Adoption reminder!

So as most of you know, but some of you may not, Emily's birth did me in, and we have been trying to adopt for just over a year now. The process is slow, and mentally, emotionally and spiritually draining. It is also incredible, educational, moving, remarkable and spiritually uplifting. We have met some of the most incredible people through this process, and learned a lot about ourselves through it. It is sometimes easy to forget about on a day by day basis, with how busy we are with the girls, but there is always a prayer in our hearts that if it supposed to happen it will. Sometimes a video like this comes along, and it makes me pause and remember all of the feelings we have had about why we are doing this. It is easy to say that we are done, the girls are older, vacations are easier and more fun now, everyone is in school etc. But there is still that little glimmer of hope that someday we may find a birthmom who will bless us with our baby!
This is an old video, but still sweet...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1upx7s6OXk

Please keep us and our incredible friends (who are also praying for a miracle for their families) in your thoughts and prayers. We so would appreciate it!

"Sharks are at your feet"

My girlfriends and I have started water aerobics. (insert picture HERE of us in swimsuits looking mighty fine)
It's actually a pretty good workout, there are days when we are grateful we are in the water so no one can see us sweat.
Then there are days when we can't get over the absolutely DUMB names they come up with for moves in the water. For example...imagine yourself in the deep end, you "hop" from leg to leg then pause every other leg for a brief second. Our teacher demonstrates while chanting "sharks are at your feet" (pause) "sharks are at your feet" (pause) I swear I chant it in my sleep. I won't even get into the whole "flutter kick" thing. The poor men in our class. Their man card is stripped from them when they get into the pool. I can just imagine them going home..."hi honey, how was your workout?"
"Oh, I did some pretty manly flutter kicks, then some sharks were at my feet...I did end in a good superman pose though.."

I figure that there is nothing like a good Superman pose to start the day off right

P.S. there will NEVER be pictures from, about or regarding this particular aspect of my day, so don't even ask. Although, there are some pretty picture worthy moments, especially when we lose all balance with weights and flop around like porpoises. Just leave it up to your imaginations!

Rise and Shout

The Cougars are out!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, baby...it's football season!
We were excited to see that everone around us, who were also season ticket holders are back this year also. We have a really fun crowd in our section
Kids ringing the victory bell after the game. BYU (nationally ranked #16) has the longest winning streak in the nation right now after winning 41-17. Although I have to admit, we were stressing when there was fumble after fumble resulting in 3 turnovers, one right after the other. But hey, that kept it exciting!

8th grade...can you believe it?

Above is the "before" school picture...everyone is excited, ready to go, and just grateful they aren't a lowly 7th grader anymore.

"What? Homework on the first day? And in a foreign language?" We thought they were supposed to ease us into this Spanish class gently!!!

Our traditional before school picture. taken after school. Because a before school party and picture was just too early.

Meet Titus

Announcing the newest member of our family...Titus!!!!
He is barely 6 weeks old, and already a pound heavier than Echo!
He is a purebred chocolate lab and is sooooo mild mannered.
Dan's coworker gave him the pick of the litter, but would only show him the boys, something about too much estrogen at our house already...I don't know what he is talking about!
We are totally in love with this little guy (who is going to be HUGE!) The girls get up each morning and run outside to play with him. We have to drag them in to get ready for school. They stay outside all afternoon and evening playing with him, it has been wonderful!!!

Happy Anniversary to us!

In honor of our 15th anniversary, which is today, (notice I am NOT sending this to you from a beach in the Carribbean? yea, me too. You can thank back to school night tonight for that) I want to post 15 things about my hubby that I love! Feel free to gag from the sweetness anytime.
1. He has an incredible love for the gospel
2. He is a people person
3. He gets my sarcastic sense of humor
4. He isn't afraid to read the Twilight series
5. He loves girl's camp almost as much as I do.
6. He is a better cook than I will EVER be
7. He is the wind beneath my wings (just had to check and see if you were still with me)
8. He is not afraid to sing along to radio Disney
9. I love his business socks!!!
10. He loves to explore new places
11. He drags me to hole in the wall cafe's in the middle of nowhere and they end up being the greatest restaurants EVER
12. He works hard for our family
13. He is honestly the most thoughtful man I've ever met
14. Ask him to perform Fiddler on the roof...I dare ya!
15. He's so fun to be with!

