful! And we can't wait! They said it would take about 2 years, and that the Kansas City, Missouri Temple will serve 11 stakes (40,600 people). We were also reminded that we can serve during the Open House, and we are looking forward to that, and looking forward to taking friends through the open house with us. One of my favorite things were were taught was that, "Every temple completed lessens the influence of Satan on earth and increases the influence of the Lord."

Following the groundbreaking, we jumped on I-35 S to head downtown to the City Market. My mom loved it! She loves Farmer's Markets, and since this one takes the cake, we had a blast! We sampled the fresh bread and bought some foccaccia. We also got some rhubarb and strawberries, oranges, agave nectar (for my brother, Brennan), and two European cucumbers (thanks, Julie!). We even got some excellent hot dogs for lunch.

By this point, we were already exhausted. But since it was Saturday, and because my angel mom offered to help, we headed home to clean and do some yard work. After a couple hours of weeding, tilling, and "planting" wild flower seeds, we decided that we deserved a break. While mom rested, Todd and I went to the grocery to get some last minute items for her special mother's day dinner (it had to be on Saturday since she was leaving Sunday after church).

For dinner, we made her manicotti, salad, and bread (compliments of the Farmer's Market). For dessert, we whipped up a little strawberry-rhubarb pie, which was delicious if I may say, and of course, vanilla ice cream on the side.

We enjoyed our pie while watching our adoption video with my mom (which if you haven't seen, we would be happy to send you a copy...and if you know anyone who would like to place a baby...:)

On Sunday morning, Todd made my mom a wonderful mother's day breakfast, a delicious bacon, spinach, and red pepper quiche, with some fruit on the side (needless to say, we all ate way too much food this weekend...but that's what happens when you come to our house!) Then she opened her present, and we headed to church. I was asked to speak in church today, along with the other YW leaders, and I was truly honored that my mom could be there today. I had already written my talk by the time I saw her, so it was nice to be able to honor her with that.

We had to leave church a little early, and took her to the airport. I am so grateful that she was able to fly in. I hadn't seen my mom in a long time, and it was wonderful to spend time with her. She is amazing! And I love her very much! She is the person I want to be like when I grow up. Happy Mother's Day!

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What We Did This Weekend: Going to Market

2010-05-05T07:29:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite weekends every year—the first time we go to the Farmers' Market in downtown Kansas City. But, before we get to that, here's what we did for date night:

We called some of our friends and invited them out to dinner with us after which we invited ourselves over to their house for some games and ice cream. There is a new Noodles & Company in Lee's Summit. Before now the closest one was in Overland Park on 135th Street. There was nothing special about this Noodles & Company, just that it took us 10 minutes instead of 25 to get there. Good food. And I never feel so full that I'm sick when we eat there.

After dinner we went back to our friends house and played some games and ate more than our share of ice cream. I used to hate playing games; probably because I had bad experiences in college playing with friends in my student ward. I'm a competitive guy. I really hate losing—just another reason I've never been very fond of board games.

But I'm getting over it. It's much more fun if I just try to, well, have fun. Friday night we played Take Two (a crossword game played with Scrabble tiles), Zigity, and Clue.* We had a ton of fun and a great date night.

*Okay. I confess. Despite my *superior* intellect, I still don't get Clue. I guess you could say 'I haven't a clue.' About the only time I know someone or something isn't suspect is when I make a guess and someone shows me one of the cards. I can't deduct beyond my own cards and what I see of others' cards. However, the last game we played, I tried to pay attention to which rooms everyone else was heading, and, despite having ruled out only one suspect entirely (the one in my hand), and having a hunch about one other suspect being innocent (with no actual proof), I figured 'what the heck,' and made a formal accusation. Turns out I guessed right and won the game, doing so one turn ahead of Brookie who also knew the answer, but had actual proof and used logic to find it. Needless to say, I was shocked that I had been right.

Saturday morning we got dressed and headed to the Kansas City Farmers' Market. We love that place. We walked around, enjoying the people, the samples, the sounds—pretty much everything. We bought some bread from some Amish vendors to go with dinner. We also bought some spices and pita bread, red peppers, rhubarb, and some flowers. If you haven't been to this particular Farmers' Market, make a point to go one Saturday morning. Maybe you'll see us there.

After the Farmers' Market we went home and did our chores. Brookie cleaned the house and I worked on the car. I was very proud of myself. I changed the oil in the Zion xB, and even got ambitious enough to change out the bulb of one of our fog lights. Some people might think I'm crazy, but I love changing my own oil. It makes me feel like I've really accomplished something. It's the same kind of feeling I get from mowing the lawn.

The rest of our Saturday was spent going to the gym, getting hair cuts ($6.99 special at Great Clips, no coupon necessary through May 7), helping new move-ins in the ward with boxes and other heavy stuff, doing laundry, washing and vacuuming the car, and finally settling down with some homemade Clam Chowder, Amish whole-grain bread, and Rhubarb Crisp for dinner.

That's what we did this weekend.

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Running Our Race: Some Perspective

2010-04-27T09:56:00.003-05:00

Most of our weekends are either A) packed with recreation, B) full of chores and errands, C) a travel log of another temple trip, or D) a combination of all three. Some times our weekend activities give me an opportunity to write about something a little more important than mentioning that we ate at Applebee's and ordered the Quesadilla Burger—again. This was one of those weekends.

In an effort to be more involved in our community, our ward set up a volunteer opportunity with the Missouri chapter of the Special Olympics. Brookie and I signed up for the early session and pulled into the parking lot 20 minutes before our 9:00a.m.-12:00p.m. 'shift.' We were the first ones from our group to arrive, and we didn't know what to do. As more ward members came, our group grew from the two of us to over a dozen people (if you're counting the kids)—but we still didn't know what to do.

The first 15-20 minutes of our volunteer experience was spent huddled in a circle wondering who we needed to speak with. There had been one woman that recognized us (as in, acknowledging our presence, not, "Oh hi. Weren't you in my sophomore English class?") and told us she could use us, but she took a smaller group with her to the other end of the track. After a while, Brookie and I went to find her and we relocated our group to be able to help with the next race. But, when the next race came and went, and they didn't need our help, we were right back where we had been: not knowing what to do, but more than willing to help. That's when another woman grabbed our group and asked if we could help with the wheelchair events by keeping time and recording the results.

Four of us were given stop watches and a race sheet for each participant. The first race was the 10 meter/non-motorized race. There were three individuals racing, all with varying degrees of disability. Myself and two more volunteers from our group stood at the finish line with our stop watches in hand.

