sunshine

This past weekend, my sister in-laws (minus Kari - we missed you!!!) and mother in-law headed south, to the land of the sun! It was such great weather, it felt nice to be warm outside, to enjoy some sunshine and to come home with pink cheeks. I loved the blossoming trees everywhere, they were gorgeous and they smelled so nice.
We were lucky to get to stay in Lorinda's parent's condo. It was perfect. Cozy and well equipped. We stayed up way too late, watched Downton Abbey, had lots of funny conversations, and laughed so hard I got a stomach ache. We also showed off our awesome dance moves..... but I don't think I'll be posting that video. EVER.
We were so glad that Liz was able to come. She had to drive 6 hours from Arizona, all by herself and I'm so glad she did. Things just wouldn't be the same without our Lizzy.
We went on a fun "hike." Or at least we tried to. I led us down the wrong path and we never really found the right trail. So instead, we just took off up the cliff. It was awesome weather, and I was really loving all the sun!

Liz and I couldn't resist a good pose on the mountainside. Check us out, we are so weird. I love it.
At the top! Ashlie had phone reception at the top so she called the DNR and tried to figure out where we were and where we had lost the trail. We found out that we were supposed to go left at one point instead of right. Well, the trail was not very well marked and we missed the signs telling us which way to go. Oh well, it was still fun!
Our view from the top. I loved the white rocks we hikes looking out over the red cliffs and the green sage down in the valley. It was a perfect time to be in St. George!
We had a great fiesta of food! We had yummy TACOS, with Brazilian Lemonade. It was quite the feast. Plus we had tons of snacks and munchies!
Before we headed home, we stopped by the temple to take some pictures. I love these ladies, and we really, really, missed Kari and hope she can come next year!! I've learned so much from each one of them and I feel really lucky to have them as family.

Here's to next years trip, I can't wait!! Until then, I'll be dreaming of these beautiful blossom trees and that blue sky. Loved it!

fun at grandma's

watching morning cartoons together in the big chair, what could be better?

Me and the boys just got home from spending a great week in Logan. We are lucky enough to have BOTH sets of Grandparents live in Cache Valley, plus lots of other family members that we love. We had a very relaxing and fun week. My boys loved being at both grandparents houses. They love having "new" toys to play with, a Grandpa who plays "No bears are out tonight", and Grandma's who are at their beck and call.

Eli has to sit on the very edge of the chair, of course.

Dad in his "workshop"

While we were at my parents, I put my dad to work on a project for me! Poor Dad, he's always taking orders for projects, but he does such an awesome job, I just can't pass up the opportunity! Pics coming of the finished product..... they are SUPER cute. I can't wait to use them.

These pictures are a little bit over-due. I took them at my parents house, but the boys got these fun matching shirts for Valentines day. I hadn't had a chance to get their picture together, wearing their matching T's. Will chose the location.... doesn't it blend nicely with the red of their shirts? Oh well, they are cute kiddos and that's all that matters.

Eli, tackling Will. This happens about 100 times per day, and both boys LOVE it.
Eli is so physical it cracks us up.

If you can't tell, Eli is biting Will's shoulder. This is also pretty common, he likes to "attack" Will.

......and now.... he's spitting. He keeps us on our toes.
Hahaha, and look at Will! He just sits there and takes it and smiles.

Will also had lots of time to himself to work on his drawings and build with his legos. It was nice to not have to go anywhere or do anything we didn't want to do. I really enjoyed the time doing whatever Will wanted to do.

At Grandma Martha's, watching a movie and eating snacks together. Eli just loves to follow Will around and do whatever he is doing. The only problem is that he is a little pesterer.... yes it's a word. He'll climb up on the couch by Will, sit there for a minute and then he just starts poking or wiggling all over Will. Will is so patient, but every once in awhile, when he's just had enough, he gives Eli a good elbow in the ribs and tells him to "STOP IT ELI!!!" Eli usually just laughs and keeps doing it until Will starts crying and I have to intervene. I usually find myself reminding Will that he's the bigger kid and he can just push him away. Is that bad? Will is just too nice, he doesn't always remember that he can defend himself or at least move away from Eli when he's torturing him.

