The cast of characters

I knew when we decided to take this trip that I would, in some way, want to chronicle our journey and share it with our loved ones...but where do you start?  I still don't know but hopefully I can do what they do in TV shows and have memory flash backs to help bring the audience up to speed with everything that has led up to this moment and, let's face it, that's a lot of back story to try to get through during this, our first time together.  Today, the goal will be to introduce my family and just break things down so we have a level starting point.  Here goes.

This is my son, Aydan.

He's 12 and quite the stellar young man.  He loves history, music, minecraft, stop motion videos (watching and recording) and he has just discovered a love of climbing that I am certain will be more fully assisted by my husband, Andrew, who can and will climb anything it looks possible to climb. He plays the trombone in regular band and jazz band at school.  He's a smart one, capable of having conversations with adults about serious topics, like gun control in the United States, but he's also goofy, and quick witted.  I'm his mom so I am naturally a little biased but I'm also quite confident on the accuracy of my biased opinion.  He's a favorite among our friends and acquaintances.  Like I said, stellar young man.


This is my husband, Andrew.

Andrew and I have been married since March 29, 2013, just a little over a month.  The story of our wedding and how it came to be is quite fun and I'm sure will be its own topic, but not right now.  Andrew is smart, helpful, sincere, funny as all get out, and my favorite person to spend time with.  His desire to see the world from not just his point of view but from everyone else's too is one of his most endearing and admirable traits. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have found a man that has so completely enriched my life as well as Aydan's life.  It's as though our lives were always meant to be together. 

These are the pups, Rosie...

And Crumpets

Both girls were adopted from local shelters but at different times.  Crumpets was with our family first in 2009 and Rosie joined our family in 2010.  We frequently joke around about how Rosie is really Crumpets' dog but it is a joke based on observed behavior.  Crumpets is a dog-dog.  She likes to eat dead things, roll around in geese poop and looks her happiest when she is covered in wet and mud.  Rosie, not so much.  She tip-toes around in the rain and wouldn't be caught dead covered in mud if she can help it.  A bit of a princess if you ask me but so sweet and snuggly that her short comings are fairly easy to overlook. 

And this is me. 

I did try to find a few pictures that weren't from the wedding but I don't really have my picture taken very often and I did just get married so these are pretty current and so so pretty :)  What do I say about me?  I love being a mother, a wife and a dog owner.  I love to read and cook and bake, I look for opportunities to meet new people and learn from them.  I want a life less ordinary and I certainly have been granted that, through choice and some situations that I would have wished away had I been given the choice, at least when they happened, but I know now that all the things that happened to me have made the person I am today and I love who I am...

That's us!  There will be others added to this list, people that make our lives extra amazing but I feel this may be a good start for now and a good place to end.