Everything that is wrong with youth athletics becomes obvious when you attend a Special Olympics event because of what is missing. There are no overzealous parents berating officials. No unsportsman-like conduct or trash-talking from the athletes. The atmosphere at this sporting event is different, and it's palpable. Everywhere you looked you saw supportive parents and families, eager volunteers, and excited athletes. But I think it was during the second race that I noticed something deeper.

It was a 25 meter race. There were two or three contestants that were doing their best to stay within the small yellow cones designating their lanes on their way to the finish line. All but one of the racers had finished the event, and the remaining athlete was struggling to move her wheelchair at all. By the time she was half way through the race, I could tell she was worn out. But she didn't stop.

And that's my point.

Despite the difficulty of her race, she didn't stop. Inch by inch, her father walking backwards, staying a few steps in front of her, proudly encouraging her and snapping pictures the whole time, this woman kept moving forward. As I watched, cheering for her along with everyone else, it occurred to me that my trials are petty by comparison. That Saturday morning I witnessed real endurance, in more ways than one.

It's no secret that we all have challenges and obstacles in ours lives. It's probably natural to compare our own trials to those of others, and when we do, we might find that this person's trials are harder than mine, or that couples's trials are easier than ours. But in the end, trials are relative. The point is that we keep going.

We run our races and our friends and family are there to encourage us (and sometimes snap our pictures), and we are there cheering them on for their races. Some races are sprints, some are marathons, and some are those weird steeple chase things. Examples of enduring well are all around us and I'm glad to have bumped into so many this weekend.

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Self-Descriptions Perfected

2010-04-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

Brookie is a first-class doer—Todd is a professional procrastinator. In a recent conversation we were both able to express our mindsets clearly.

Tuesday night after Brookie came home from Youth Activities at church, we were talking about the rest of our evening. I just wanted a popsicle and time to unwind with my wife. So I asked her if she had things she needed to do. She answered that she had things that she could do. Which is true.

Brookie: "There's always something to do."

Todd, after realizing the futility of arguing the truth of her statement, countered with a truth of his own: "Yeah, but there's not always something due."

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Working the Land

2010-04-20T09:07:00.003-05:00

We were so excited to actually have a free Saturday... at least, after Brookie's meeting at church that morning. But it was mostly free. We took advantage of our leisure time to work.

Last year was the first time we planted a garden. It didn't do so well. Things started off just fine. But our harvest consisted of pulled a few miniature onions and garlic out of the ground. The garlic was so small, we would use an entire head in one batch of marinara sauce. Pretty much everything else died.

This year we're giving it another try. We planted fewer crops, and spaced them out better, so we'll see if it works any better. Hopefully we haven't bitten off more than we can chew this time.

We plowed up the ground and planted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, and basil. Our strawberries came back and hopefully we'll get at least one berry from them. A few onions and the garlic that I didn't dig up grew back as well. The raspberry bushes we planted last year are looking pretty good, but I'm not sure yet if our blueberries are coming back.

We also bought a bunch of new strawberry plants for the spaces in the tops of the cinder blocks of our retaining walls by our garage. It's kind of an experiment to see if we can add some green to that area.

Even if our garden fails (again), it's still satisfying to get outside and work the land. It makes you feel like you've accomplished something. And that's what we did this weekend.

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Recipe: Sloppy Buffaloes

2010-04-15T08:00:00.004-05:00

While we were in Phoenix we ate at the Fox Sports Grill. I ordered a Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, which was really good. It was a grilled chicken breast smothered in Buffalo hot sauce (is that redundant?) with melted mozzarella and some blue cheese dressing on the side. Mmmmmm.

That meal reminded me of the grilled hot wings my friend John used to make for us on BYU football game days. So we requested that meal when we were in Thatcher later that week.

Skip ahead a few days to when Brookie and I are making out our menu for the week. Brookie makes a suggestion to have Sloppy Joes, which I think sounds good. But then she asks if I would like to buy the Manwich Sloppy Joe mix-in-a-can, or make it from scratch. That made me think about how I would go about making it from scratch, and while I was thinking, I had this inspiration (It's more of a concept than an actual recipe, I guess):

Sloppy Buffaloes

3 cups of shredded chicken (about 3 breasts)

Your favorite hot wing sauce

Sliced cucumbers

Blue Cheese Dressing (or Ranch, if you'd rather)

Hamburger Buns

Cook the chicken any way you'd like. You could boil it, but the fat and other floaties in the water always give me the heebie jeebies. I used the George Foreman grill and seasoned my chicken with some seasoning salt and garlic powder. Once the chicken is cooked, shred it, and put it in skillet with your hot sauce and let it warm through over medium heat for a few minutes.

Build your Sloppy Buffaloes by throwing some of the chicken onto a bun (may I suggested a light toasting first?), followed by 4-5 thinly sliced cucumbers, and then your Blue Cheese Dressing.

We really liked how these turned out. They were really easy and they tasted great. My mouth is watering right now...

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Movie Night and Temple Day

2010-04-13T21:04:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it, but with Friday night's Movie Night, our Elders Quorum has now put together successful activities in back-to-back months. In March we had Game Night, which was well attended, informative, and fun. This past Friday we met at the Elders Quorum President's house for movie night. Brookie and I were about 45 minutes late, but we didn't miss anything. Before the movie we were thoroughly instructed on the subject of food storage, including demonstration of two kinds of wheat grinders.

The movie we watched was The Ultimate Gift. Both of us gave it two thumbs up. If you have a Netflix account, add it to your queue. It's a great family-friendly movie—very "Hallmark-ish."

Looking ahead to our upcoming Saturdays this month, we decided we needed to go to the Temple this Saturday. We left Kansas City at 6:30 AM, and made it to St. Louis in plenty of time for the 10:30 AM session. After our session we took in three family names for some sealings and ended up do sealings for two hours. It was almost 3:30 PM when we stopped at the St. Louis Bread Company for lunch. On the way home I experimented with our speed to see what difference it would make with our gas mileage. On the way there I drove between 75-80mph. On the way back I drove 60-65mph. Most everyone was passing me, but the gas mileage was significantly better. In fact, based on current gas prices, we would save about $10 in our total fuel costs for our temple trips if we drive like we did on the way home.

And that's what we did this weekend. Stay tuned though—we've had some good dinners lately (one in particular) that we kind of made up on the fly that I'll be sharing later.

