Of Adoption Agency Picnics, Eleanor, St. Georginess, New Domo Offices, and Alyssa the Fire-fighting Hero

Hey folkses. Today was the annual Wasatch International Adoption summer picnic, which was nice, although I'm pretty sure Alyssa and I were the only non-staff there without children on hand. But when next year's picnic rolls around we'll be putting all of those fancy-pants teaparty-having "Look how cute my kid is" parents to shame, because if all goes well, we'll be adopting a child TEN TIMES AS DAR in September-ish. Myeah! Seriously, China just approved our homestudy, so now all that's left is for them to send us a letter of approval, which will probably come around the end of August. Hoo yeah. Anyway, as I said, the picnic was lovely, and it was good to get to meet other parents who've already been through the same process that we're going through. Speaking of parents, felicidades to Sheridan and Beth for adding to your brood and for beating us out in the "First Granddaughter" competition. (But we've still got a leg up in the "First Asian Granddaughter" competition.) Don't you guys think that Eleanor kind of looks like Grandpa Dick in that picture?  

Other than that, not too much blogworthiness has been going on of late. We went to St. George a few weeks ago just for the heck of it. Hung with fam, saw Holden and Emily's new puppies, went to Snow Canyon to look for reptiles (we found a desert tortoise, but it was fake, so I guess that doesn't count), swam, ate Vietnamese food, contended mightily over board games, watched four episodes of "Sherlock," and broke one of the toilets in the condo just as we were leaving to go home. But we fixed it. Yes! Us! There is hope! 

My work moved to a new location in American Fork, two exits closer. It's not bad, with all of the trappings one would expect from a Josh James-run corporation, such as a wall-size picture of Burt Reynolds from "Smokey and the Bandit" and an electrical generator redesigned to look like an army tank. They've started bringing in lunch every day instead of just Tuesdays and Thursdays, in addition to the usual dinner. Yeah, I don't get it either. Hansel and Gretel, like I've said. But who am I to rag on free food?

The only other item of news that springs to mind is from yesterday, when Alyssa was riding her bike home from work down the Jordan River Parkway and spotted a small fire just starting to burn off the side of the trail. What did she do? Called 911, then stood there patiently waiting until the fire department arrived. What a gal, huh?