Self-Centered Summary

So I keep thinking I need to do a summary post.  I went back to look at my pictures to see what I’d missed and I basically realized that what I needed to summarize had little to do with my family/kids and pretty much A LOT to do with me.  (To quote Paige: “me me me me, sung in an ascending scale”.  She’s so funny, I wish she had a blog, still.)

So here we go.

I basically go out to dinner and lunch a lot with my friends for their birthdays.  I like couching it in a “we have to go to celebrate Randi/Ilene/Cynthia/Amy.  I’m just doing it to make them feel special” type of way, but really I love having an excuse to spend the hard earned budget money on restaurant food for myself.

Cynthia’s birthday lunch:

Ilene’s Christmas visit:

Then, even though I so kindly celebrated Cynthia’s birthday…she up and moves.  So we all met up at her house to “clean” (again, sneaky way to get out of the house and eat MORE food by myself) after moving day.  This crying looks fake, but it’s not.  We are missing those Jenkins SO much.

We had a bishopric post-holiday/tithing settlement party at the Yosts’ house.  Not only is Stacey an extremely good cook (where is the roll recipe, Stacey?!), but they introduced us to a new, fun group game.  (Ryan and Jessica A. almost came to blows over Ryan’s fake score, but they kissed and made up via email a few hours later).

And, of course, since it’s January, we attended the Albrecht’s First Friday party.  (Please go here for more pictures and an explanation on the “Yacht Rock” theme).  And don’t even think about going to Value Village and copying my awesome purple culotte outfit.  Ryan’s mustache can be copied by growing facial hair for a week and coloring it in with eyeliner.  Super sexy.

Just us:

The men:

The hosts:

And last the best of all the game:

After years of trying, and waiting, and lawsuits, and prayers, and venting phone calls…the Albrechts finally finalized their adoption and we got to witness it.  Seth was very involved in the process (notice him in background swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth):

Here we are the court steps:

The icing on the cake was, of course the temple sealing. 

It was a sweet, simple reminder that Heavenly Father always answers our prayers.  Sometimes He asks us to wait and struggle a little, but He always does what He says He will do.  It was a blessing for us to watch the whole process and have our testimonies strengthened.  We love Camden and the Albrechts.  (Go here and here, for more pretty pictures and sweet words.)

See.  I’m not entirely self-absorbed.  I even ended the post with a picture of an entirely different family!

Thanks for indulging me!  =)