We had a great time in Cache Valley, thanks to our wonderful families. Our trips to Logan never disappoint. There is no doubt, family are our best friends and I wouldn't want it any other way!

If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It is totally worth the 8 hours it will take to watch it! I can't wait for season 2! You can watch most episodes online, or through Netflix. I'm also thinking it is worth my 24.99$ to own it! LOVED IT!!!

I love the characters, the story line, and everything about it. The scenery is awesome, and I love the clothes. I think I should have been born in a different time period, because if it were socially acceptable, I'd love to walk around in a ruffly dress and hat all the time. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!

dredding it

Last week I was feeling a little adventurous. Eli's hair is long. Like 3 inches long when I comb it out. That might not seems too long to some people, but it is. One night after Eli's bath, I doused his hair with conditioner and decided I would attempt to comb it all out. Well..... the reason I say attempt, is because we haven't cut, not tried to to comb his hair for about 6 months. Of course we wash it regularly and give his scalp a good scrubbing, but we haven't actually taken a comb to it before. I had looked up all sorts of info on the internet, and basically decided that if I was going to comb it out and manage his tight curly hair, I needed lots of conditioner, some de-tangling spray, a pick, and some baby oil. So I set to work, while his hair was nice and wet, I set him in front of a movie, and started "combing" his hair out. I was a little shocked at how long it actually was, and how CURLY it is. It is so tight and curly that when we don't comb it, his curls just stick to his head and it looks like his hair is cut really short. Well, I got it all comb out, and it was awesome. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture, but I will, next time..... in another six months. Hahaha, just kidding!
The next morning, I was so excited about our hair success that I got really adventurous. I tried to actually DO something with his long, luscious locks. I decided I would do some twisted dreds. Once again, my friend Google guided me along the way. Since I didn't have a lot of time and I was doing this single-handedly, I did really big chunks of hair. I've learned that if I want the twists to stay in place, I need to do them much, much, smaller, use some gel, and have another set of hands working on it with me. Any volunteers? :) The dreds only stayed in for an hour or so before we was rolling around and they were coming out.
You can't really get the full effect from these pictures, but they were pretty funny. Will thought they were hilarious and keeps wanting us to do some more. I'm thinking we're going to need some professional help, which we have a great referral for! It was so fun to monkey around with Eli's hair. Mostly, it just made me really want a baby girl so I could play with and fix hair every day! I really want to try the twists again, so if I do, I'll make sure they look awesome and I'll post another picture. These ones were a little hard around the sides and back of his hair because it is really short. It was really fun though and no matter what, Eli is still the cutest baby ever. He's completely irresistible in every way. We love munching on his kissable cheeks and getting big sloppy kisses from those cute lips. His hair is just another unique quality of his and we just love it.

Okay, one more funny story that I thought was so cute. While we were at my sister's in CO, my niece (who's 9) went to her mom and said "Mom?! Have you seen Eli's hands? They are SO cool, they are really dark on one side and then pink on the other!" It was pretty cute. Eli is something else, that's for sure! I thought it was so sweet, I love it.

the amazing race and so much more

This past weekend was so fun! We packed our boys in the car early Saturday morning and drove to my sister's house in Grand Junction. The boys did great, ate snacks, played, and stayed calm and patient with the four hour drive. They've never been to Aunt Lisa's house before, so it was a fun little get-away for us!

We had a great weekend.... sorry for the picture over-load. We played games, watched a movie, ate lots of great food, met friends at church, and last but not least, we celebrated the Amazing Race!! Anyone who knows Scott and I, knows that we are big fans of the Amazing Race. We've been watching it for years, almost every season since we've been married (8 years!). My sister and her family are also big fans of the race and we often talk about doing it together someday. Well, to commemorate a new season that started on Sunday, we had our very own family Amazing Race!

It was awesome. We went all over the world and completed our tasks..... like sculpting a BYU cougar out of play dough, squeezing oranges into a bowl until we got a certain amount, building a pyramid with sugar cubes, digging in a barrel of wheat for little animals, making a marble run, etc. We had a ton of fun doing it, and best of all, we all won 100 Grand in the end (candy bar, that is)! Thanks Lisa for putting it together, I'm thinking this is a tradition just beginning.