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Easter Eggs and Baumans

2010-04-11T10:11:00.003-05:00

Leftover pictures and video from our Arizona trip—specifically the time we spent with our friends in Thatcher.

Q: What to do when someone forgets to pack church clothes and his friend has lost his white shirt and took his suit to the cleaners the day before the Priesthood Session of General Conference?

A: Pretend it's 1996 and play "Dress-up: Stake Dance Edition:"

I have to thank John for dressing down so I would feel less awkward wearing jeans and Pumas to Priesthood. And here's a little video:

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Comments (and Pics) of the Week: Arizona 2010

2010-04-06T07:25:00.006-05:00

We got back from our trip to Arizona on Sunday night. We had a great time watching baseball, hanging out with family, and visiting with friends. Brookie had a great idea to keep track of funny quotes throughout the week. There are also some pictures at the end of the post too. Enjoy!

"That baby wipe just got pulverized on your face!"
—Missy

"The Knicks got bombed."
—Kid leaving the Fox Sports Grill upon seeing the final score of the Jazz-Knicks game

"I'm about to have a blowout."
—Cameron

"Farce alarm."
—Missy

"How the heck am I cold in a hot tub in Arizona?"
—Cameron

"Don't get too close or I'll gash your leg with my leg hairs."
—Missy to Weston while sitting in the cold hot tub

"Oh! Marc!"
—Ellie

"Oh my gosh, you're psychedelic."
—Grandma

"If you're gonna pump the gas, pump it right. Come on buddy!"
—Gas station attendant speaking via intercom to a teenager having trouble at the gas pump

Joe (Home Depot employee helping John choose a new toilet): "This toilet can flush a bucket of ping pong balls."
John: "Nah. We don't need to flush ping pong balls—just the regular stuff."

"Do you have any 11s?"
John asking Joe if there are any toilets more powerful than a 10 rating

"Fair is when mother or father do what they think is best for each individual child."
—Amelia's answer to her mom's question of what is fair, after proclaiming that something wasn't

"His name is Todd, not dog."
—John correcting his 2-year-old daughter

Todd: "Where are your pants!?"
Jacob: "This is a night shirt."
Todd: "I know it's a night shirt, but where are your night pants?"

Todd (trying to snap a picture of Lizzy): "Look up here darling."
Lizzy: "I'm not a doggy."

"If you tackle your toddler so they are crying it is a lot easier to brush their teeth."
—John

"That truck stepped in gum."
—John

"You're a thinker, not a stinker."
—Julie

"Oh! Gogg!"
—Sarah, John's 2-year-old daughter greeting me at the door after General Priesthood meeting

Brookie, Missy, and Leila watching our brother's first game of the tournament. Brookie is keeping score, of course.

Our brother Weston strikes a pose.

Apparently, Grandma didn't appreciate having her picture taken...

Go Royals! Here's a picture of us and our cute niece Ellie at a Spring Training game for our team (because, you know, the four baseball games we saw for our brother's tournament weren't enough).

A word of advice: Don't ask adorable kids to say "cheese!" when they are enjoying a cookie, or you might get a picture that looks like this:

...That's more like it.

We found an amazing self-serve frozen yogurt spot called Cherry On Top. These pictures were taken on our third visit in three nights.

And this is the best picture of my dad. Ever.

Our rental got a rock chip on the freeway. We did the responsible thing and paid to have it filled, but five minutes later it split half the width of the windshield. As a side note, this picture made me think our camera was broken before realizing it was still in view mode.

This is the Reynolds-Bauman family portrait. We spent Friday and Saturday in Thatcher, AZ with our friends, and grabbed this group shot before the kids went to bed.

This is what most of the non-Apache-reservation scenery looked like for the three-hour drive from Phoenix to Thatcher.

If your eyes are this blue, you may call me whatever you'd like—even "Gogg."

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Flashback: April Fools

2010-04-02T00:54:00.005-05:00

How ironic is it that one year from the date of our awesome April Fools prank, we find ourselves staying just 10 miles away from the company that offered me that sweet job?

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Fine Dining Friday Night

2010-03-29T07:50:00.003-05:00

Remember last week when we had already used most of our budget for eating out? This week, since we were all out of restaurant cash, we took advantage of a gift card to Yia Yia's that Brookie got from work.

She and the other office staff went there for lunch not too long ago, and she said the food was good. But the biggest reason we went there for dinner was because it wasn't going to cost us anything.

We put our names on the waiting list at about 7:15pm. They said it would be about half an hour, so we walked across the street to Crate & Barrel to kill some time. We took a quick tour of the first floor and headed back. When we got back to the lobby, Brookie made sure to tell them that we were back.

And this is where the fun really starts.

Anyone who has ever been a server at a restaurant (especially a popular one) has probably experienced what I am about to explain: Every so often, despite your best efforts, a party comes in and everything goes wrong for them. From the moment they step in the restaurant to the time they sign the merchant's copy of the credit card receipt, nothing seems to go right. And the scary part, being the server, is that you're pretty sure the tip they leave isn't going to be very good—which doesn't seem all that fair because most of the issues were totally outside of your control.

It was almost an hour later when we asked if our name was coming up soon. The hostess was 'shocked and awed' that our name had been crossed off. She apologized and told us that we would be the next to be seated. A few minutes later a manager came and grabbed some menus and led us to our booth, apologizing multiple times for the mix up along the way.

Our server was very nice. He came and introduced himself and took our drink orders. I had a regular lemonade and Brookie, after our server's glowing description of their strawberry lemonade, decided to have one of those. Unfortunately when he came back to our table, he had some bad news. They were completely out of strawberry lemonade, and had made her a raspberry lemonade instead. He felt even worse because of how much he had talked it up. He left our drinks and left us to look over the menu a little bit more.

Before he came back, I saw that the manager grabbed him and told him that we had been skipped and had been waiting to eat for some time. When he came to take our orders he said that he heard that there had been a little mix up, apologized, and said that we must be hungry. We ordered the Bruschetta, and he told us what an 'excellent' choice that was. I had seen it at another table, and it looked really good. Brookie ordered some penne pasta with grilled chicken, and I ordered a pepperoni pizza with crimini mushrooms and garlic.

Unfortunately, he came back a few moments later, apologizing, because they were also out of the Bruschetta. Not a big deal for us. After all, we were in a great mood because we had a gift card. After a few more suggestions on appetizers and another glance at the menu, we ordered ravioli filled with rib-eye meat and a bunch of other fancy stuff inside and on top. It was really good—and quite different than most anything else we'd ever eaten.

