Sam made us sisters. . .

um, we made us friends?

Happy birthday Terri!

Today is my fabulous sister-in-law Terri's birthday, and since I couldn't get her what she REALLY wanted, I figured a blog post devoted to her awesomeness would suffice. Because I avoid being photographed next to people who are much better looking than I am, the above pic from her wedding to my goofy brother is the best one I could find of us together. Now, I would like to share some of the reasons that Terri is super cool:

The first time I met Terri was when I was seven months pregnant with Clyde, and RIDICULOUSLY hormonal. Let's just say it was not one of my finest days (I had been fighting with my mostly darling husband), but did she let this scare her off? Nope, she bravely came to Boise with Sam when Clyde was born and graciously allowed me to make a better first impression.

A month later, Terri joined us in Utah for the Smith-Braden Semi-annual General Conference Extravaganza and showed off her amazing sense of adventure and gracefulness:

Aren't those pictures cute?

No story, I just liked this picture!

Due to her work schedule, Terri was unable to spend that Christmas holiday with her family in Southern California (although she traveled there a few days afterwards). We lured her to Boise instead and were delighted when she fit right in with family celebrations. My mom even tempted fate a bit and made her a stocking :)

No story here, either, just a cute picture of Sam and Terri on Mother's Day. Oh, cancel that, here's a story: at this point they weren't actually 'officially' engaged, but the temple had been scheduled, and more importantly, I had been asked to be a bridesmaid (kind of my life long dream). They had come to Boise for the weekend for Chuck's graduation, and all signs pointed to this being the weekend that Sam was going to propose. Poor Terri, however was strung along all weekend until Monday morning she was awakened to a text message instructing her to begin a scavenger hunt of sorts, eventually leading her to the airport and a trip to . . .

SEATTLE, where Sam proposed and (luckily) Terri said YES!

Which led to this beautiful day: June 23, 2007

Terri is such a good aunt that she even took time out of the Open House in Boise to read with Clyde!

She wields a mean horseshoe :)

Terri is a fabulous hostess and cook - her French toast is my personal favorite

Clyde loves their state-of-the-art laundry appliances, and standing on Terri's knees makes him just tall enough to reach the buttons!

Terri has adapted very well to being an aunt of two, Will likes her very much!

Terri was a doll and helped Quinn a lot with the adjustment to going to college and living away from home; she fed him frequently (especially from her candy stashes!) and let him do laundry at their place and such.

Terri is VERY generous - check out the dollar bill she gave Clyde for his piggy bank! :) Now we're that much closer to Disneyland (we're saving up to go down there to pick Quinn up in June 2010). Of course, we don't have to save as much since Terri's wonderful family lives right outside L.A. and we're taking them up on their (hopefully serious) offer to let us stay with them any time we're in the area!

I'm glad I put up with Sam growing up so that I could have Terri as a sister-in-law now! She's smart and caring and sweet and stylish and kind and forgiving and puts up with my silly brother (as Chuck says, "You Bradens can be hard to live with") and I love her lots!