More wedding pics

The night before the wedding, our family along with Ted's parents gathered together to have a 4th of July celebration. Our house is on a circle, and many of our neighbors really get into the spirit of the holiday. This enthusiasm mixed with Washington's lenient fireworks laws, made for a very exciting, and fun evening. We had quite the show with all of the mortars, roman candles, firecrackers, and anything else that went really high, and very loud. Of course the boys (and men) were feeling right at home with all of the things that go boom.

The next morning (wedding day), we woke up to rain. Of course we had planned on doing an outside ceremony, but.....we quickly realized we might have to change plans a little bit. We moved forward as if there was nothing to worry about. The wedding was held at the Vancouver Washington Hilton in a room with a balcony that had a beautiful view of Overlook Park. We were supposed to have the ceremony on the balcony, however once the wedding started, we felt the rain drops. Just a few at first, but soon we were running for cover. The wedding was held inside, but turned out to be just as beautiful and wonderful as I knew it would be. Rain or not. It didn't matter.

We had a little reception immediately following the "I do's", with the cutting of the cake and punch. It was the most delicious wedding cake I have ever had. We then proceeded down to the restaurant located on the main level at the hotel. We had a beautiful dinner catered for everyone, and had a lot of fun talking and eating. We ended the night by saying our many thank yous to everyone, and came back to the house to pack for the flight to L.A. in the morning.

We were so grateful for all of the support we had on our special day.

We know we couldn't have been able to do it without our wonderful families.

I love you all!

-Sharon

It's been too long

Hi there everyone!

I know I posted on here once, and then disappeared. So I figured I would update you all on what's hapened in the last 8 months:

First of all, the BIG NEWS: Ted and I were married on July 5th. Yay!! It was a wonderful wedding, and I was so happy to have Mom and Dad, Angela and Dan, Donny and Liz, Rachel, Uncle Ron and Aunt Kathy, Dallin and Jared there to support me. It was a very small ceremony, but it turned out beautiful. The bishop from my ward married us, and he did a wonderful job.

After the wedding, Ted and I went on a cruise to Mexico. It was a lot of fun, and I didn't get sea sick like I was afraid I might. We snorkeled and went on a cool tour, and basically just relaxed. *wink, wink*

Once we got back from the honeymoon, we had all 4 of our kids for an entire week. Talk about jumping into the deep end of the pool! It was crazy, but we worked it out. I'm so happy that Ted and I are finally together, and we can move foreward together as a family. He is a wonderful man, and I'm very grateful to have him as my partner. Many of you will get to meet him at the reunion next week. Be nice! :)

I still work for Kaiser, but I'm currently looking for a new position. One of those: I've done just about all I can do here, and it's time to move onto bigger and better things. I do want to stay with the same company, so I've started sending out my resume to open positions I'm interested in. It takes forever for this company to do anything, so this might take awhile.

Ted is now living with me in the house in Vacouver, and his work transferred him to Vancouver. It's so great to have him working so close to home now. He is truly a blessing to our family! Kayleen and Jackson love him and are glad to finally have him with us all of the time. The other day, Jackson was upset with me because I was telling him he needed to finish his chores, so he snuck away with the home phone, and called Ted. He just got Ted's voice mail and left a message that said something like: "Mom is being really rude. When are you coming home?". We had a good laugh at that one.

Kayleen is in Young Womens, and is the Beehive President. She was shocked when they called her (I wasn't), and she's doing a wonderful job. I have mothers of the girls in the ward stop me in the halls at church telling me what a wonderful daughter I have. I just smile and say, "Yes, I know. Thank you." She will be going into the 7th grade this year and she's NOT looking forward to going back to school.

Jackson is going to be in 3rd grade this coming school year. He is getting so big and tall, I can hardly remember him as a baby anymore. His favorite thing so far this summer was going to scout camp. He's a cub scout, and loving it! The last day of camp, he was so bummed out, that he said "I wish I could go to scout camp every day of my life.". He is the resident family comedian, and his timing is perfect. We always seem to find something to giggle about when we have Jack around.

Sean is just about to turn 7, and loves his daddy very much. He follows in Ted's shadow, and wants to be just like him. He is going to be in 2nd grade this year, and he's very excited. He has become quite the athlete and plays baseball, soccer, or football at any given time. He loves to ride his bike, and of course: Play video games. We all have such a great time when we get to see him.


Claire is still as adorable as ever. She's using her cuteness, and "the youngest" card for all it's worth. She doesn't let anyone boss her around We hear the phrase, "I can do it by myself!", a lot lately. She loves to sing primary songs, and tell stories in the car. It's always interesting to hear her versions of "classic" fairy tales.

I'll put up more pics of the kids, wedding and honeymoon as soon as I figure out this blogging thing......

Love you all!

Sharon

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--