Happy Birthday (Jan. 11) Lorien and Christian!!

When I tell people I have 11 children one of the first questions asked in reply is "Are there any twins?" I could answer yes, sort of, but that would defeat the purpose of the question. What they really means is "Did you really do 11 pregnancies?" I did do 11 pregnancies but two of those babies arrived on Jan. 11, eleven years apart.

Lorien was born shortly after noon on Jan. 11, 1981. She had a gentle, soft spirit about her and we could tell quite quickly that she was going to be a red head - the first of three! Lorien has her own shade of red however. Her hair is dark auburn like her Grandfather Leon's. As she was growing up people would ask her where she got her red hair. Once when she was three, she must have been a little tired of the question because she replied tartly and with dignity (or indignity), "My grandpa painted it and I like it." As soon as Lorien was old enough to pick up a crayon we could tell she had an abundance of artistic talent and her own personal, very vibrant flair. She drew bold, creative pictures saturated with vivid color. I was always amazed by them. Lorien's creative personality also came out in how she dressed. She had no qualms about going to school with 5 ponytails instead of one or two, wearing crazy mis-matched stripped socks or any other "intereresting" combination of clothing. She loved nature, had an obsession with Canada for a while, and then Africa. She took ballet. She played softball and basketball. She played piano and violin and later taught herself the banjo and toured eastern Europe with a performing group. She was part of Sassafrass, an all-girl bluegrass band and they recorded a great cd. Currently Lorien lives in SLC and owns Copperleaf, her landscape design business.

Lorien turned 11 the day Christian was born. I surprised myself by going into labor. We went ahead with the planned friend birthday party and after we sent the neighborhood partiers home Randy and I headed off the to hospital. Christian was a joyfully awaited baby. We had had trouble with this pregnancy and I had been put to bed for two months. Things were tenuous for a while so when he arrived healthy and sound about 9:00 pm on Jan. 11 we were so grateful and it was a joy to receive this new little baby boy into our home (of 6 girls and only 2 boys at the time.) Christian too had a soft and gentle spirit about him. Even as a baby I noticed how obedient he seemed to be. I remember at the age of six weeks he had to have a hernia operation. When the doctor was doing the extremely painful examination and Christian was crying and doubling up I got close up by his face and whispered to him that I knew it was hard but he needed to lay still so the doctor could help him and though he continued to cry he stretched out and laid still. I was amazed. The same thing happened when the nurse was prepping him for surgery and she couldn't get an iv in his tiny arm. She tried his hands and both forearms. Finally she had to ask for help. He was is great distress. I again asked him to try hard to stay still and he stopped crying and did so. I'm not sure how he understood me at the age of six weeks but there was some kind of communication.

Whenever I had a sonagram of Christian before he was born he always had his right foot up on his left knee. When he was a toddler he would often watch tv laying on his back with his right foot up on his raised left knee. It was a cute reminder that some things we have done ever since we existed.

Christian is a tall 6'1". He is thoughtful, incredibly insightful, can carry on an in depth conversation. He likes to read and write and produce movies. Film is his interest, particularly fantasy. He holds the record in our family for reading Lord of the Rings more times than you can count. Christian is good at athletics and he enjoys them but isn't much for competition. He's as avid soccer fan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (a little late) LORIEN AND CHRISTIAN.