There's Nothing Better than Baking, Eating, and Dancing!

Today the kids had their primary program. It was very moving and the boys did great. I still smile to think of them screaming out the songs and get teary-eyed at the thought of Caleb's line. I got to help write the program and I knew that for Caleb I wanted him to say something that he was excited about so this years theme is "My Eternal Family". Micah's line was "The family is central to Heavenly Father's Plan." Caleb's part was later in the program after we sang "Families can be Together Forever". The group who spoke after this song had all been sealed to their families so for Caleb's part he said, "My birthmother chose my family for me. Because of her choice I was able to go to the temple and be part of an eternal family."

Since the boys did so good we decided to come home and make peanut butter kiss cookies and chocolate covered gummy bears.


Caleb was pretty excited to see all the candy!


The boys job was to unwrap the kisses.


Jake took this while Micah was watching me to make sure I wasn't watching him steal a candy.


Caleb's turn to try


I'm gonna stand by the fact these really are homemade :)


Caleb sticking the candies in


The boys


Are they done yet?

While the cookies were baking we had Christmas songs on and the boys and I got to dance to them. It was a really fun night. Lots of laughs, Lots of smiles, and Lots of good food to eat!

From the Mouth of Caleb...

Yesterday was a great day. It started with me waking up to getting eskimo kisses from Micah and ended with Caleb telling me that "you look so pretty!" I have the best 2 little boys on the planet.

Now for today, I have been working on Christmas shopping. I always try to get it done by Thanksgiving so I can really enjoy the holidays so tonight we went out to eat and then to Sams to get some things and as we were leaving the boys and Jake left in one car and I was in mine. Caleb asked, "Mom, where are you going?" I paused trying to think of something but dear Jake says, "She's going Christmas shopping." Too which Caleb got really excited and said, "MOM! Don't forget to get me the devestator!" (From Transformers) It is gonna be a LONG time till Christmas...

But while at Sams we ran into these really great people from our old neighborhood. Ellen asked the boys what they were for Halloween so Caleb said that he was Bumblebee and Micah was Wolverine. Ellen asked if Micah had the claws like Wolverine to which Caleb said, "No. They were included."

Church Shirt

Micah is getting ready for church and he just came in with a t shirt and said, "Mom, is this a church shirt?" I said no. He said, "Yes it is. It says it right here. This is a church shirt." Who knew he could read?

What We've Been Doing...

The Fall has been hectic. Between kindergarten and preschool, soccer practices and games, and then our usual fall traditions we have been running around like crazy. And then on top of it...my computer. We replaced the motherboard but it still freezes sometimes so we'll have to see if we feel like dealing with it next week.

Anyway, so we have been busy. We had a Halloween Party so the boys got to break in their costumes. Caleb is Bumblebee this year and Micah is Wolverine. They are so excited and have found many accesories that they "have to have" to make their costume complete.



Caleb had his first field trip of the year to the zoo so I got to chaperone. It was a great day with hardly any one there and so the kids could run free. Caleb insisted on reading every sign the zoo had while looking at all the animals. We got to see LOTS of baby animals. There was a baby giraffe, 3 baby tigers, snow leopards, crocodiles, and of course the baby elephant which was so adorable I wanted to take her home. She did lots of tricks for us and came right up to the edge of her pen to see the boys.







Then last weekend we made it out to Gardner Village to see the witches. We always do this with Megan and Joe and their boys Nick and Porter but this year we made the mistake of going on a weekend and on Witches Night Out weekend so there was a million people there and we had to walk 1/2 mile to park. But the boys loved it. They got to run around with their friends and get treats from the candy store.


Megan and I


The boys


Our Family

Boys and their candy

Caleb and I
Now the last two weekends in October are going to be busy. We are going back to the zoo and This is the Park. We have trick or treating and of course the class parties which I'm helping out with. It will be a busy time but lots of fun! Happy Halloween!

We are Here!

We are here. Our computer needs a new motherboard and is crashing anytime we are on the internet so I can't post pictures but I can update for a minute. Next week the part should be here and it will be fixed then I can update our pictures.

Things are busy. We just booked our tickets to go to St Louis for Christmas. We're excited to go and the boys want to start counting down the days. They are so excited and asking what we will be doing there. I'm excited because it will be the first time since my sister got married 4 years ago that all my siblings will be together! It will be crazy but nice!