There you have it. 15 random reasons I love my man!

return to sanity

tap.tap.tap. Is this thing on? Is anyone still out there? Has everyone given up on checking to see if I have posted anything lately? School started Monday and the last two weeks have been filled with a lot of running around, looking for the perfect binder (Costco...$9.99...incredible, thanks Amanda!) shoes that fit every detailed specification and yet are still mom and budget approved and other non-blog worthy, yet important activities. Important because they all lead up to this...the return to school!

And this...an older sister who has a week to herself, to get the frozen expression of horror from spending a summer living with 3 younger sisters and 3 younger cousins off of her face. Good luck with that!

School starts tomorrow!

'nuff said!!!!!!!

Bug Update

After 2 1/2 years, Bug hit her one year mark of being seizure free on her medication...finally! She went to PCMC on Monday for her annual EEG and we had her Neurologist appt. today. For the EEG she had to go 24 hours with no caffeine or sugar. A few months ago, when she overheard me on the phone with the hospital getting details, she thought that meant no sugar or caffeine EVER. The caffeine, not so much a problem, but this is the child who I would find with a spoon and the container of brown sugar, munching away. She told everyone that she couldn't have sugar, and it has been quite nice the last little bit! Anyway, after her EEG we were laying on the couch (she had to go severly sleep deprived also,which means I am severely sleep deprived, so we took it easy the rest of the day). She turned to me and asked if she could have caffeine. I said yes. She then asked if she could have sugar. I said yes. She thought for a minute and said "mom, let's talk" Well, what do you want to talk about? "Sugar" "What about sugar?" I asked. "Let's talk about getting me some" Hehe!
Today's appt was disappointing but good. She has to go at least one more year on the medication, and he wants to see her back in 6 months, but he sees improvement, so I can't complain about that. She was really nervous about this visit,which was weird, since she goes every few months, and kept asking me if she was going to get a shot. I kept reassuring her that he was just going to look at her really quick and then talk to mommy. When we got into the office, she sat next to me. He chatted for a few minutes and then asked her to jump up on the table so he could examine her. He bent over the other way to get something. When he did she turned to me, scrunched her face up and did the "I'm watching you" move with her two fingers, moving from her eyes to me. As soon as he straightened up again she went back to looking at him with an innocent smile. Where does she learn this?
side note, in 2 years she has gained a whopping 4 pounds, but shot up 5 inches!

my crazy amazing birthday

11p.m. getting ice cream at Artic Circle 12:05 a.m. proud owners of Breaking Dawn

so to pick up where I so hurriedly left off...

I was handed a sealed envelope from Amanda,where I was told that I had one hour to pack and that the kids where going to be taken care of. Dan was supposedly in Billings on business, so I was completely confused. An hour later he pulled up in the driveway. Apparently, his trip had been postponed so he had started scheming. He took me on an in-town vacation..he rented a suite at a hotel downtown, and we had dinner at red rock brewing company....yummy! Friday we went to Park City for the day, did some shopping at the outlets up there. We got home around 5, then my girlfriends and I took our daughters to the "wedding reception" of Edward and Bella for the Breaking Dawn release party at Barnes and Noble. The girls had a blast dressing up in prom gowns borrowed from an older cousin of one of them.

We ended up buying the girls clothes around 10:30 that night to change into, went to Artic Circle for ice cream around 11, then to Wal-mart to buy the book cheaper at midnight. FUN!

Saturday, my dad took me to lunch andDan threw me a surprise party with a few families. I must be really oblivious to everything, because both times this week I was totally caught off guard! Either that, or I have really sneaky friends and husband! It was a fantastic b-day week!