The rest of our meal went very smoothly. Brookie enjoyed her pasta, and I had one of the best pizzas I've had in a long time. Our server brought out the dessert tray, but we decided not to order it. The longer we looked at the cheesecake, Dutch apple pie, and the pastry-wrapped brownie covered in strawberry sauce (I'm drooling just thinking about that one again), the fuller we felt.

When he brought our check he told us that his manager had taken off our appetizer as a good-will gesture for the mix up with the waiting list. We were really impressed. But that posed a small problem for us: without the appetizer, we would still have money left on that gift card, but not enough for another meal. So, we just decided to leave the balance of the card to our server. He was very likable, and very good at waiting tables. Judging from the rest of the crowd at that restaurant and the number of wine glasses at most of their tables, ours probably wasn't the biggest tip of his shift, but hopefully it was a pleasant surprise.

Saturday we went to the temple and our friends drove their minivan. They waited while we did a session, and then we hung out with their three boys while they did a session. We had so much fun. And the trip didn't seem quite as long. We love going to the temple, especially when it works out for us to go with friends.

Sunday we caught a flight to Phoenix to meet up with my family for my brother's baseball tournament. Should be fun. Check back next week for all the details.

And that's what we did this weekend!

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What We Did This Weekend: Cinderella Snow Ball

2010-03-24T07:29:00.004-05:00

Earlier this month, we got serious about our budget (again). This time we decided to use the envelope method. The only trouble with that is that we don't like having cash in our home or in our wallets. To remedy the situation, we bought stacks of play money to represent the real money on our debit cards. So far it has worked out pretty well. And, thanks to a few small windfalls this month, we're ahead of schedule for paying off all of our creditors (although, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't have had more fun pre-ordering an iPad instead. Then again, by the time I can afford one, it will probably be cooler and cheaper).

Our first three date nights we a little over budget, so Friday night we made use of a Super Saver discount card we bought from our little neighbor friend: buy one entree, get one free at Jason's Deli in Lee's Summit. Brookie asked what kind of food they had there and I described it as really good cafeteria food. After dinner Friday night, I'm confident in the accuracy of that description. We ate and left without grabbing our complimentary soft serve ice cream because Roxberry was nearby and we'd never been.

I think they opened this past fall (October or November maybe), and there was a lot of buzz about their fruit smoothies. The most likely reason that we hadn't been there before was that it's nothing new to us. That assumption was confirmed while looking over the menu Friday night. It smelled like Zuka Juice, it sounded like Zuka Juice, and in the end, it tasted just like Zuka Juice. It was more of a Zuka Juice than Jamba Juice.* There were a few new twists thrown in on the menu, and the '50s decor was more Hires than anything, but it was basically a rebranded Zuka Juice. And, well, I can make these at home pretty easily, to which many of you can probably witness.

*Let the record show that I have never really been a fan of Jamba Juice. Ever since the news that they bought out Zuka Juice in Salt Lake City, I've always kind of resented them. Most times I still refer to all fruit smoothies as Zukas. After working at Zuka in high school (anyone remember my name tag?), I guess you could say the buy-out left a bad taste in my mouth—worse than wheatgrass juice.

Saturday night was a big night: The annual Cinderella Ball stake youth dance. The kids get a chance to wear their finest clothes. I overheard someone describe it as a sort of Mormon Prom. Brookie and I went early because we had to help serve dinner, which started at 5:00pm. The monthly seminary devotional/fireside was at 6:00pm, and the dance started at 7:00pm.

While the kids were in the chapel for the devotional the adults made preparations for the dance. Brookie and I helped with the mini desserts. You wouldn't believe the amount of sweets that were made for this event. There were 330 creampuffs (I didn't really count them, I just saw that there were three boxes of 110 each), brownies, rice krispy treats, chocolate chip cookies, mini-cupcakes, and enormous chocolate-dipped strawberries. Our friend prepared it all with the help of another friend. We were totally impressed, and so were the kids who were able to take advantage of such a delicious spread.

Unfortunately (for the kids, at least), the dance had to be cut short because of the weather. Friday night it had snowed. And round two of the storm was playing out during the first half of the dance. By the time we had cleaned up and were on our way home, the roads were horrible. It had been really warm the week before, so there was a lot of slush beneath the snow. There were a few hills between our house and the church that I wasn't sure we would successfully climb, but we eventually made it home without much trouble.

Too bad the same can't be said of our return trip to church Sunday morning. Although it didn't snow much overnight, the roads were cleared, which means a few extra inches pushed into our driveway by the snowplows. It was enough to make it impossible for us to leave without first, trying to backup through it, second, unsuccessfully trying to push the Zion xB back into the the driveway before, third, accepting the assistance provided by a man who had pulled over to help, and lastly, shoveling the plowed snow to clear the end of the driveway (which is probably what I should have done in the first place).

And that's what we did this weekend!

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: Werewolves and Applebee's

2010-03-16T18:46:00.004-05:00

Let's start this post off with a question: When was the last time you played Mafia with a group of friends? Better yet, when was the last time you even thought about that game? Normally, I would answer, "Mafia? What's that?" And then, after a thorough explanation of the rules, I would concede that I remember having played it—in junior high.

But if I were being truthful, I would admit that I had thought about this game just last week as I pondered how we could have fun with the scriptures in seminary. My idea was to base it off of Mafia, but change the characters to be Gadianton Robbers and Prophets and Nephites, instead of Mafia, Police, and Citizens. And we could call it "Secret Combinations." But, with only five kids in my seminary class, it wouldn't really work.

Knowing this, how ironic is it that Friday night, at our Elders Quorum game night, the first game that we played was The Werewolves of Millers Hollow. It was a fun variation of Mafia (which, I seem to have known as Murder in the Dark, but come to find out, that's a totally different game that resembles Stuck in the Mud with the lights off).

Both of us were slightly skeptical about going to this game night because we knew there was a high probability of board games, and we're not big fans. But Werewolves was pretty fun. After that we divided the room and played Battle of the Sexes, which was much more fun before we got married. Now, it just seems to cause a lot of unnecessary contention. The guys won, but only because Mark cheated.

Everyone was asked to bring some sort of treat, and we pitched in with some Spring-themed Oreo cookies and a half-gallon of 1% milk. I have to say, the milk was brilliant. It's the perfect dessert beverage. We had plates and plates of cookies, and a few doughnut holes thrown in for good measure, and they were all complemented quite well by a ~~tall glass~~ short, disposable cup of milk.

