pictures of the bruce-ster

Here are a few pictures of my little man, Bruce Taylor. The one on the right is of him when he was first born May 19 (3 lb 3 oz). Now you can see he was really skinny. The picture on the left is him at 6 weeks (right around his due date). He is about 6 pounds now (at 8 weeks) and I'm still working on fattening him up!
-Emily Raymond

Slacker

Maybe if you are lucky Hyrum and I will serenade you with our accordions if you come and visit.

Hyrum in our tiny rental car in Mexico. We loved it.
Me learning to milk a cow in Boise
On the day we took engagement pictures.
I love this site and I don't know why I can't seem to post ever. I guess I am a slacker. I was supposed to tell you all about my engagement, marriage, etc... and so far, nothing. So most of you know that I got engaged last November to Hyrum Spencer Anderson. He is from Boise, Idaho and by marrying him I got over two of my prejudices, Idaho, and naming children really Mormonish names. He is great. Some of you red meat nighters already met him. He is an engineer and so slightly nerdy but really fun too. He works for MIT as a researcher. He is taking some classes this fall there which will hopefully go towards his PhD if he gets in full-time for next fall. I am still working at Fresenius Medical Care, a world-wide dialysis company. I don't like working for big-business but my clinics are great. I have three in the Boston area that I visit and the patient population is very interesting. I have people from all walks of life, mostly poor inner city and immigrant populations. They are really fun. Hyrum and I are likely going to be stuck out on the east coast for a few more years, maybe up to six or so but we will see. We have an extra bedroom in our place so we would love visitors whenever any of you can. Boston is a great place to visit, particularly in the spring and fall. Also, all of you marathon runners gotta do the Boston at least once in your life. Even if you royally screw it up like I did. I ran it this year but it was pretty pathetic. I hadn't run for nearly a month due to a foot injury, plus it was one day after returning home from our honeymoon to Mexico, so needless to say, I ran it real slow with several stops along the way to get sick, etc... Everyone knows what it is like to have a bad race, but one 26.2 miles long can be excrutiating. So as soon as I get up my nerve again I need to do another one to redeem myself.
I am sorry this is sooo long but I do want to tell you a little about the wedding. It was April 8th in Seattle. The day was beautiful! It was sunny and nice despite the pounding rain the day before. We had a nice luncheon afterwards and then were off by around 4pm. You saw some pictures of the reception that Kristen posted with me and Hyrum and our accordions. I haven't practiced much since I have been home but Hyrum finally did fix my accordion which embarrassed me with technical difficulties after I had worked so long to learn a song for the reception. It was so fun to have a lot of red meat nighters at the wedding and I wished I could have had more time to spend talking with everyone. We went on our honeymoon to Cancun Mexico which was really fun. Hyrum lost his wedding ring in an underground lake called a Cenote when he was trying to climb up a stallagtite. It was too deep and dark to find on our own but a Mexican kid found it and was happy with our few peso reward. It was an adventure. I am going to try to post some pictures too. I love hearing from you all!
Nicole Edith Anderson :)

Hot in the city...

Greetings from Las Vegas, where the runners rise early, because it's HOT HOT HOT! I've been meaning to post for forever, but we've moved twice in the last 3 months which has kept things interesting. The first apartment complex we moved to was less than ideal, so we've moved again. Jared has been down here since January, working as a Sales Manager for the Hyatt Regency at Lake Las Vegas. Halle and I moved down in May after I wrapped up some things with my job in SLC and took the CDE examination (Certified Diabetes Educator). I'm not currently working, except for on my tan out at the pool with Halle. Hope you enjoy the pics of Halle--she loves to jump on the trampoline and pick raspberries off Grandma's bushes (hence the absence of her shirt--if you look close you can make out the faint streaks of raspberry juice down her tummy).

Like Liz, I won't be joining you in the running of the St. George Marathon due to a baby on board, but I may come watch. I'm due October 15; it's a boy this time. I went for a run this morning and got whistled at by a black teenager who was out tossing a football at 6 am--he must be into chicks with big bellies.

Anyway, our house it always open to any of you that want to come visit--if you come this summer and want to try out Jared's resort, there are discounted summer rates for friends and family--my current info is published in the BYU alumni directory if you want to get in touch, or email me at melanie.steere@gmail.com. Hope you're all doing well--it's great to hear what everyone is up to!

Love,
Mel

Hi from Liz

Happy 4th of July! I just wanted to say hello to you all. It's fun to hear how everybody is doing. We are all so scattered around the country now. It would be fun to get all the babies together. Running the St. George Marathon sounds fun. I'd do it with everybody, but I'll be 8 months pregnant by then. Who all is running?

James and I are in Utah for the summer while James studies for the Bar Exam. Are you taking it yet, Jill? We'll all be happier when it is over. We are staying at Thayers' house and Benson and I hop back and forth between here and my family's house. Benson is so big now (did he really come out of me?) and is getting so spoiled with all the grandparents and aunts and uncles around here. But it is nice for me too. He loves his cousins (Shar's boys) and soon will have a baby brother. I'll post a picture. I have been painting some while Benson sleeps and that is good to have my own thing to do on my own time. Of course, all the chores don't get done as well as they should... This pregnancy is so much longer than the last one. I can't wait to start running again - without this extra belly! We are moving to Washington D.C. in August sometime, where James will start work. So if you are going to be in town, come and stay with us. And keep eating that red meat!

Liz Thayer

It's been so long...

Hi, Chicas!

I've been meaning to post on this site since Lily was born, and it's taken me three months! I think Kristen already let you know, but Lily Maxine Cooper was born April 6, weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 inches long. She has grown so much since then, and she is a really great baby. Nate and I love how she smiles and "talks" to us all the time. Her favorite thing to do right now is poop all over herself and Nate - she's greased him at least four times by now, twice in his Sunday clothes. ;-)

Jessie Kindschi Dorais just moved to Champaign, Illinois, which is 50 minutes from here! She and Andy are attending the University of Illinois medical school which is located there. Yesterday Nate, Lily, and I went to their new home for a 4th of July dinner, and Jessie and I ran together for the first time since right before cross country Nationals of 2002. It was so wonderful to see her again and run with a teammate.

Nate, Lily and I were in Utah a couple of weeks ago so Nate's family could meet Lily. While we were there, my parents were set apart as the mission presidents of the Santo Domingo West, Dominican Republic mission by Elder Hales. We also blessed Lily while we were there so both sets of parents could be present. I couldn't get over how green Utah is right now! It was beautiful, and we had a great time. I also loved the chance to run with Nan!

I'm training for the St. George Marathon and getting really excited. Which of you girls will be there? Katie Sabey is planning on running it, too.

I'm trying to post a few pictures, hopefully it works. One is of Lily in the running stroller, one is of Lily and me by some cornfields not too far from where we live, and the other is of Lily and Nate.

I miss you girls and hope you are all doing great!

Amy

Posting Images

Hi Gals-

Our blog is going to get even better - you can now post images directly through blogger, you do not have to download hello. Just go to www.blogger.com and log in and post like normal and there is this little square icon of a picture and you just click on it to post a picture.

Now there are no more excuses and I expect to see some more pictures.

Hope all is well with all of you! I have loved the past posts - congrats to Zac on finishing dental school. I just got back from a great trip to Chicago - the 90 plus degree weather kept us inside but there are enough old toys at my mom's house to keep us busy for a week.

- Kristen