My Favorite Wedding Gift

When I married Dan, I got one of the greatest gifts you could ever hope to receive: a wonderful second family. I couldn't post a tribute to my family without also posting one to Dan's. Let me introduce you, first, to the girls. This picture was taken in my home in May, when our families convened in Michigan to attend Eli's baptism:

On the far left is Jody: chemist, cellist, former missionary to Poland, number 4 child and the middle daughter. Next to her is Dan's mom, Linda. Then comes Melinda, the oldest, who we call Bug. She loves singing with a choir, playing the organ, traveling the world, and speaking Russian. On the far right is Leslie, number 5 child, and the youngest of the girls. She is the one who lived with us the past two years while getting a masters degree in viola. We wish she'd never graduated, so that we could keep her forever.

Now for the boys:

On the far left is the tallest of the boys as well as the baby of the family, Andrew. He recently returned from a mission to Prague. Next is Linda, now dwarfed by her giant sons. On the other side of Dan's mom is Dan, my husband, number 2 child, the oldest boy, and formerly the tallest. And on the far right is Tim, number 3 child, middle boy, and husband of Andrea (not Potato Girl), shown here being crazy with Adam last summer:

And here is a more normal picture of her with Tim at my brother Mark's wedding:

One of the nice things about our two families is how well they know each other. Dan's entire family was waiting with my family at the airport the day I came home from my mission to The Philippines. A few years later they came to Boise again for Eli's baby blessing. My brothers and Dan's sisters attended the same ward in Provo for several years, during which time they regularly mooched meals off of them (I think they provided helpful services in return). Dan's sister Leslie played the viola for one of the tracks on my brother James' Brementown CD. Tim asked Andrea to marry him while on vacation with my family at the Oregon Coast. My mom was at Tim's wedding and Dan's mom and several siblings were at Mark's. In this picture, taken last July at Mark's wedding, you can see (left to right) my brother Nathan, Dan's brothers Tim and Andrew, and my brother James:

And here are our two mommies, posing with their three grandchildren last summer (Dan's mom on the left, mine on the right):


Well, that may have been more than you ever wanted to know about our families, but I enjoyed the experience of writing about them, so thank you for indulging me.