Big News

Big News! Adam and I are proud owners of a new (to us) car!

Buying a car is a big decision, but it needed to be done. We put on our big girl panties and went for it!

All We Want For Christmas

Dear Santa,

We have been really good this year. Honest, we have. We don't need any diamond rings or turtle doves. What we really need, Santa, is an addition to our family. So, this is our grown up Christmas wish:

A BABY!

Haha! On Sunday Mom, Dad, Abby, Nate, and Locklynn came to visit so we could wrap our secret Santa presents. We had an extra shoe box and we just couldn't help ourselves. That's how present Locklynn came to be. And Robo Baby...

Wew! What a long day for little Lockie!

We all sure love him!

P.S. If you haven't seen The Odd Life of Timothy Green yet, ya gotta! Even though it was about a boy with leaves, I could totally relate and I bawled my eyes out! How wonderful to have a child even if it is only for a few days.

P.P.S Can I just say that pomegranates are confusing?! To eat the seeds or not eat the seeds... that is the question.

Winter Family Reunion

Last weekend we traveled to Utah for a family reunion for a side of Adam's family that hasn't gotten together in years. It was at this reunion that we discovered that Adam actually has an Uncle Bean! Uncle Bean helped take care of and raise Adam's grandma after her dad passed away. We got to spend time with these kiddos:

And have a 4 eye photo shoot because Hannah and Kayden just got glasses.

Then we got to watch an awesome talent show where Hailey got up to share her piano playing talent... even though she doesn't play the piano...HaHa! She ended up singing a song instead. That girl loves the spotlight.

While in Utah we also spent some quality time at Cabela's for Adam, hit some malls for me, finished our Christmas shopping, visited Adam's grandpa who will be 93 in a few weeks, and swung by to view the new Brigham City Temple.

Man, the weekends always end too soon!

P.S. Check out Emily and Aaron. They are great members of Adam's family who are also hoping to adopt.

Long Day

Yesterday was a LONG day at work. It was sooooooo nice to come home to:

Our beautiful Christmas tree.

My awesome husband.

My punching bag(This is my angry face!)

True Fact: I might look like quite the wimp, and I really am, but I have a black belt in taekwondo. Don't worry, nobody else believes me either.

Bravelove

Check out this amazing video! Isn't it inspiring? I've added a link to BraveLove in our resource bar.

Farewell

On our last day with Savanna and Nora we played the Awkward Family Photos board game and also Hedbanz. Hedbanz was actually quite hard.

Then Abby and I sang Savanna some wonderfully beautiful farewell songs that Savanna greatly enjoyed!

Finally all of the family got together for a party for Savanna and Nora. Nora got to ride a tractor at the restaurant, but she wasn't too impressed.

I have to admit that when I left the party last night, it was not pretty. I cried. Savanna cried. And Nora just stared with her big eyes.

Fare thee well Savanna and Nora, Joe and Ginger. You shall be missed. And, may Skype become our best friend!

P.S. We put up our Christmas decor tonight! 'Tis the season.

Thanksgiving

Adam and I were very grateful to spend time with family this weekend, especially since Savanna and Nora are leaving to New Mexico tomorrow and we don't know when we will see them again :( We also had family pictures this weekend, sans Joe who had to meet the movers in New Mexico.

I tried to take advantage of all the time I had with Savanna and Nora. I helped bath her a couple of times... well really I just watched her play and Savanna bathed her. Savanna and I both swear that on Thanksgiving Eve during her bath Nora said, "Gobble Gobble!"

Look how binkly her toes got!

We opened up our Christmas presents from each other since we won't get to see each other for awhile. Since Joe couldn't be there in person he joined us live from New Mexico on Skype.

While our feast was cooking on Thanksgiving we played Monoploly and Nate won. Locklynn couldn't figure out the rules so he just ate.

Mom and dad made a delicious turkey compliments of Our Best Bites.

But poor Nora just ate orange mush for her first Thanksgiving. I bet that is not what she had in mind the night before when she said, "Gobble Gobble!"

Locklynn's Big Day

Little Man Locklynn's big day (his baby blessing) was on November 18th. Adam and I got to spend the weekend with my family for this and for the Boise temple re-dedication.

Friday night I got to feed little Miss Nora, but I didn't do too great of a job of keeping her clean. At least her tummy was full... until I started feeding her nasty peas.

Sunday morning we played with Locklynn and Nora and tried to get them to be best friends. Locklynn is too little to care and Nora thinks he is a little toy.

Then, Nate gave cute little Lock a beautiful blessing.

Afterwards, Nora and I had fun in the mirror.

She hung around (Don't worry, Uncle Gary was holding her up).

Uncle Gary pinched her cheeks. Classic.

And Adam tried to take a nap, but I was too camera happy.

Good times. Good times.

Mo More Movember

For this post, November shall be referred to as Movember. Movember is the month when men don't shave. It is for laziness men's health awareness. Adam's program was going to participate in Movember by growing mustaches to raise money for men's health awareness. Adam tried... for about two and a half weeks... but Mr. Mustashio was no longer welcome in our home.

What? You can't see it?

Yeah, he wanted to throw up every time he looked in the mirror too!

Mo More Movember, let's celebrate National Adoption Month instead!!!

Our Weekend

This weekend Adam and I went our separate ways. He went rifle hunting for elk with his dad. I was happy for him to spend time hunting with his dad because he has fond memories of doing that growing up. I am also happy that he didn't catch kill anything.

While Adam was out gallivanting in the woods I spent time with my family. First, I went to the cemetery to see Baby J's new marker that my Dad and Grandpa are working on putting in. I helped design it at Etched in Stone. I like how it turned out and it will last a lot longer than what we had before... it was already wearing out.

Next, I visited my Grandma and Grandpa. It was their 58th wedding anniversary. I love them so much!

And I played with Nora and Locklynn while I was visiitn. The time is coming closer for when Savanna, Joe, and Nora move to New Mexico. It will be a sad day indeed.

Look! Here is Nora with her taggy blanket that I made her. She loves it! And P.S. Isn't her hair so cute!

One Year Older

Well, I am one year older, and hopefully wiser too. I had a great birthday thanks to my great husband.
First off, Adam MADE me open my present early. It was hidden in the closet and he had the doors tied closed, but he didn't think I would be able to resist peaking. It was a punching bag, stand, and pink gloves. I was excited.

We celebrated my birthday this last weekend because of work and school and such. I think this was the best birthday ever. To start out with we went to the Dollar Store and bought supplies to build boats. Then we assembled our individual boats in the car and raced then in a pond that we found. Adam's boat sunk at first and the wind kept blowing our boats in circles, but Adam's boat eventually won.

Next, we played black light miniature golf.

Then, we went shooting. I shot my BB gun and Adam worked on sighting in his dad's 30.06 rifle for his future hunting trip.

When we got done shooting we drove into town so we could go to our dinner destination, but all of a sudden we spotted an Indian restaurant. Adam immediately did a u-turn and I got to feast on naan and butter chicken, which I haven't had since New Zealand. Yum!

Finally, We grabbed some ice cream, camped out on our mattress in the living room, and watched a couple of Redbox movies. It was a great time.

Yesterday, on my actual birthday, my mom came for a surprise visit. She brought me her special funny cake and took me to lunch at a new Mexican restaurant I had wanted to try.

Of course, I also received this photo in my e-mails which helped seal the deal that this birthday was the best so far.

Thanks everyone! Please refer to the previous post for another excellent gift idea!