Saturday night was fun too. We went to Applebees with some friends to celebrate a 32nd birthday. If you're a regular reader, you should already be familiar with our affinity for Applebees and a certain menu item we enjoy from time to time. Brookie ventured out and ordered an Asian-type salad. I stuck to my guns and ordered the usual. And, as usual, it was great. Of course, this particular trip to Applebees was better that most because we were sitting in a large booth with six other adults whose company we quite enjoy, along with two adorable babies to entertain us when we ran out of trivia questions.

Earlier that day, if the weather hadn't been so crumby, we might have also gone to the Lee's Summit St. Patrick's Day parade. Then again, if it's anything like the Kansas City parade, maybe it's best that we found other things to do instead.

And that's what we did this weekend!

Go to the board!

Looking at Cars We'll Never Own (and Some We'd Never Want)

2010-03-10T07:58:00.005-06:00

Brookie and I attended the Kansas City Auto Show this past Friday night with some friends of ours. We love car shows. It doesn't matter if the cars are new and for sale, or old and restored. We just love looking at cars. Don't ask us anything about what's under the hood, or about the pros and cons of wishbone suspension, because we don't know. We just like how they look.

We look forward to the Auto Show every year. It's the perfect opportunity to slam doors, kick tires, and sit in some new cars without worrying about the annoying car salesman in the seat next to you. This year, one of the coolest things we saw was in a Jaguar. Brookie was commenting on the cool "ignition" button for the engine and then looked down and noticed there was no traditional shifter. We also had a chance to get up-close and personal with a few of the newest Honda models (I come from a long line of Honda snobs—but the ZION xB has stolen our hearts, and quite possibly, our brand loyalty), the CrossTour and the Insight. What amazed me about the CrossTour was how cavernous the opening was when we popped the rear hatch. The Insight seemed pretty cool too. But c'mon Honda. Don't you think it looks a little, tiny bit too much like a Prius? Oh, and while I'm on the Insight, does Honda think that only children ride in the back seats of cars? The head room there was ridiculous. I know we've been spoiled by the space in our xB, but this was a little silly.

And speaking of silly, does anyone else hear circus music in their head every time you see a Smart car in the wild? Any car that shakes back and forth when people get out and shut the door raises suspicions in my head. Then again, it looks like these two feel safe sitting in that car, doesn't it?

We had lots of fun Friday night at the auto show. But our night was not without some disappointment. Scion's booth, which is usually the life of the party, wasn't. They still had some CDs of the latest in underground hip-hop to give away, but there were only three cars on display, none of which were tricked out in any way. Tough times for the auto industry I guess.

We did finally get a chance to sit in one of the newer models on the xB. And, well, I can only hope that Scion gets off the road to conformism and back on track making cars that 20% of the population think are ugly, and 60% think are really, really ugly. That's your niche. Otherwise, in a few years, we may be in the market for a well-cared-for, low-mileage 2006 xB.

And that's what we did this weekend. Here is one last shot from the auto show of our friends, chillin' in their red VW convertible bug.

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An Evening with a General Authority and Other Friendly People

2010-03-02T19:23:00.004-06:00

I'm now a full six months into my calling as an early morning seminary teacher. I'm happy to report that I have only slept in once (and that was because we didn't set the alarm). Most of my evenings are spent preparing lessons that I'll be giving less than eight hours later to a group of four or five youth. I was just thinking the other day that if our families were in our ward, I would have two of our brothers in my class. Now that would be interesting.

Each month the seminary teachers have an inservice meeting where we learn things about how to teach the gospel more effectively. This month the regular inservice meeting was replaced by an event called "An Evening with a General Authority." I was pretty excited when the invitation came in the mail. But then I noticed that President Eyring wouldn't actually be joining us. Instead we were going to congregate at the Liberty Stake Center for dinner and then move to the chapel to watch a broadcast for all seminary and institute teachers.

When we arrived for dinner there were very few places left to sit at the tables spread out in the cultural hall. I dreaded sitting with a group of people we didn't know and wished that we had just skipped the dinner and gone for some Dish pizza instead.

We grabbed our food and sat at a table with four places open and four places taken. The two couples already seated had mostly finished their food and we now engrossed in conversation about pellets, bio-materials, alternative fuels, and residential insulation. I think my only contribution to their dialogue was, "Excuse me—could you pass the salt and pepper please? Thanks."

While we ate, Brookie and I talked about random stuff that we would normally talk about at dinner. As we were just about finishing up, another couple came in carrying a car seat. There were no places left at any of the tables except ours. And the two remaining spots at our table were on either side of us, providing a physical cushion from the pellet talk. Brookie motioned to them that we could scoot over and they could come sit by us, and they did. She is much friendlier than I am, and that's just one of the reasons I'm in love with her (even if it does force me out of my comfort zone from time to time).

And, as it turned out, the couple that came and sat by us was friendlier than me too—and I'm grateful for that. The husband sat next to me and started asking questions; the typical stuff: Where are you from? What do you do for a living? How many kids are in your seminary class? The more he talked with us, the more his personality reminded me of my old concert choir folder-buddy. I started to like him a little bit. I started wondering if maybe we could be friends.

But, as soon as that thought crossed my mind, he told us how he had just been accepted to orthodontics school and they would be moving to Mesa, AZ soon. That's was the tipping point. Sorry Guy. I don't need any more friends that are going to move away. Been there. Done that. Multiple times now. Thanks for being so friendly and saving me from the compost-as-fuel-alternative talk, but no thanks.

We finished eating and moved into the chapel for President Eyring's talk, which was great. And that's what we did this weekend.

Go to the board!

Sharing Time: Gmail Junk Quirk

2010-02-24T14:30:00.004-06:00

Gmail isn't new. Google Voice is (and if you'd like an invitation, let me know in the comments—I have three left to give). And so are Google Buzz and Google Wave. But Gmail has been around since 2004. I'm not exactly sure when I signed up for my Gmail account, but it has been a long time since I switched over from Hotmail. Ever since the switch, I have loved Gmail. It's free. It comes with plenty of storage—enough that I never need to delete an email that I think I might need sometime in the future. It's also searchable (so I can actually find that email I've been saving for two years). There are many benefits to using Gmail.

But today I learned that Gmail isn't perfect—especially where junk mail is concerned.

