Baptisms, weddings and teenagers, oh my!!

Wow!!! What a year 2008 has already been for the McDonnell family!

To start things off, Jackson was baptized on January 5th! It's hard to believe he's actually 8 years old. The years go by so fast.

Grandma and Grandpa Ford drove up for the special occasion, along with Uncle Donny and Aunt Liz, and Aunt Rachel. After the baptism, we were so happy to have Grandpa and Uncle Donny help confirm Jack a member of the church. Once we were finished, we all gathered together to have ice cream Sundays! It was a very special day.

Later that night, Grandma and Grandpa and took us all out to a Portland Trail Blazers Vs. Utah Jazz game at the Rose Garden! To support the Utah Jazz, we all wore individual letters on white T-shirts to spell out: U-T-A-H -- J-A-Z-Z-! Despite a few "boos" from folks behind us, we had a great time. Unfortunately, the Jazz lost.

Kayleen is currently in 6th grade at Discovery Middle School. This is her first year in middle school, and it's been an interesting experience. She is taking 4 honors classes, and after her first report card of the year, ended up on the honor roll!! We are so proud of her. Not only is she in 6th grade, she is also a Beehive in Young Women. She has already gone to the Portland LDS Temple to do baptisms for the dead. She even did some family names last month. Grandma Ford was so excited to have Kayleen start helping with the family genealogy. Kayleen is beautiful, funny and seems to make friends wherever she goes.

Jackson is now in 2nd grade and seems to be the smartest boy in his class. After a reading test at school, his teacher told us Jack is the "fastest" reader in all of 2nd grade! We knew he was smart!! Jack also seems to be our "science" kid. He loves to collect rocks. We can't seem to go anywhere without Jackson bringing home a rock souvenir. He loves anything that has to do with science. He loves to read and learn about new, interesting things, and we encourage it as much as possible. Of course, he's still our silly, full of energy boy we all know and love.

I am working at an HMO called Kaiser Permanente. I've been there for about 1 1/2 years, and I really like my job. I make appointments for all of the doctors. I also triage the phone calls and send messages to the doctor's nurses for patients needing advice. It's an interesting job with a lot of interesting stories. It also pays pretty well, and I have great benefits, which I am very grateful for.

I'm not sure if any of you know about this or not but: I'm engaged!!!!

On Christmas Eve, my boyfriend of almost 2 years, Ted, proposed to me. He did it in front of his family at their Christmas party. Kayleen and Jack were there, along with his two kids from a previous marriage, Sean (age 6), and Claire (age 3). Ted had me stand in front of everyone, got down on his knee, and gave me a ring. He wouldn't give it to me until I said "Yes". It was so sweet. Once I said "Yes", all four of our kids started yelling and cheering. They're all very excited, which made it that much better.

The official date is, July 4th. We decided it would be a lot of fun to always have fireworks on our anniversary. Besides, Ted's parents, (Ted Jr. and Stephanie) were also married on July 4th. We figured it would be good luck to get married on the same day as his parents since they've been married for almost 34 years. Kayleen and Jack call them Nanna and Pappa, and absolutely love them! When we visit Nanna and Pappa's house, I practically have to drag them out to the car kicking and screaming. Nanna and Pappa treat my kids just like their own grandkids, which make’s my decision to be a part of their family even easier.

For those of you who don't know Ted, here are some things you might want to know: Ted is going to be 31 in February (I got myself a younger man!! Woo hoo!!). He has two kids from a previous marriage, Sean and Claire that are very sweet.

Sean is in 1st grade right now, and learning to read. Sean loves to spend his time outside riding his bike, playing video games, and having fun with cars. Sean got a new dirt bike for Christmas, and took to riding it like a fish to water. Basically, he's your typical boy. Sean loves to do anything Ted is doing, and seems to idolize his Dad. Sean lives with his Mom during the week in The Dalles, Oregon, but looks forward to his weekends with Daddy. He has lots of friends, and is a very happy, loving boy who likes to cuddle on the couch at the end of the day to watch a movie before bed.

Claire is a precocious 3 year old girl with TONS of spirit and spunk. She walks around with her shoulders high, and has no problem, "telling it like it is". She's very smart (sometimes for her own good), and her greatest achievement lately is going potty in the big toilet! Claire is a very good mommy to her babies, and can spend hours playing make-believe with them. Polly Pockets are a new favorite toy also recently discovered. Don't let the dolls fool you though! She can wrestle with the best of them. She is always a delight to have around, and seems to have the cutest commentary in every situation.

Now, back to Ted:
Ted also works for Kaiser Permanente as an IT supervisor at one of our hospital/clinics. For the time being, he is the only tech on that campus, so they keep him pretty busy. He's really good at what he does, and they're really happy with how reliable, efficient and smart he is. He works just up the street from my office, so we have lunch together most days. Even though we work for the same company, we didn't meet at work. We actually met on an LDS dating website. I can't believe I actually met someone on-line. At first I didn't want to even try "on-line" dating, but figured I would try it out for a bit. After 4 days, Ted and I saw the other's picture, and started e-mailing each other. 4 days after that, we met for the first time, and it's been almost 2 years. I love him because he loves me just the way I am. Good days, bad days, ugly days...he doesn't care. He is very supportive and sweet. He's also very funny and always makes me laugh all of the time!! Ted is always willing to do whatever it takes to help me around my house, which is always appreciated. Another interesting fact is, Ted went to Thailand on his mission and still speaks fluent Thai. It makes it interesting if we go out to dinner at a Thai food restaurant. I'm so glad to know I found a wonderful man who loves Heavenly Father, and has a testimony of the Gospel. He is a great example to all of our children.

One of the most important things to me, is that my kids love him, and he loves them. He is very supportive of them, and makes time for them as much as possible. He only gets to be with his kids every other weekend, so we don't see them as much as we would like to, but we do the best we can, and love them all the same. It really helps that our kids love each other. They're really happy to have another brother/sister, and talk excitedly about it all of the time. I'm sure at times it's going to be hard to raise a "blended" family, but I know with the support of family and friends, we are going to be very happy.

Well, that pretty much covers everything for now. I'll keep you all updated on the wedding!

Until then, I love you all!

-Sharon

--We could have saved the planet--