The BYU Cougar (pictured above) was suppsed to be made out of play dough. I won't mention who's is who's..... but we had some pretty crafty creations..... some didn't even look like Cougars, more like muskrats or blobs of playdough. :)





This was mine and Will's marble run. It was awesome. It had to go around the corner and it worked on the first try. I was glad Will was partner in crime, we had a great time and make a great team. Maybe Willie and I will do the amazing race together someday! He loved it and kept asking when we were going to do it again. I think we'll have to give it a shot with our Utah cousins!
This was our amazing pyramid! Will was a great helper, this kind of thing is right up his alley.


On Sunday we headed to church. Little did we know, but we knew several people in their ward! It was kind of crazy. The boys looked so cute in their church clothes, I had to snap a picture.

On Monday before we headed home, we went up to the Monument for some fresh air and little hike with the kiddos. We had a great time. It was a beautiful day. Sunny (obviously, check out my squint!), and blue skies. Will was searching and searching for lizards and all sort of animals. Sorry buddy, I think it is a few months too early for those critters. We're excited to head back in the Summer when he'll really be able to find all sorts of creepy crawlies!






Eli was loving his "hike" and he actually did great. I was impressed. He is such a little outdoors boy, cries and cries to go outside and just loves walking around the yard here at my sisters. So he was really loving it on the Monument. After our hike, we went and played at the park, then home to have lunch and hit the road.

It was such a fun weekend. We had a blast. Thanks to Luke and Lisa and their very accommodating family. I can't wait to go back, hopefully during the Summer! Thanks for the great food, fun chit chats, great Amazing Race, and everything else. We love you guys!!

great weekend

We had a fantastic weekend. It has been nice to have healthy kids and be able to get out a little bit more. Plus, this week we've had sunshine and great weather, so we've spent some time outside in the sunshine! Eli loves to be outside and cries and cries when we have to come inside. He just walks up and down the sidewalk, inspecting things and waving at cars. His favorite it the school bus, he waves and all the kids wave back.

Scott and I enjoyed a great date on Friday night. We considered it our "Valentine" date. We went to dinner and then we went to the symphony at Abravanel Hall. It was so fun and relaxing. We had a great time. We saw a young Korean pianist, who started playing the piano at age 4. She was amazing, she didn't have music and she played with her eyes closed most of the time. She was so into the music, it was really incredible to watch.


The one question on my mind the whole time was, "how does the conductor know what he's doing with his arms and hands?" I'm sure some of you musical people could tell me, but it was pretty amazing to watch. I am sure he has a very important role in the whole production, but it is hard to tell how he knows and how the musicians know how to follow him. The music was great, the Hall is so beautiful, and it was so fun to be with Scott. We chatted, ate hot tamales secretly during the "show", and had a very relaxing time.

THEN, on Saturday, we had such a great day!! We've been looking forward to this day for about a year and half now. When we found out we were getting Eli, we also found out that our birthmother had placed a baby with a family three years before, that was here in Utah. We were so excited to learn that Eli had a full sibling!! We were even more excited after we talked on the phone and got to know a little more about each other. On Saturday, we were able to meet the family and their sweet girls. Aleyah (Eli's sister) is now Will's age. She is beautiful. Just by looking at Eli and Aleyah, there is no mistake that they are siblings, they could be twins. Aleyah also has a little sister who was adopted just ten months after her. They are the sweetest, cutest, little girls. I feel so lucky, and so blessed that we share this connection with such an amazing family. They were so sweet and kind, gracious, and patient with my crazy Eli wandering all through their house!
I know Eli is escaping this picture, but he's still pretty cute, so I thought I'd post it. We had a great time. We had lunch, talked, and laughed. The kids decorated sugar cookies and had a blast. Eli warmed right up and completely made himself at home..... not too out of the ordinary for him. I was expecting him to be a little bit more shy, but I think he just felt like he was with family. Scott and I have said 100 times what a special and unique situation this is. We feel a connection to those who have adopted or are adopted themselves, but there is nothing like the connection between families who share a birth mother! It was so awesome to hear their adoption story, to connect with them through our sweet babies.

