We are almost Official!!!!

We got some great news this last week!! We have the official word from the people who give the official word that we have an adoption date...for all 5!! September 4th at 10:30am at the Mesa court house. We are so excited!! We also have some other great news...Shea has been taking the lessons and she will be baptized September 6th we don't have the time yet. We will be calling the temple this week to see about getting a sealing date soon also!!

What a journey this has been. I know we aren't done but we have had an awesome start. We have had 110% support from everyone around us. All the kids have been so accepted into our families. They have made great friends at school and church. We have made great friends through our foster care agency. Best of all we have been able, after all this time, to feel how amazing it is to have a family of our own...little people to teach, to learn from and to love so deaply that it cannot be explained - and only known through first hand experience - I know this because I love all little children and we've had alot of kids in our home for day care and we have lots of nieces and nephews. Love them all forever!!.....Now we are able to see a glimps of how much Heavenly Father loves us all because we are His children.

Cereal Lover!

I don't have any pictures for this entry but I have to tell this hilarious story or thing that happened yesterday......well it happens often. I know that this is not rare I know that this girl is not so far above average that she is the only one to do this but to see it first hand....I'll tell you this love bug is too much for me!!!!
Yesterday I was in the kitchen making dinner after church. The kids usually come upstairs and play around while I'm getting it ready. Samantha loves to get into the cupboards and get stuff out. Sometimes it is OK and sometimes I tell her to get out. Well I let her and she looked all over the cupboards and opened the one that I put all my big bowls. She picks out the small Tupperware bowl you know the one its not the big one with the thumb hole but it was the one just smaller than that one. She got it and then took it to the table where sometimes we leave out the cereal....it was out so the next thing I heard was cereal being poured...I thought great we're gonna have to pick up cereal off the floor. It was my lucky day. Samantha had poured most of the box of cereal perfectly into this big bowl. I know it may by one of those stories that you had to be there but...she is so small and it was so funny the cereal box is as big as she is!!!! Her other favorite thing to do with cereal is to pick up the bowl and drink the milk out of it. These things are so funny to me because she is so small and she is starting to do such big girl things!!!
We Love Her!!!!!

The Routines Have Started!

No more sleeping in!! Oh I never got to sleep in...School has started and we are trying to get into a school routine. I have 2 that start at 7:30 and one that starts at 8:00 (well he doesn't start till next week) and I have Brock that comes at 7:00. Joey had his first homework assignment this week and he did great!! he was supposed to color all the same shapes a certain color and cut them out and glue them to a paper. He did it all by himself...I went upstairs to start the dinner - he comes up later show me his master piece. He is so funny about school...I hope he always loves it!! Jordan and I went to an open house for his school and he was so excited to go. He has the same teacher that he had last year. His ability to communicate has exploded this summer it is fun to hear him talking and saying just what he wants to say!!


I know that Samantha and Jesse will have withdrawals as soon as Jordan starts school but I'm sure they'll live. Jesse was supposed to start with Jordan but he is on the waiting list so he won't start till later.....there are always kids coming and going in those classes. I love how it got Joey ready for kindergarten. He already knows everything that the class is working on for the next 4 weeks...shapes, colors, how to write his name. Yeah!!


I just have some random pictures to add today. I feel like I can't post unless I have pictures to add. I know, I know its just who I am....it could be a tooma

Finally we got Shea's goofy picture to add to our goofy pictures of the kids I have them all in a frame and I've been looking for he perfect frame for awhile....I found one at the dollar store.

This picture kills me.....he was posing - he was pretending that he just fell asleep on the stairs. Jordan is sooooo funny!!

Still waiting and counting the days

We have all the paperwork signed and notarized for both adoptions....now we are playing the waiting game....But as long as we are waiting we might as well have fun!! We have irrigation in our neighborhood and when it comes at a time of day when the kids are up they always want to play in what I call......poop water. It stinks like dead fish but because of my younger days at the ranch and always wanting to "play in the reservoir" I let them play in the poop water. We had it Saturday at the perfect time 5:oopm when the sun is lower and the house shades the front yard alittle. here are some great pics of the kids playing in the dirty water.....if you think the grass is a bit long it is. I'm just waiting to get a letter from our "neighborhood watchers" our lawn boy has gone to mexico for a few weeks.

It was a dirty grassy mess when they were done but they had a great time!

Crazy Busy Summer

This summer has been very busy and crazy. I had youth conference and camp. We went Heber for a weekend and we've done a few other things here and there. All the boys have summer birthdays the first was Joey's now he's 5 and knows it all!!! He started kindergarten last Monday. He loves school.
While I was gone to youth conference James and the kids and some other helpers picked all the plums from the tree. I was so glad that they did because we got alot of fruit for jam. Shea helped me this year and we canned about 20 jars of plum jam. We had fun!! Next time I'll remember to start taking pictures when we start....not at the2nd or 3rd step.
This is definitely a pose Shea did a great job stirring the jam and filling the jars. We've had alot of toast since we made the jam (just so we can use the jam) It is yummy!!
I'm so grateful for Relief Society and for women who know how to do things!! It is killing me because I don't remember the name of the sister who taught me how to make jam...there was a group of us who went to her house and we made all kinds of jam it was so fun!! and no we didn't can 400 jars of jam we just did alittle. I was excited that I didn't have to buy jars this year. I just bought the new lids and rewashed the ones I had.
Googler...Sister Googler was her name. She could grow anything and can anything. It was good to see that it was easy and didn't have to be overwhelming.

We made 2 batches. What a great day that was!! We will be doing it again next year!! Hopefully we can get to the apricots before the birds do!!!

51 Days and Counting!!

This will be a short but sweet entry!! I was gone at camp last week so I'm just now getting back into the swing of things. Before I left Deborah, the kids addoption worker, made a visit and said we are on the calendar for September 4th for the adoption of Shea, Joey, Jordan, Jesse, and Samantha!!!! Ahhhhhh...... the time has come. The little kids don't know what is going on but Shea is excited!! We are so blessed to be able to do all 5 on the same day!! We will have a temple date soon. That is really what we are looking forward to. I've been to family sealings before and they take my breath away...that is perfect heaven right there. Honestly I'm still trying to figure out what I have done to have this window of heaven open up for me.

Today is the Day!!!

We got a call from the attorney's office yesterday to meet with them at 3:30 today to sign the petition for the 4 little kids adoption. Yeah!! We'll get the papers for Shea next week and she will be ready soon also!!

There is no special event for these pictures except that the kids wanted to get a picture of their monster trucks. They are so funny about them!! I could empty the toy box out and leave only the trucks and they wouldn't even notice.