second brothers and sisters

Recently I was told that the literal translation of cousin from Russian to English is "second brother". Kumquat has been lucky to get 5 cousins within a year from his birth from both the Cranney and Donaldson side. I hope they really can be like second brothers and sisters to Kumquat. Here is the newest: Grace Kaylee Grey 8lbs 11 oz 20 inches:





Here are the rest of the lookers born within a year of Christian:

Bronson has an adorable smile, but we love his pout. Christian apparently does too since he has a face full of glee when Bronson cries. We're working on keeping Christian's fingers out of Bronson's eye sockets, and Bronson's hands away from Christian's teeth.

Chloe that we still haven't met yet, but we can hardly wait until September when we meet my grandmother Vroman's namesake. That pursing of the lips is something handed down the generations from my Grandmother, to my mother, and Stephen says I do it too as seen here.


Alex is a long string bean, and about as quiet as one. Every once in a while he lets out a little sigh, but that's about the most we've heard from this happy calm baby.



Nathan is visiting now and Christian has fun trying to tackle him and nurse from his supple thighs.

I was talking to my wonderful pregnant sister late last night.

In between then and now she she got rid of one of those adjectives.

Yay for new baby Grey!

When I came home from my LDS mission two and half years ago it seemed the only memories I remembered were those associated with pictures and a few typical ones for stories. I think it must have been the stark difference in worlds that led to this temporary amnesia. Since the hospital when Kumquat was born, however, I've been having all sorts of flashbacks. Most of them have been from random streets or random people. I feel like I'm remembering a dream from the night before.

So in honor of the night before, a few stolen pictures that take me back to the warm nights and hot days of Brazil and the people that though missing from the pictures, I can still see:

Sinto saudades.

Family Pictures

Last week I told my mom that we were having family pictures with the Cranneys. My mom with sympathy simply said "Oh, family pictures are always so stressful." When she said this, all the years past of "your shirt doesn't match" "move over that way" "stop making faces Joseph! . . . Andrew!" "Mom, we can't have family pictures I'm 9 months pregnant" came back to my mind.

A few examples from the Donaldson's last attempt (this was right before I started dating Stephen):





and then again at our wedding:



But much to my surprise the Cranney pictures were practically painless. After the short photo shoot 30 feet from their house, there were a dozen great pictures similar to the one below. The few ruined pictures were the ADHD and awkward poses of Christian and mine. I guess some things don't change even with a changed last name.

Four degrees from Mark Spitz

Growing up, my dad used to tell me how he beat a 7-foot swimmer once. When I got married, I soon discovered that this 7-foot swimmer was my wife's uncle Brett who, according to mother-in-law Leslie beat Mark Spitz in the Jr. leagues in California when he was young. Years later, I think I remember a time when me and my brothers won my father in an informal swim race. Therefore, if I beat dad, dad beat Brett, and Brett beat Mark Spitz, then I beat Mark Spitz :)