Wright Family Reunion - Family Photo Shoot

On the second day of the reunion, Grandma and Grandpa hired a professional photographer to take family photos. Grandma and Grandpa have a quote in their home above pictures of all their posterity that says, "All because two people fell in love."

This picture shows how extensive the family is "all because they fell in love." This does not include a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren that were unable to be present:

The men of the family:

The women of the family:

Grandpa and Grandma with all the grandkids and great grandkids:

Four generations of fathers and sons. Grandpa Mark Wright, Great Grandpa Bevan Wright, Daddy Miles Wright and baby Owen Wright:

The men of the Mark Wright family. Miles, Owen, Matthew, Grandpa (Mark), Jonas and Mitchell:

A tuckered out Owen after a long morning of picture taking:

A lovely shot of Aunt Darlene:


Grandpa being silly:

Also, before we left, Grandma wanted to get some photos of all the babies together. It was kind of difficult to get all of them happy and smiling at the camera, especially since they were tired, hungry, or otherwise disinterested. But here are a couple shots of the "baby photo shoot."

This is Owen with his cousin, Declan. Declan was due the day after Owen, but was born three months premature. He is now a happy, healthy baby at about the same developmental stage as Owen is (or about the stage he would have been at if born on his due date).

Wright Family Reunion - Retiring Grandma

Grandpa Wright decided to do a special ceremony "retiring" Grandma Wright from her duties as "CEO" of the Wright family. He gave a little speech about how she has worked so hard over the many, many years to take care of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He said that she has been in charge of family reunions, has cooked, cleaned, and given all of herself to the family. He said it is now time for her to retire, kick back, relax and enjoy her life. He passed the torch on to other members of the board (his children) to take on these responsibilities. Grandpa presented Grandma with roses, a plaque and a gift. Grandma got teary. It was very sweet and thoughtful. I have only been a part of this family for about three and a half years, and I can attest to the fact that this woman works her little tail off! I hope that this really does give them more time to relax, enjoy their late years and hopefully spend more time with the family...including us! :)

Wright Family Reunion - Shooting

Friday was the first official day of the family reunion. We started off with the traditional trip to go target shooting with Grandpa Wright. Grandpa used to be the Chief of Police in Blanding, Utah, so he has quite the arsenal. I, personally, am not a huge fan of guns, but I do enjoy going out for target practice. Grandpa is always sure to make comments about my "gun-hating" ways and how if he had known this about me he would have reconsidered letting me into the family. While we were out shooting, I was taking photos. Grandpa yelled, "Get the paparazzi out of here!" Then while looking down at an imaginary list in his hand he said, "What is your name?" I said, "Kendra Bevan Wright." {Bevan is Grandpa's name and there is an ongoing joke about how if you give your child the name Bevan somewhere in their name that Grandpa will give them a gun when he passes away. When Mitchell was little, he told Grandpa his name was Mitchell Bevan Wright (which it's not) and he thought it was so funny he has promised one of his guns to Mitchell.} So anyway, Grandpa said, "Hmm...Kendra Bevan Wright..." and looked down his list, "Yep! Gun hater! Get out of here!" Luckily Grandpa still loves me enough to let me go shooting with him.

Me showing off my horrible form just to bug Grandpa:

Much better form:

Miles trying out "his gun" that will one day be passed on to him:

Cousin Josh doing some sniper shooting:

Matthew shooting a handgun with a lot of kick:

Mitchell looking tough:

The real gunman, Grandpa Wright:

Miles's 28th Birthday

This is way belated, but I need to catch up on the Wright Family Reunion from June...
To start it off, we got together with the immediate family to celebrate Miles's 28th birthday. It was the first time all of Miles's siblings had been together since Christmas, and since Owen's birth. We met up at Z-Tejas in Salt Lake City at the Gateway Mall and had dinner before heading off to Tooele for the family reunion. Here are a few family photos we took after dinner:

The fam. From left to right: Miles & Owen, me, Margaret (Mom), Mitchell, Marci, Mark (Dad), Megan, Matthew & Jonas, and Natalie.

Brothers and proud Daddys:

Matthew, Natalie and Jonas:

One of our first "family photos":

Miles is hard to buy for. He always wants things (typically electronics) that are way out of the budget. This year, his birthday fell right around when the new iPhone 4 was coming out. So I thought I would get that for his birthday. Problem is, when Miles wants something he believes to be affordable, he just buys it for himself anyway. So he bought one for himself...and for me (even though I told him not to) and that's what he got for his birthday. It's very anti-climactic to buy your own b-day present if you ask me. Oh well. He seems pleased enough.

The Elusive Ruth's Chris

Miles has been dying to go to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse to experience one of their famous, and rather pricey, steaks. He's been talking about it for at least the past 18 months, if not longer. But we certainly weren't going to go without a good reason to drop so much cash. So I decided to surprise him for graduation and tell him that we were going out to celebrate his graduation at Ruth's Chris. Well...come to find out, the Ruth's Chris in Salt Lake City got closed down for embezzelment. I was devestated. I had been so excited to take him there as a reward for his hard work in school. So we did not go.


A few months later, we learned that there is a Ruth's Chris in Park City. Horray! I was so excited! I told Miles and we discussed when we should go, but since it was winter time, driving in the snow did not sound appealing. Finally, once spring hit, we decided we should go but were advised to bring another couple with us with whom we could share the "family style" sides. We were stumped as to who would come with us and throw down that kind of cash for a meal. Finally, we remembered that our good friends, Eric and Laura Horne, enjoy a good meal and have excellent palates. We invited, they accepted, we discussed a plan, and a date was set!...May 1st, 2010...one week before my baby was due to arrive. On April 30th, Owen decided to alter our lives as we knew them...and of course our plans to go to dinner went by the wayside as I was recovering in the hospital. Six and 1/2 weeks later (once I figured I finally had things under control) we made plans to go...and we FINALLY MADE IT! And it only took 10 months to get there! I must say it was well worth it. Here are some pictures of our Ruth's Chris experience...

