1. Baby Sam was born August 8, 2008 at 5:42 in the morning. She is the first baby girl on the Shurtliff side of our family. She's going to be one spoiled girl. Her full name is Samantha Lorraine Shurtliff.
2. After 6 months in Texas, you can finalize baby adoptions, so now legally, Dallin is Ariane and Zane's baby as of Friday, August 22, 2008. The following day, he was sealed to his parents in the Houston temple for time and all eternity. There were many tears of joy that day, and Matt and I are so glad we were able to be there in the temple with them for that special event.
3. We bought a mini-van!!! This was totally not on the 'to-do' list for another year until another child was in the picture! For those who don't know Matt, one of his most endearing qualities is that he is such a friendly and out-going person. Leaving church or similar functions is a 30-minute event since he has to say good-bye to so many people. Matt is a very genuine person who would do anything to help his friends and family. One nice side benefit to that is that he's able to strike these amazing deals because of people he knows whether it's baseball tickets, taking our car into the shop, or buying a vehicle! The story usually goes that Matt knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy that just loves Matt and will cut him a sweet deal. Anyway, I'm not quite sure if I was ready to be a "mini-van Mom" just yet, but it was a deal that we couldn't pass up, even with the increase of gas prices. It is a 2005 Dodge Caravan with stow-away features (which we like a lot for future vacations). It's in excellent condition. After we sell my Corolla, we're hoping that the van purchase amounts to only $3-4000 out of pocket, depending on what we can get for my car.
4. We bought new couches for our family room. As much as we love my Grandma and Grandpa's old couch that was passed down to Ariane & Zane and now to us, we had been saving up for something a bit nicer and more trendy :o). I'm a very conservative person when it comes to decorating, so when we were doing some shopping around, I thought I would like the neutral browns, tans, or greens. I was very surprised with myself when I fell in love with some bold, fire-engine red couches! (There are pictures below.) The couch and loveseat have arrived. We are waiting for our chair and cute rug now. Once the rug is in, we'll be picking out paint colors. I'll take a picture of the room once we have it all put together so some of you decorators can give suggestions!
5. Caleb turned one and we celebrated his birthday yesterday (to allow Dallin to have just a 'Dallin weekend' when we originally were going to have the party). Matt's aunt and uncle who live in Conroe, were generous enough to allow us to use their house for the space and the swimming pool. Here are a few pictures of the event:
The birthday boy sporting a new outfit that Daddy picked out for him.
Caleb's birthday cake
Singing 'Happy Birthday'
2. After 6 months in Texas, you can finalize baby adoptions, so now legally, Dallin is Ariane and Zane's baby as of Friday, August 22, 2008. The following day, he was sealed to his parents in the Houston temple for time and all eternity. There were many tears of joy that day, and Matt and I are so glad we were able to be there in the temple with them for that special event.
3. We bought a mini-van!!! This was totally not on the 'to-do' list for another year until another child was in the picture! For those who don't know Matt, one of his most endearing qualities is that he is such a friendly and out-going person. Leaving church or similar functions is a 30-minute event since he has to say good-bye to so many people. Matt is a very genuine person who would do anything to help his friends and family. One nice side benefit to that is that he's able to strike these amazing deals because of people he knows whether it's baseball tickets, taking our car into the shop, or buying a vehicle! The story usually goes that Matt knows a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy that just loves Matt and will cut him a sweet deal. Anyway, I'm not quite sure if I was ready to be a "mini-van Mom" just yet, but it was a deal that we couldn't pass up, even with the increase of gas prices. It is a 2005 Dodge Caravan with stow-away features (which we like a lot for future vacations). It's in excellent condition. After we sell my Corolla, we're hoping that the van purchase amounts to only $3-4000 out of pocket, depending on what we can get for my car.
4. We bought new couches for our family room. As much as we love my Grandma and Grandpa's old couch that was passed down to Ariane & Zane and now to us, we had been saving up for something a bit nicer and more trendy :o). I'm a very conservative person when it comes to decorating, so when we were doing some shopping around, I thought I would like the neutral browns, tans, or greens. I was very surprised with myself when I fell in love with some bold, fire-engine red couches! (There are pictures below.) The couch and loveseat have arrived. We are waiting for our chair and cute rug now. Once the rug is in, we'll be picking out paint colors. I'll take a picture of the room once we have it all put together so some of you decorators can give suggestions!
5. Caleb turned one and we celebrated his birthday yesterday (to allow Dallin to have just a 'Dallin weekend' when we originally were going to have the party). Matt's aunt and uncle who live in Conroe, were generous enough to allow us to use their house for the space and the swimming pool. Here are a few pictures of the event:
The birthday boy sporting a new outfit that Daddy picked out for him.
Caleb's birthday cake
Singing 'Happy Birthday'
Digging into the cake and feeding himself with a spoon.
We had to help him get started a bit. I practiced with a cupcake the previous week and Caleb had no problems digging in and making a mess, but Caleb got real shy with everyone watching him so Daddy and I intervened.
Caleb's new toys and clothes:
Caleb's new toys and clothes:
The pillow was made by Matt's mom that has cute footprints all over it and quotes a phrase from the song, 'I Am a Child of God.'
4 comments:
What a busy month! It was a great time for Grandma and Grandpa to come down because they got to participate in so many activities for each baby. We enjoyed the pool party yesterday. Caleb was great!
Wow, sounds like a lot of exciting stuff going on. I'm so happy for Ariane and Zane. What a special day.
I really like your couches too! Maybe someday I'll get to pick out new furniture and get rid of all of our hand-me-downs. The leather couches in our family room are twenty years old, but at least leather doesn't go too out of style, right? I can't wait to see the finished room!
How exciting! That's so awesome that Ariane and Zane were able to be sealed to Dallin and that so many people were able to come and support them. I can't even imagine how special that day must have been for them!
Wow, a minivan! I've been trying to persuade Bobby to buy a bigger car b/c our ford focus is going to be SO tight with 2 carseats in the back; so I'm super jealous you have a nice big car! :)
What a fun birthday for Caleb! Tyler was the same way with the cake-a little shy going crazy in front of everybody, but once we gave him a fork he was all over it!
What a eventful month...so many good things! Wow a mini-van what a big step...its strange to think we are all old enough to own adult family things...like a mini-van! Congrats on all the good news!
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