November 6....the best kids!

I mean, really, does it get cuter than this?

This was taken the night before Ryan left for his mission in 1999.  We wanted to have individual pictures of both of them, then one of all of us.  But, Meg was NOT interested in sitting on that table, and was very adamant about it.  Ryan hopped up on the table and attempted to convince her that it was all OK.  Fortunately, the photographer was on the ball and caught this.  It's one of my favorite pictures of them together.

I got Ryan with Sam.  A package deal!  He was fifteen at the time.  I was a little worried about instantly becoming a stepmom to a teenager.  But, he was mostly an easy kid.  We had a few battles, but nothing huge.  He always wanted to do the right thing, and I never ever worried about him doing anything REALLY stupid.  Slightly stupid was expected.  After all, he was a teenager.  

When Meghan was born, he got his very first sibling.  He was almost seventeen and  ecstatic to have a little sister.  He loved her from the very first minute and has been a phenomenal big brother.  She adores him right back.  She was two when he left on his mission and he was really worried that she would forget him. Two years is a long time for a toddler.  But, while he was gone, she talked about him constantly.  She'd get on a phone and pretend to call him and chatter away.  She sent him drawings, he sent her drawings and cute letters back.  She decorated the outside of all the packages we sent.  One time, I took pictures of her trying to wrap his Christmas gifts, printed them out and decorated the outside of the package with them.  Ryan said that the lady at the post office thought it was so cute and funny that she was showing everyone else there.

When we went to the airport to welcome him home, she was so excited we could barely hang on to her.  When she saw him come through the door, she ducked under everyone else and got to him first in a giant attack hug.  For weeks, she worried that he was going to leave again.  He did, eventually, to go to Arizona for school.  Even though they only lived in the same house for a total of not quite three years, they've stayed close.  He makes an effort, and I really appreciate that.

I can't believe Meghan is now almost sixteen.  Time flies.  She's a fun kid most of the time, with a funky little sense of humor. She loves art, anime, K-pop music, any music her brother sends her, the beach and her big brother.  She wants to be a graphic artist or an animator.  She tries to do the right thing most of the time and is good to her friends.  I love taking her and her friends places, although the volume is usually pretty high as they all talk and laugh at once.

Ryan is now a law student at BYU, so he and Sue live in Utah.  They got to spend the summer with us this year, as he got an internship here in Monterey County.  They are fun to have around and we miss them when they go.  He's a self-described "music geek" who loves finding new bands no one's heard of.  He sends his sister all kinds of music, which he screens to make sure it's clean.  I love that if Meg wants to listen to someone and asks me, that I can tell her to go ask her brother.

I guess if you count Susan, I have three lovely kids.  We're proud of all of them and grateful God sent them to us.