Life at our house is like a science experiment.

Adia was in the bath playing with Barbie. I was across the hall folding laundry. Adia yells "Mom, come here! Hurry!" It was a frantic little holler, so I rushed in expecting to see blood or something.

"Look mom, When I hold Barbie under water and squeeze her head bubbles come out of her bum!"

Yup, it's like a never ending world of learning around here:)

Birthday Party

For my birthday we went up on the mountain and had hobo dinners, fire roased candy apples, played in the creek, and hiked around. It was so much fun. There is too much to tell, so here are the highlights in pictures...

There was this really pretty field full of poppys on the way to the campground. I made my honey pull over while I got out and took pictures. Hey, it's my birthday, no one is aloud to complain!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

"I can't take my shoes off before getting in the creek, it's much too cold"

Oh, and happy birthday to my very favorite sister! I love you! You are the best!

What the hail!?!

We have literally had about two days that it hasn't rained all month long. I'm not complaining, after living in a place where we NEVER got rain most of my life, I know what a blessing the rain is. I kind of enjoy it too. I like that it hasn't been too hot, I love that I haven't had to water my garden even once this year, I love that everything is so green, and beautiful. Even my kids have liked it, and have danced around in it, and broken out their umbrellas that have barely seen a drop of rain before this year. It has it's downside too, but for the most part we are lovin' it. I think it's a little funny, and a lot sad that in Utah you rarely hear a prayer offered that doesn't have the words "please bless us with the moisture that we so greatly need..." or something along the lines of that, but then when it finally does rain all you hear are complaints... Enough said...




Anyway, we are getting used to rain, but the other day we were driving and it started to hail. REALLY HARD! I seriously thought that it was going to break our windshield. It was so bad. When we finally got back into town and to our house it was still hailing, though not as bad. I took a few pictures, but you can't really tell how bad it was other than to see the sad longing look on my beautiful girl's face.

So having hail reminded me of a story I forgot to share about our last trip home to visit my parents. We had been driving for a while, and though the skies looked like it could down pour at any moment the roads had stayed dry. Finally we reached Soldier Summit and it started to rain, like REALLY RAIN. Soon the rain turned to hail, and before I knew it there was three inches of hail on the road. It was pounding down so hard, and the road was like ice. People were sliding off the road and some were just pulling over to wait out the storm. I just put it in 4-wheel drive, and took it slow. It was super scary and we were driving about 10 miles an hour for a long time. Finally the storm started to let up and my mom called. She said that they were watching TV and a severe storm advisory was issued. They said that everyone who was driving in that area was advised to get off the road and seek shelter immediately. That explained why there were so many people pulled over. Apparently everyone else had been listening to their radio and heard the announcement. We, on the other hand, had been rockin out to a CD and were totally oblivious to the danger we were it. We were just traveling down the road dancing to our own tune, lovin' life, with no idea that what we were doing was any different from what everyone else was doing. Actually I guess that would be a good way to describe the way our every day life goes. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but that's how we roll... :)

Aren't these the cutest?

So I was checking out Bakerella the other day -LOVE her, who doesn't?- and we came across the cutest idea for mini hamburgers. Ethan noticed them, and decided that we HAD to make them. It was his turn for treats for Family Night last night, and this is what we made. We ran out of red food coloring, so the "ketchup" is pink, but other than that they turned out pretty cute for our first try. These are totally on the menu for or next BBQ.

For a more professional view check them out on Bakerella, she did the cutest thing with sugar cookie fries... to die for!

Our own little super model

Sundays are for Snoozin'

Hero of the week.- An update.

So have you noticed that I haven't had a hero of the week in a long time? I have. It's not that I haven't experienced tons of heroes in my life, it's just that I haven't been good at taking the time to blog about them. There was the guy at the store who noticed that my eyes were watering, my nose was running, and I looked like death, and that I was only buying allergy medication and let me go ahead of him in line, the guy on the really really windy day who literally dove in front of a runaway cart before it hit my car, and the couple across the street who watched our kids for an hour while I went grocery shopping by myself. The list goes on and on, but I think instead of picking one hero per week I will just start giving a random shout out to my "every day angels". So be on the look out for my angel stories, and be sure to take notice of the angels in your life.