Yay! We made it!

Seared Ahi Tuna appetizer:

Lettuce wedge with bacon and bleu cheese appetizer:

These two photos are of the view from the deck right outside the table where we were seated. We were actually glad that we found out about the Ruth's Chris in Park City. I mean, what a fabulous view and atmosphere. Much better than Salt Lake City would have been!

Owen taking a brief nap in between his meals:

Me, Miles and Owen. Letting our meals settle before dessert:

Our good friends, Eric and Laura Horne:

Laura's berries with cream:

Miles's chocolate cake, provided gratis for his birthday. (Hence the birthday candle poised on the corner of the plate):

My cheescake:

WOWZA! This was the bill at the end of the meal. Let me remind you that we typically don't (meaning never) spend this much money on a single meal. It's fairly amusing, however, that the tip alone was more than we pay for what we consider an expensive meal. However, we had much to celebrate from this past year (graduation, new baby, new job, Miles's birthday, etc.) that we felt justified. Feel free to judge all you want. We left satisfied!

Poppy Baby

Some of Owen's nicknames include, but are not limited to:

• Poppy baby: This is the nickname that was lovingly given to him by his adorable 3 and 1/2 year old cousin, Austin. Why, you ask? Well, because Owen popped out of my tummy, of course!

• B.O.B. or Pepper: These were nicknames for our two embryos. B.O.B. was short for blast-o-baby, for when the embryo was in a blastocyst form during the IVF cycle and Pepper because the embryo was the size of a pepper flake.

• Voltron: When we found out we only had one fetus and not two, I asked Miles which one he thought had survived - B.O.B. or Pepper and what we should call it now. He said, "I think they fused together to form VOLTRON!" This was Owen's name until birth.
  
  
• Snow Baby: It snowed the morning Owen was born, so I called him "my little snow baby."
  
  
• Bubba, Bub, Bubs, Buddy, Bud: Miles initiated these nicknames while we were in the hospital. I quickly picked up on them as well.
  
  
• Squeaker: Owen has squeeked since the day he was born. From the time he was only a few hours old, Owen has made these gasping noises that sound like he can't breathe. They used to frighten me, but the doctor assured us they are normal and there is nothing to be concerned about. Now I don't even flinch when he gasps or squeeks and I think they are adorable. He has become our Squeeker because of these noises that he frequently makes while eating, playing, or sleeping. (I tried adding a sound clip for your listening pleasure, but it didn't work.) :(
  

• Sweet Pea, Pea Pod and Burritto: Names I gave him. Maybe it's cause he looks like a little pea pod when he's swaddled in his green swaddler...or a burritto in a straight jacket. :)

This is only the beginning, and I am sure there will be more nicknames to come!

You Can't Hide Those Tired Eyes

Really, I think the song is, "You can't hide those lyin eyes," but for my purpose...it's TIRED eyes. I had no idea how exhausted I would be after having a baby. People talk about sleepless nights and multiple feedings in the middle of the night, but until you've experienced it, there's nothing like it. Think you can handle it cause you've stayed up all night long on a few occassions? Think it's no problem cause you're a night owl? Think you can just catch up on your sleep while the baby is napping? Well, you'd be WRONG. Nothing compares to those first weeks of being a new Mom. And I can't even complain as much since I had a fabulous Mom and sister helping me out the first few weeks by sleeping in the same room as Owen at night so I could get my rest and they would wake me when he really needed to be fed and wasn't just mildly fussy or making his squeeky noises! (Again...thank you Mom and Kim!) But I think these pictures demonstrate that you just can't hide those tired eyes.

....Oh wait! Maybe I just needed some makeup!

3 years in the Making...

Well, it's taken three years for me to finally get my act together and do an actual blog post. And maybe the inspiration is due to our new little blessing who was also three years in the making...Owen Kyle Wright, born on April 30, 2010. That's right! Three years. I know most of you think babies are made and come into this world in a much timelier fashion of only 9 months gestation, give or take a few months for conception. But our little guy didn't get his spirit sent to us for quite a while (to no fault of his own).

Miles and I had been trying to get pregnant for about a year when we did some testing and found out that we only had a 3% chance of conceiving on our own. So...with the help of kind parents (thank you Mom and Dad) and amazing medical technology (thank you Reproductive Care Center), we proceeded with the In Vitro Fertilization process. It only took one outpatient surgery, 10 blood draws, 60 syringes of medication injected into my hips and stomach, 14 eggs extracted, 7 fertilized embryos, one assisted hatching, one implantation of two embryos, 1,000 prayers, a lot of money and voilà ! A baby is created! (Bet they didn't teach you that's how a baby is made in YOUR maturation class) 39 weeks later, Owen came into our lives. And boy are we glad! We would do it all over again! :)

(This is the image we got when we went in for implantation after 5 days of "culture." Those are the two embryos we used. The one on the right is in a blastocyst form, the other is more premature. Not many people can say they have pictures of their baby that young, now can they?!)

He went from THAT to THIS....

to THIS...!

A new leaf

Ok...I think it's time to turn a new leaf and start blogging again. Maybe. Don't trust me. Cause most likely it won't happen.

The day is almost here, this Saturday Kendra and I will be getting married in Salt Lake. I think we're both really excited, I can only really speak for myself.

In other new we recently got Wii Play and have been enjoying that just a little bit. There hasn't been enough time to get really into it but so far it looks like a very solid and enjoyable set of party games. Oh, and did I mention that it comes with an extra controller?