One of Gmail's features that I have always liked is how sanitary it is. I rarely, if ever, receive junk mail or spam in my inbox. As it turns out, part of the reason for this is its extra-sensitive spam filters. They definitely keep all of the pharmaceutical emails out of my hair, but they also mark the occasional friend's email as junk, never to be seen, and queued for auto-deletion 30 days after arriving in the Spam folder. Here's how I discovered this flaw:

I opened my Mail application this morning and was playing around with it. I noticed I had 431 messages in my Spam folder. I clicked on it and was quickly scrolling through them. Among all of the subject line innuendoes from spammers across the globe, I glimpsed a name of an old friend in the "from" column. I thought I had just scrolled up too fast and gone past it, but it turns out that it was over 30 days old and the moment I saw it was actually the same moment it was syncing with the Gmail servers to be deleted; thrown out with the garbage, so to speak.

After some quick research, I concluded that it was lost for good, which made me sad. I would have liked to have read that email. So here's my advice: Check your Spam or Junk folder every so often for stuff that shouldn't be there. And here's my apology (and excuse): If you've ever sent me an email and thought that I was just a big jerk for not replying, I'm sorry—It's all Google's fault.

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: Video Game Night and Graduation

2010-02-22T19:45:00.001-06:00

While making our way from our arrival gate to our departure gate at the Denver airport Saturday night, a thought occurred to me: The Denver International Airport is the Wood Between the Worlds, as described in C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew, the first book in his Chronicles of Narnia series. For us at least, nothing ever happens there. It's pretty much a stopping point between places where things do happen.

Last week was made up of mostly meetings for me and mostly shopping for Brookie. We were in Salt Lake City for Western Governors University's semiannual conference. So, while my schedule was fixed, Brookie could do whatever she wanted: A little shopping, out to lunch with family, take in an extra session at the temple, followed by a little more shopping.

Tuesday night there was a dinner meeting, but Wednesday night we had free, so I took Trax to Sandy where Brookie and her grandpa picked me up so we could go to dinner. We met up with more extended family at the restaurant where we had a great time and some good food. Afterwards, we went to the South Towne mall to walk it off (and to shop some more).

Thursday night I had another evening meeting, but I was able to leave before dinner. Brookie had been up in our room watching our friend's baby boy while we were at the meeting. When we were done we went back to our room and found Brookie and him nearly asleep in the chair watching the Olympics. We all stayed there for nearly an hour before our friend and her baby left and Brookie and I went to Cafe Rio for dinner.

Whenever we are in Salt Lake, there are a few things we always try to do (in no particular order):

Zupa's

IKEA

DownEast Outfitters

Rumbi Island Grill

Training Table and,

Cafe Rio

Yeah, so most of it is food-related. If we're able to hit most of these places, it's a successful trip. This time we didn't get to the Training Table (a Utah Original), but there's always next time.

Friday night was deemed "Kids' Video Game Night" by my mother's event on her white board calendar in the kitchen. Conference meetings were through for the week at 4:00pm that day (and thanks to my attendance at a special Franklin Covey session, I finally know the seven habits), and Brookie and I ran over to the Salt Lake Temple for the 5:00 session. By the time we were out of the temple and back to my parents' house for dinner, it was nearly 8:00pm. Everyone was there, which was fun. There were my parents and youngest brother Marc, of course; Weston, Missy, and our niece Ellie; and Cameron and his fiancé Leila. We had tacos and seven-layer dip, and then we all went downstairs to play some games on Weston's Wii. My highlight of the night was the game-winning two-run homerun I hit off of Weston. When Brookie and I weren't playing MarioKart, Wii Baseball, or Bowling, we were laughing and playing with Ellie. We were so glad that she likes us. I was a little worried that it would take a few days for her to get used to us, but she took to us pretty much right away. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think we've ever met a child that didn't like us, so I guess I shouldn't have been so worried.

Before it got too terribly late, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed. Saturday was a full day, and we knew we would need to be as rested as possible.

Usually we would have left early Saturday afternoon so that we could get back to Kansas City in the early evening. But this trip we stayed a few hours longer to see Brookie's aunt Jolyn graduate from Western Governors with her MBA. We are so proud of her. WGU gave her a great opportunity to earn her MBA while working full time and being a single mom. It was one of the best graduation ceremonies I had ever attended (probably second only to Brookie's graduation from BYU). After the graduation, Grandma and Grandpa Pyrah took us all out to lunch at the Olive Garden.

After lunch we stopped into my parents house one last time to hang out for an hour or so and to say goodbye. A few hours later we found ourselves in the Wood between the Worlds at the Denver airport. And that's what we did this weekend!

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: Luau and Salt Lake Fun

2010-02-17T08:50:00.003-06:00

Three-day weekends are usually very full for us, but this weekend was even more packed because we flew to Salt Lake City on Saturday morning.

Friday night's activities provided plenty for a great blog post all by itself. Our ward had a big Luau Party that night, and we had a blast. The food was excellent. There was some amazing pulled-pork, teriyaki chicken, rice, and a few other authentic offerings. We also had a guava cake "contest" that had at least a dozen entries, which made more than enough for dessert. After we ate, we were treated to some hula dancing and other entertainment. Besides the professional performances by a group from Independence, the Relief Society and the Elders Quorum took the stage as well. The Sisters in the ward did a great hula dance and the Elders Quorum and I did the haka. That was pretty fun—especially the face-paint.

Saturday morning we flew to Salt Lake City to see family and for me to attend a work conference this week. We had dinner with most of my family (Cam and Leila were out on their Valentines date), and then my brother Weston and I found out about a little Valentines surprise that our wives had planned for us: Dancing at the Murray Arts Center (the MAC, for those in the know)!

Brookie and I hadn't been dancing at the MAC for a very long time. It used to be one of our favorite things to do. It's always great fun. The atmosphere is decidedly retro, and so are most of the patrons. The dancers are a funny mix of The Greatest Generation and Generation Me. We had forgotten almost every dance step we ever learned, but that didn't stop us from having a fun time.

Sunday was a banner day for the Reynolds family. The youngest boy, Marc, had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor. My dad is an Eagle. I am an Eagle. My brother Weston is, and Cameron is too. And now we have the complete set. It was really cool to be sitting in the Eagle's Nest with my brothers and my dad.

Monday night Brookie and I took over my mom's kitchen and turned it into T&B's Italian Bistro. We told Marc to get a date and find two other couples for a special "gourmet" dinner. On the night's menu was bruschetta, Italian cream sodas, green salads with the house creamy pesto dressing, garlic cheese bread, manicotti, and Brookie's chocolate dream.

Yeah. Pretty sweet. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a molten chocolate cake, topped with a scoop of chocolate gelato, whipped cream, a chocolate straw, and chocolate syrup, all on a plate that Brookie decorated with a stencil and some cocoa powder. The kids were impressed.

