Finley Brielle

Earlier this month, I got to throw a little baby shower for my sister-in-law Sheri. It's actually Baby #4 for her, but we'll take any excuse we can get to party. This summer has been beautifully mild so I was excited to use our little gazebo.

And now...Introducing...Sweet Baby Finley Brielle

Jason called me Sunday morning to let me know that Sheri was having contractions, and that she could possibly go into labor any minute. Sheri was a trooper, and made it through the whole day with contractions and a smile on her face (through Ward Council, primary, etc.). Finally, I got a call around 9:30pm that it was finally time to for them to go to the hospital. Which meant I got to go to their house and watch the other three kids. When I arrived, we were all pretty hyper so we ended up staying up pretty late, making a "Welcome Home" banner & a big "Guess" list, submitting our guesses for time of birth, weight, name, height, etc (Cooper guessed 8'2"). Fortunately, the labor was relatively short and smooth. Baby was born just a couple of hours later, around 11:30pm. Jason said Sheri was amazing! No epidural or anything. You're my hero Sheri.

Jason and Sheri had a hard time committing to a name. Sheri went through a phase where she was liking old, romantic names like Gwenevere. Jason loves Isabella, but, unfortunately Twilight spoiled that one. One of my nephews wanted "Giselle!" (from Enchanted) and another wanted CoCo (?!). Finally, several days after her birth, they've settled on Finley Brielle.

Finley's sister and 2 older brothers love her to pieces. A week later, and they all still fight to hold her every minute they can. 

"Love at First Spike"

Doug's Van Nuys HS Grad photo

I think this may have been my first no-tears Father's Day. Part of me worries that I'm forgetting things. It's been 12 years, and although, I carry a lot of fond memories, I feel like every day they get a little more distant. It doesn't help that I have a terrible long-term memory.

Today I decided to "remember" my dad through other people's eyes by pulling out my mom's family history book.

From Mom (on meeting Dad for the first time on the vball court):

Let me describe my impression of Doug when we met for the first time. He was tall. "Almost 6'2"" he would say. He had been sailing and working in construction outdoors every day, so he was tan. He carefully combed his thick sun bleached hair up in the front. And he was "big". Muscular, from carrying heavy sliding glass doors up and down many storied buildings all day long. I can still remember when he walked into the gym that first night wearing a yellow and white striped terry pullover shirt and white shorts. I was really impressed. But more important than his appearance...everyone there really liked him. He teased and laughed all night long. His happy jovial personality totally won me over! Doug loved to make people laugh! 30 years later, while giving a talk, he described our first meeting as "Love at first spike."