June Blog Challenge Day 1: Family

Like I said before, I'm participating in Waiting For Baby's June Blog Challenge. Obviously I'm getting off to a great start by having my first post up at 10 pm, right?

Anywhoo, the first prompt is about family: "Family story - how did your parents meet, how many brothers/sisters, tell us what you want." I'll warn you now that this will be a pretty picture heavy post!

I was born in Canada and my entire extended family lives up there (except for a few second cousins in New Zealand and England.) My immediate family would go visit my grandparents and cousins every Christmas and a few weeks during summer vacation. Since we were little and the wonder of Facebook had not been invented, we didn't keep in close contact with our cousins throughout the rest of the year. Every time we would make the trek up there, it was like having to re-meet our families all over again. Thankfully, with the wonders of the internet, I'm much closer with a handful of my cousins than I ever have been before.

If I remember correctly, my parents met at the Canadian version of Boy Scout camp. Both of my parents were leaders, and I think there was a story of my mom having to go tell my dad to quiet down or something along those lines. My dad was 27 and my mom was 28 when they married (today is actually their 28th anniversary!), and my mom had me when she was 32. My parents moved to Missouri when I was about 9 months old for my dad's job.

My mom, dad and I in our Missouri house

My mom and dad on right and my Grandma and Poppa (mom's parents) on left

My Poppa and I (my mom's dad,) were extremely close. He passed away when I was about 11. My mom had gone back to Canada to be with her family and I remember my dad getting the call and me just collapsing in sobs. 

Yes, I had extremely curly hair when I was little, I got it from my mom. My mom was actually asked when I was about two if she permed my hair. 

My Grandma (dad's mom), Bri and I helping her make sticky buns

My Grandma (dad's mom,) made the most amazing food. During Christmas, their sun room would be full with tins and tins of cookies. It was always a treat when Grandma would make her sticky buns (cinnamon rolls) when we came to visit. It is my goal to steal acquire her recipes before she passes. 

I was born in Canada, but my sisters were born in the U.S. Brianne, my middle sister is a dual citizen, but Caitlynn, the youngest, is only American. Confusing, I know.

Bri is 4.5 years younger than me and born on Christmas Day. I remember telling her in a fit of sisterly rage that she was the worst Christmas present I ever got.

Caitlynn is 8 years younger than me. She's a beautiful young woman and everyone thinks that she's older than she is. I've had to go into protective sister mode many times when college boys think she's over 18.

Bri on left, Caitlynn in the middle and me on the right. I'd say I was about 10 here.

Bri, me and Caitlynn on my wedding day August 2012. Somehow even though I'm the oldest, I'm also the shortest. 

  

These pictures are two of my favorite from my wedding. This was my dad's first time seeing me in my wedding dress. I was lucky enough to have him marry Keegan and I. 

Mom and I on my wedding day. 

As for Keegan's family, they're true blue American. His mom's family is from Missouri and his dad's is from Kansas. 

Keegan, age 4 or 5. I love this picture because it looks like he's about to break out into an evil laugh. 

Keegan's brother is about 9 months older than him...

...and Brazilian. Keegan's parents adopted him when they were expecting to move to Brazil for his dad's job. They ended up finding out they were pregnant with Keegan around the same time, so they raised two boys extremely close in age. I love telling people that Derrek is only 9 months older than Keegan and seeing their faces while they do the mental math. 

Throughout the years, we've picked up a few friends that we consider family. One in particular lived with us for the past three months or so. Brendan is Keegan's best friend and they've known each other over a decade. He was our best man and a sarcastic asshole...I mean that in the most loving way of course. 

Together, Keegan and I have a fur-baby named Mika (pronounced Mee-ka.) 

Mika kind of just fell into our laps one weekend in February. The vet originally thought she was 6 months or younger since she is so tiny, but after getting her fixed, we learned that her reproductive organs say she's over a year old, so she's fully grown. She's the size of an adolescent cat and weighs less than 4 pounds. 

As for the future, I've always wanted three children, and Keegan's wanted two. I grew up with all girls, so I'm kind of scared of raising boys, and I think that Keegan feels the same about raising girls. I've always wanted to adopt, especially seeing the relationship Keegan has with Derek, but finances may make that impossible. Of course, we'll be happy with as many children as we have!