So it was a really full three-day weekend, but it was awesome. And that's what we did!

Go to the board!

Follow-up: Death of a Snowman

2010-02-11T14:34:00.003-06:00

I had to take a picture of our dying snowman today because I don't think he'll be around much longer. He's been leaning since the day after we made him. I still can't believe his head hasn't fallen off yet. He's really starting to melt and all of the dirt and debris on his insides are beginning to show. After the snow we got earlier this week, he looked like someone had taken a fire hose, hooked it up to the Cool Whip factory, and blasted him with oil-based whipped topping.

So long Sa-yam. Nice knowing ya. I guess you'll be heading off to that Big Cumulonimbus in the sky.

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What We Did This Weekend: Snowman Sam and Friends

2010-02-10T07:17:00.004-06:00

It snowed again on Friday. We had heard that we were going to get 3-6 inches over night, so there was a chance that schools would be closed again, but there was only about an inch and a half on the ground when we woke up that morning. It continued to snow all day, until about 3:30pm when the snow finally started to slow down. And, since I needed a little break from work, I decided it would be a good time to shovel the driveway.

Shoveling the driveway the week after Christmas was tough because there was over a foot and a half of snow and it was 2º outside (before the wind chill). Having had that experience a few weeks ago made Friday's shoveling easy. It was quite a bit warmer, and there was only about 2-3" of snow to move. While I was shoveling, I noticed that the snow was different than what we usually get. Most of the time our snow is really icy—the kind that is no good for snow forts and snowballs or anything like that. The snow that fell on Friday was good snow (if there is such a thing), and it gave me an idea! An awful idea! The snow gave me a wonderful, awful idea!*

*Okay. So there was nothing awful about my idea, but anytime you can get some mileage out of lines from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in a post in February it's a good thing, right?

I finished the driveway just before Brookie got home from work. After she finished talking about her afternoon, I shared my idea with her. With every bit of the frogs, snails, and puppy-dog tails that I have left in my no-longer-little-boyness, I asked, "You wanna build a snowman?" I'm sure my excitement showed in my face, but I'm not so sure she noticed it.

"No."

There was no hesitation in her answer at all. Not even the slightest hint of consideration in her voice. I was devastated. I would have made a snowman by myself to welcome her home from work, but I waited because I thought it would be much more fun to make one together.

So we continued our after-work routine of asking about each other's days and sifting through the mail. After a little while, she asked me if I really wanted to go outside and build a snowman. All I had to do was smile, and she knew my answer. She reluctantly agreed, and we bundled up and went out to play in the snow.

We both agreed that we probably hadn't built a snowman in some time. Brookie said that she had probably been about eight years old the last time she'd made a snowman. For me it probably wasn't quite so long, but it had been long enough. We started in the backyard with the smallest of snowballs and began rolling them to the front of the house. When we started there was barely a trail left by our snowballs, but by the time my snow-boulder was nearing it's final resting spot, I needed Brookie's help to move it and it was pulling giant swaths of snow, leaves, and dirt from the ground.

And, after about an hour of fun in the snow, I present to you, Snowman Sam!*

*His name is Sam, but you have to say it right: It's Sa-yam, with a really thick drawl. The cowboy hat and the sweet moustache require that his name be properly pronounced.

Sam was there to greet a pair of pint-sized guests we had over to our house on Saturday. The video speaks for itself, but who says you need fancy blinking toys or video games to keep children entertained. A good imagination and a waste basket are more than enough for kids to entertain themselves (and countless others in the process).

And that's what we did this weekend!

Go to the board!

What We Did This Weekend: Internet Safety

2010-02-03T07:18:00.002-06:00

Friday night we attended an internet safety seminar put on by our stake. It was a little bit scary. We were both uneasy when we left the meeting, but I was glad that we don't currently have any teens or tweens of our own. Then again, I was also worried about what this same type of meeting will cover in 10-15 years when we do. The first thing I did Saturday morning was to go into my Facebook security settings and make sure they were all set to "Only Friends."

The meeting was geared towards protecting our kids from the dangers of being online. There is so much to think about. After hearing about all of the things that parents have to be aware of, and that the kids need to try to avoid, it struck me how much has changed since I was in high school. The information age moves fast.

I remember using encyclopedias and 3x5 notecards to prepare reports in high school. I remember how cool my Nike day planner was, with its "The Far Side" inserts. Back then you were "too cool for school" if you had a pager. Whoa. You mean someone could call your pager and no matter where you are, your pager will tell you they need to get ahold of you, and you could find a phone and call them right back? I don't remember seeing a single cell phone in school. And iPods weren't invented until 2001, more than three years after I graduated, and I full year after returning from my mission. I remember carrying around my personal CD player and my entire collection of CDs to play in it (all 12 of them).

Add eroding values and moral relativism to all of the technological advances and what you get is not pretty. I don't see technology slowing down, and all indications point to continued societal degradation. It has to be tough for the youth to keep themselves unspotted from the world. They have to be really strong. And, perhaps most importantly, they have to feel safe and protected from it all when they are at home. Families are so important, and it makes me sick how they are constantly under attack.

It's thinking about all of this sort of junk that makes me believe that our challenges are every bit as difficult as the challenges faced by the pioneers. It's just the nature of those challenges are different. But I tell you what, at times pulling a handcart across the plains seems like a welcome escape.

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Quick Point of Clarification

2010-01-29T07:57:00.005-06:00

To the pair of inquiring minds that asked the question and to all the others that wanted to: Yes. The Zion xB does have a spare tire. Unfortunately for situations like this, it also has some cool after-market wheels. So cool, in fact, that I had no idea how to get them off of the car. Actually, I had an inkling, but little proof of how it actually worked, and no experience actually ever getting it to work. Thus, we made the call to AAA.

A tow truck arrived only about 45 minutes after we placed the call because we were on a "dangerous" on-ramp, so we were given high priority. But the trouble was that the tow truck driver didn't know how to get the wheel off either. I told him that I was pretty sure that the silver center piece just spun off, but neither of us could budge it. I was a little worried that he was going to disfigure the wheel by trying other things. He asked if I had some sort of special tool I received with the wheels. I said that we had bought the car used and the wheels were already mounted. No special tool. I told him again that I was pretty sure that center piece twisted off. So he grabbed a crow-bar-looking-thing and a mallet and tried to loosen it just enough to get it going. It worked, he changed the tire for us and led us to a nearby tire center for the patch.