Happy Fam-iversary

Yup that's right it's our 3rd "Famiversary"! (thanks Uncle Levi for coming up with a term for it:) This marks the day that we became a real family. It had taken us a long time an a lot of heart ache before Ethan and Adia could even come live with us, and another year of fighting the legal system before we were actually able to finalize the adoption, and they were truly our babies, and no one could take them away from us. That was a huge relief, but still we didn't feel 100% safe. We hadn't been sealed together as a family and received the power to be together for all of Eternity. One week after finalizing we went to the Monticello Temple to get that taken care of. We met in a sealing room that was filled with many of our family and close friends. There we were sealed together. I can't tell you most of what the sealer said to us because as we all gathered together holding hands my thoughts were filled with how much I loved these people. How special they were to me, and how finally, after nearly two years of work, and trials, and broken hearts, and fear, they were finally mine. They belonged to me forever. We would be a family for ever and ever, and no one could take them away from me. I was finally the mother that I was always meant to be. I couldn't hold back my tears. I cried through the entire ceremony, but through it all I couldn't stop smiling either. I have never been more happy, or overcome with such a feeling of safety and contentment. It was truly the best day of my life. We ended out the day with a huge party. It seems that after so much work it ought to pay off with a mega blowout or something, right? We just had a BBQ in our backyard and invited EVERYONE we knew:) It was the perfect day. We have continued our celebration of the perfect day each year on June 17th. This is the day that we appreciate each other a little more, hug each other a little tighter, and smooch each other a little more often. This is the day that reminds us how lucky we are to have each other. This is the day that we celebrate family in it's truest form. This is our "famiversary".
If you would like to know more about our adoption story go HERE.
If you would like to know more about adoption in general go HERE or HERE or HERE.
If you would like to know more about a temple sealing go HERE
If you have an adoption question ask it in the comment section:)

Healing Powers

We have been taking Ethan to a footzonologyst, and we love it. On Monday she gave us some frankincense to rub on his ears. That night when we did it I told him that it was frankincense and he remembered that it was the stuff the wise men gave Jesus, and we talked about it a little bit. The next morning when Ethan woke up I told him to get in the shower, and then to remind me to put the frankincense on his ears. After the shower he came up to me and said "Mom, I think I need some of that Jesus earwax to make me healed." I hope he isn't expecting a miracle or something...

A lot to say

I haven't blogged in a long time, and now I'm playing catch-up. Be sure to scroll all the way down so that you don't miss all of the new posts. And there are more to come, so check back often for the next few days:)

Fun with Kalista

While we were in La Sal we had a lot of opportunities to spend time with my niece Kalista. In the past you might remember, she hasn't liked us very well. It's just been the last year that she has even tolerated us for more than a few hours at a time. But this time she did great with us. She had so much fun with her. We had a sleep over, we spent the day playing together, we had a camp fire and ate s'mores, and jumped on the trampoline together. It was a great time. She actually played WITH the kids instead of playing near them like she usually does. She is doing great and we are so proud of how far she has come. Each time we see her she has learned new words and new signs. She is communicating so well. She even came up with a game she says my name in a high pitched voice, and pokes me in the stomach, then laughs and laughs. It started out with her just poking me in the stomach, but as the day went on she started poking everyone in the stomach and saying KAAAATIEEEE in the high pitched voice. I'm not sure how good that is for my self esteem, I wish she would pick someone else's name to screech when it comes to poking bellies, but whatever, she says my name, so I can't ask for too much else. Anyway, we had a really good time with her, so enjoy the pictures... Oh, and did you notice the super cute haircut Adia has? My sister Bobbi cut it, and it's short and sassy just like Adia.

What I miss since I moved...

There are a lot of things that I miss since we moved far, far from "home", but one of the things I miss most is the beauty. It's beautiful where I live now, but it isn't that familiar beauty that I grew up knowing. Here are a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago when the kids and I were in La Sal for a visit.

This is just a random goofy picture of the kids as we drove up the mountain.

As we were driving we saw a HUGE bull elk. For this early in the year his antlers are gigantic! The picture below is actually the best shot, but the other views show you his amazing rack. Where is my zoom lens when I need it?

Here is another random truck picture. I'm not sure how it got here in the order of the pictures, but I can't get it to move, so enjoy:)

This is growing on a rock in my parent's back yard. Pretty right?