We are gearing up for Halloween. It's the boys most favorite time of year. We have many plans to head to Gardner Village, This is the Place park and the Zoo. The boys picked out their costumes last week and Caleb will be Bumblebee and Micah will be the Wolverine. The boys wanted to pick out a costume for a baby but NO NEWS. We aren't having a baby yet but the boys have wanted to pick things out for the baby everywhere we go. Today at the store they wanted to get the baby treats. I wish I had news for them but nothing yet. And I should mention that Caleb wants a girl and Micah wants a girl and boy. They pray every night for "their baby and the baby's mom and dad". I love how excited these two are. They keep us going that's for sure!

The boys are both doing well in school. Micah loves that I'm able to volunteer in his class and Caleb has his first field trip next week and I volunteered for that so he is excited. They have both made many friends and when I drop them off they still give me hugs and kisses and their friends all say hi to me so I love that time of day. I hate when they are both gone. It's too quiet but they're both happy and so it's a nice little break.

That's all for now but you will see many pictures next week. I promise!

What I love most about our family...

Something happened today which really isn't any different from any other day in our house but I'm sitting here with my little boys in bed thinking about how lucky I am and I wanted to share.

Every morning when my boys get up the first thing that they do is ask where their Daddy is. And every morning they ask when will he be home. And every time I say after school. He will be here when you walk in the door. They are always happy with that answer but then they talk all day about what to do when Dad gets home. They want to save part of their lunch for him, they want to read their favorite books to him, whatever we do, they want to do it with him also.

Being the mommy I am so blessed to be with them all the time so I didn't believe they cared whether or not I'm around but for the past few weeks since school started this has been happening. Every day we drop Caleb off at kindergarten. Everyday he gives Micah a hug and kiss and then he leans over to me and does the same. He says I love you and See ya later! and into kindergarten he goes. When Micah started preschool I kind of expected the same thing but what I get is Caleb and I drop him off at the door, we give our hugs, and then Micah starts to walk away and he always says, "I will miss you two!"

I am truly the lucky one and I can't wait to add another to our family.

Here's an old picture of us but I love this one. It is down in Moab and the boys were so excited to run around to look for lizards and see all the rocks. In fact we brought home quite a few that we couldn't live without. I love that we can do these little trips and come home with a thousand memories. And I love that my boys are themselves and they don't worry about what anyone thinks. I know that someday that will change but for now I will tear up at every "I love you! See ya later!" and "I will miss you two!" and count my blessings that these two are in my life.

A Few Thoughts on 9/11

Yesterday was 9/11. I am always so emotional on this day and yesterday was no different. What was different is this year my boys noticed. We can all remember where we were when we heard the news. I was working at Primary Children's Hospital at the time and Jake was working at the University. We had drove in together and Jake had dropped me off. I was in the ER when I saw the planes hit. I then spent the next 8 hours watching TV with the docs trying to make sense of everything.

That night Jake and I were getting ready for bed and a thought struck me. What was going to happen to all those kids who lost their parents? There entire lives had changed and I couldn't do anything to make it better for them. At the time we didn't have kids. We were waiting to be picked and it was an extremly hard few days as I thought of all these kids and how their lives were changed forever.

Yesterday we were driving to school and the boys asked me about the flags. They know that when we have the flag put out their is a reason. How do you explain 9/11 to a child? I thought for a minute and I told them that there are some really bad people in this world and they had flown some planes into building killing a lot of people. Caleb asked me, "Why doesn't Jesus kill the bad guys?" I said, "Jesus doesn't kill bad guys. There are some people in this world who grow up being taught things and they don't realize it's wrong. They do bad things and they don't really think of others."

This then brought me to say, "You know Caleb. Your birthmother is in the Army. She fights everyday so that we can have our freedom. She fights so that you can have a house, a warm bed, a little brother, and to be safe." I want Rebekah to know that this little boy had a really big smile on his face when I told him that.

There are many things that I know I will never be able to do. I will never know what it is like to give up my life to go fight a war. I will never leave my kids for a year or longer in order to keep this country free. But I will teach them. I will teach them to be better, to care, to love those around them, that they are the lucky ones.

My kids don't see color. They don't see different and I like that. I like that they have unconditional love and that everyday they remind me how grateful I am to be their mom. Their birthmothers got to pick US to be their parents. Their birthmothers are a part of our family and they picked us to be a part of theirs. To Terri and Rebekah we love you both. Without you and the sacrifices that you gave, we could not be a family.