Since a picture is worth a thousand words: Allow me to demonstrate what the past 4 years have felt like as we've tried to start our family.

HOLD ON! UNEXPECTED TURNS! I suspect when we finally get off of this roller coaster, we will admit that it was a great ride. Until then, we'll do our best to not throw up and will enjoy squeezing each other's hand.

HAPPY EASTER!

These were the family Happy Easter/Happy Birthday cakes. Aren't they awesome?!

We enjoyed church and Brett sang great in the church choir. Nicky sang too, but, I try not to sing too loud on purpose. Next, we feasted at Nicky's parents and watched all the kids hunt for Easter eggs, and then at the park with Brett's family playing tennis, rolling eggs (a game), and hanging out at their house afterwards.

The Planetarium

We got passes to the Clark Planetarium where we can go and see any of the IMAX movies or light shows (like U2). It should be fun. So far, we went with my brother and his pregnant wife to see the body movie. It was appropriate because it follows a pregnant mom and shows what's going on in the inside. We couldn't help but laugh through a lot of it, but nobody else was.... I guess it wasn't intended to be funny. You know how the narrator makes everything sound so dramatic, like...,"and this is: THE INNERWORKINGS OF THE yada yada..." It should make for some good date nights.

/// Last night we saw the Sea Mosters 3D- the 3D was really awesome like we were swimming in the water with the ancient sea creatures. It also ended up being a fun place to find some different birthday presents for Nicky's family birthday party the next day. She has a big family so there's always a bunch of birthdays every month. This month there were 5! Brett's family isn't small either. This month there's 2 birthdays.

Teaching Kids about Money

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StockInvestingTrading/WhatGodsaysaboutyourmoney_article.aspx?GT1=33008

This is an interesting article that talks about what different faiths teach about how to handle your money. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- the Christian church that we belong to, teaches that we should give 10% of our earnings to tithing and we also have other offerings such as humanitarian funds. There's a whole LDS web site based on giving tools to help people both manage money, become self sustaining and give back through humanitarian and welfare efforts. http://www.providentliving.org/
I also love what the other faiths teach. For example, what the rabbi said, "He recalls his grandmother always setting an extra plate at the dinner table so that there was room for a guest. "Money for us means bringing people into the family, helping people who don't have," he says. "That's a phenomenal concept that's related to money: Add another chicken to the chicken soup. Set up another plate. Pick up your clothes and take them to the Salvation Army."
This is also something my own grandmother did. They were a large, poor family that lived in a very small house but their house was always open to setting another place at the table, and the children never even knew they were poor because life was so good.

Nightly News on Open Adoption Clip

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#23562588
I think this is awesome. Except for the part that makes it sound like only 8 states allow for open adoption because it says only 8 states allow adoptees w/ original birth certificate. In Utah, the law is that it's up to the birth parents and the adoptive parents to decide together how open the relationship is after adoption. I imagine it's like that most places. It's the two (to 4) of you that set up boundaries together- and that's exactly how it should be. As far as adoptees not having access to their original birth certificate- that would only become an issue for those who chose to do a closed adoption, or those who adopted before open adoption was legal but are trying to later find out information about their birth parents. (Like in the movie August Rush.) Being that the story was about open adoption being a more popular option today, throwing in that statistic that is irrelevant to open adoption didn't make sense. It is a relevant issue, but a completely different subject.