Family

A big reason we moved to Northern California is family. Ted's mom lives 5 minutes away. His brothers, JD and Jeff, live about an hour away, along with two nieces, Shanna and Amanda. Our sister and brother-in-law, Jo and Ray, live about 10 minutes away. And our niece Samantha, nephew Rudy and their daughter, Nayla Rose live right across the street (Sam found our house for us).

Just about every Sunday night since June, Sam, Rudy and Nayla have come over for a little "bite" and a lot of True Blood (HBO vampire series). Samantha read all ten books (True Blood is based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels), and passed them along to us. We're obsessed. And hey, we just found out that HBO has launched a TruBlood drink that's carbonated blood orange soda. Gotta try it!

Our connection with Samantha goes way back. When Jo and Ray first brought her home from the hospital after she was born, we were completely awestruck by her and totally in love. For years after, Ted and I babysat Sam nearly every Saturday while Jo and Ray worked at their beauty shop. The intimate bond built during that time was (and still is) genuine and strong.

When Sam was about 10, the night before they moved to Northern California, I sat on the end of her bed and watched her while she slept. I wondered how she'd like it up there, how her life would unfold and what kind of woman she'd grow up to be.

Now we know.
And we think she's great.
And we're getting to know Rudy better and we think he's great too.
And Nayla Rose?
We're completely awestruck by her and totally in love.
And she's being raised by the most loving parents ever, and between Rudy and Sam, she has tons of family and gets a huge outpouring of love every day.
She's one lucky little girl.
And so are we.