Most of all, I can't wait for our sweet birth mother to see pictures of her babes together. I wish I could be a fly on the wall! I am so excited that we can get to know this family better and hopefully get together with them often. I think it will be so great for our kids to know each other and grow up knowing each other. Will had a great time too! All afternoon he was talking about the girls and that he thought they were very nice and very cute. He especially thought their hair was pretty. He's been drawing pictures of them, and they are so sweet. I'm just so happy right now and I feel so blessed. I've said it before, but our adoption has completely changed our lives and I feel so grateful for these amazing people in my life. I wish everyone could experience this, it is an amazing thing!(Aleyah, sitting by Will, decorating cookies... and the back of cute little Jacie.... and the eyes of Eli! Hee hee)

They had a great time decorating cookies. This is a funny picture of Will, but I had to get one of his cookies, he was doing a fantastic job. Eli mostly wanted to eat the sprinkles.... by the handfuls.... or pick them off his cookies with the frosting. He is such a hoot!

We had a wonderful week. Here's to another week of great adventures!! .... and Happy Valentines Day, I have lots of love in my life and I'm so lucky!

a few more

It's no surprise that most of the things on my blog are about my boys. I guess it is my place to brag a little, and document those awesome mom moments I never want to forget. So, here's a few more of Will's recent pieces of art. I absolutely LOVE the tree in the above picture. The pink thing is a pig, crying.

A desert, with a dad lion and baby lion. And a few scorpions and beetles.

A giraffe. Of course.

And last but not least, yoda. Yes, yoda. Isn't that awesome. And a few other Star Wars people that I don't know. I love it.

our budding artist

Will has been drawing a lot lately. When I say a lot, I mean ALL DAY LONG. If he's not building legos, he's drawing. He has gotten so good at it. I just love to see his drawings and what he comes up with. I asked him how he thought of what to draw and he said "I just think of it in my imagination and then I put it on the paper." It was cute, and it is so true, to him, all his pictures are exactly what those things look like to him. I snapped a couple recent pictures of his drawings on my phone, so they aren't the clearest, but the picture above is of Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, and Puss in boots. My favorite part is Shrek's ears! And all the squiggly lines represent fur or hair, in all his pictures. I also love Puss's belt and his sword.

This next one is so impressive (to me at least!). We read the story of Lehi's dream and the tree of life, so the next day, Will drew a picture of it. The thing in the middle is the tree. This is how Will always draws trees and I LOVE it. I'm already planning to have him draw a picture with only trees on a canvas that I can frame. I know I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but so much of his drawings remind me of Eric Carle stuff. Kind of abstract. :) Anyways.... there's the tree, and the three people walking along the "rod" are Nephi, Sam, and Sariah. Then Lehi is the small guy at the end waiting for them. The black is the midst of darkness, and the blue on the other side is the river of water. I did not help him or remind him at all, isn't that awesome?!


And this next one is a BYU football game. The big guy in the middle is a football player (with helmet of course). Then there is a football to his right, and a "GO COUGARS" sign on the left. The little things all lined up on the right are all the different kinds of soda they sell at the game! Hahaha, I love it! Oh, and don't forget the cougar paw, and the cougar himself!

I love to watch him draw, it so fun to see him improve everyday. I think he's very creative.

I think I better make something else clear. We've had a lot of people ask us lately about our sudden BYU support. :) Well, we've always been BYU fans, especially football. I was raised on BYU football, and always liked watching BYU sports. Of course, both Scott and I BLEED AGGIE BLUE, because well, we are AGGIES at heart. BUT, we still enjoy watching the Cougars, especially football. HOWEVER, when the Aggies play the Cougars, I hope you know where our loyalties lie..... "Show me the Scotsman who doesn't love the thistle, the Englishman who doesn't love the rose, and show me the true blooded Aggie from Utah, who doesn't love the spot, where the sage brush grows! Utah State, hey! Aggies all the way!"

Hope that clears a few things up.