And while I'm thinking about it, it's true what they say: "There are good people in Nebraska." That tow truck driver never gave up on us, though he had multiple chances to just say that he couldn't help us and we'd need to wait for one of AAA's flatbed tow trucks. When we finally got the center piece off and exposed the bolts, it turned out that we needed a special thin-walled tool to be able to get them loosened. But, undeterred after trying every instrument we had on hand, he drove to the aforemetioned tire center and borrowed the proper tool so he could come back and finally remove our tire. The whole thing took about an hour. Then we waited at the tire center for another 90 minutes before we were back on the road.

So there you have it. We have a spare, we just don't have the tools to make use of it... yet.

The O'Neill Experience

2010-01-27T07:05:00.005-06:00

This past weekend was nothing special, and I still need to put up some pictures and another video of us stranded on the roadside (though this one was not as dire as the first ). It's funny how we've just happened to have our Flip Video with us both times we've needed roadside assistance. We hope you like these videos. And, by the way, I don't think kissing a blarney stone is good luck unless you're actually Irish.

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The O'Neill Miracle

2010-01-19T07:43:00.002-06:00

This will probably sound a little weird to you, and you might not believe us, and chances are you will think that we're crazy, but this past weekend was one of the best weekends of our lives. It wasn't a leisurely, fun-filled weekend spent in an exotic location (unless your definition of exotic is different than mine). It was hard. But regardless of how difficult our weekend was, it really was a great, great weekend – one we won't forget anytime soon.

The whole story is much too long (and a little too sacred) for a blog post. But, if you're ever in a situation with us, and the Spirit lets you know that the time would be right to hear it, we'll give it to you. Here's your fair warning though: you will probably cry. And that's okay. For now, I will tell you about the miraculous part of our weekend. And you still might cry, and that's still okay.

In the end, this opportunity fell through. It was Saturday night when we started to understand that the scale was tipping, and it wasn't tipping in our favor. Our "team," which included us, our agent, and the dear, sweet gardian angel of a woman who was by our side nearly every moment of our O'Neill experience, decided that we had done all we could do, so we left the hospital.

When Brookie and I returned to our hotel room we were spent. We didn't know what to do. We knew we could exercise our faith. We could fast. We could certainly pray. But I felt like we needed more faith and more prayers that the two of us could offer. What we needed was a miracle. And I knew that we needed help if that miracle was going to happen. So we both got on our phones and called our families and our friends. We asked them to call more family and more friends, and we told them that we needed an emergency fast. We couldn't give them any details because physically, and emotionally, we couldn't. All we could do as we blubbered and sobbed on the phone was ask for help.

We know that there were hundreds of people praying for us and fasting with us when they heard about our situation. We told you that we needed a miracle. But, the funny thing about miracles, they don't always happen the way you think they will.

It was Sunday morning when we learned that we would be driving home with an empty car seat (which was then safely and securely fastened in our car, thanks to the one of the many kind nurses we met who took the time to show me how to properly install the thing). We were devastated. Our agent asked if we were just going to head back for home as we were leaving the hospital. But I told him that we would go to church and then decide what we were going to do. It was all Brookie could do to just sit through the meetings and not lose it.

We made it through church and we asked our agent if he would come up to our room to help me give Brookie a priesthood blessing of comfort. While we waited for him, we both prayed. We asked for peace. We asked for comfort. And we asked for help to know why this had turned out as it had, and what He intended us to learn. Our agent arrived, and then left after the blessing. Then Brookie and I sat down and wept. In between teary breathing spurts, we began to talk about everything, and over the course of the next few hours we experienced the most miraculous thing that has ever happened to us.

We felt the Spirit comforting us. We felt the love of our Savior like we had never felt before. And a river of pure intelligence and eternal truths began to flow into our minds as we were taught the lessons that God would have us learn. We began to understand why we had come to O'Neill, NE and been made to go through everything that had happened that weekend. I learned that if you sincerely and humbly ask "why me?" or in our case, "why us?" the Lord will tell you exactly why.

We were expecting our miracle to be something like a spiritual revelation given to the birthmother that would somehow convince her to relinquish her baby boy. But the miracle we actually received was no less amazing than an angelic appearance would have been. The Savior healed us sooner than we could have ever imagined. We again called our loved ones and tried to explain to them that we were okay, but I don't think they believed us. Your fasting, your prayers, and your faith, combined with ours, did indeed produce the miracle we asked for. It wasn't what we thought it would be, but it was exactly what the Lord knew we needed.

That evening we had dinner in the home of our angel, Barb. As the three of us sat in her apartment we were enveloped by the peace of God. We shared insights that we had been given, and the Holy Ghost witnessed to all of us of their truthfulness. It was a laughter-filled, joyous meal as we all basked in God's Glory. After dinner we said goodbye, went back to the hotel, and slept more soundly than we had in nearly a week.

The next morning we started our trip home. We hadn't been on the road for more than twenty minutes when our song came on, and we sang it louder than ever, and with bigger smiles on our faces than you could possibly imagine. And that's what we did this weekend.

I'm not surprised.
Not everything lasts.
I've broken my heart so many times,
I stop keeping track.
Talk myself in.
I talk myself out.
I get all worked up,
And then I let myself down.

I tried so very hard not to lose it.
I came up with a million excuses.
I thought I thought of every possibility.

And I know someday that it'll all turn out.
You'll make me work so we can work to work it out.
And I promise you kid that I'll give so much more than I get–
I just haven't met you yet.

Mmmmm ....

I might have to wait.
I'll never give up.
I guess it's half timing,
And the other half's luck.
Wherever you are,
Whenever it's right,
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life.

And I know that we can be so amazing.
And baby your love is gonna change me.
And now I can see every possibility.

Mmmmm ....

And somehow I know that it will all turn out.
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out.
And I promise you kid I'll give so much more than I get–
I just haven't met you yet.

They say all's fair,
In love and war,
But I won't need to fight it.
We'll get it right,
And we'll be united.

And I know that we can be so amazing.
And being in your life is gonna change me.
And now I can see every single possibility.

Mmmm ....

And someday I know it'll all turn out.
And I'll work to work it out.
Promise you kid I'll give more than I get,
Than I get, than I get, than I get–

Oh you know it'll all turn out.
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out.
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get–
Yeah I just haven't met you yet.

I just haven't met you yet.
Oh promise you kid,
To give so much more than I get.

I said love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
I just haven't met you yet.
Love, love, love.
I just haven't met you yet.

Go to the board!