Just a little scary

Last night we went to Gardner Village for FHE to check out the witches.

It was the perfect night to go, and it was really fun. The lame part? I forgot to take the camera. Seriously, what kind of mother am I? There were lots of good chances to take some fun pictures of the kids. Oh well, maybe next year. Kaden thought it was pretty cool...and a little scary. We'll definately have to make this a new tradition.

Saturday night date

Saturday night we went out to dinner with Bosten's birth mom and her family. It was so good to see her! Its been awhile, and it was fun to catch up. Bosten was his funny little self, and I think it was fun for them to see him in person.

We're so greatful for this amazing girl and we hope she knows how much we love her!

Monday night fun

Last night for FHE we went out and made smores at the fire pit. The kids thought it was really fun...and the smores were really good.

It was great that it was cool enough for a sweatshirt!

Check out Kaden's flaming marshmellow (well it was...actually now it just looks REALLY done)


Hanging out

Mmmmm

Bosten thought it was the best FHE ever

Green Goblins

Yesterday was the first soccer game of the season! Kaden has been so ready to play again (yeah, like since the end of the last season!) and its really fun playing with Riley and Collin. And in case you were wondering, he is again wearing his Mr. Incredibles underwear because it makes him run so much faster than say Batman or Spiderman ones! :)

Things you should know about Bosten

picture taken on the 4th of July

I've been thinking a lot about our little man. He's getting so big and doing so many fun things right now. I need to keep track of all the little things, I want to. So, here you go.

Right now he's getting all over the place. He isn't crawling exactly...He's trying (rocking, etc.), but hasn't quite mastered the coordination. That doesn't stop him.


He says, "GO, GO" and waves his arms around when he watches college football. Smart kid.


He gets stiff as a board and screams bloody murder (yes, every single day) when I take him out of the bath tub.


He has started throwing fits when he doesn't get what he wants...like when you don't read
"Peek a who?" several times in a row. Once is never enough.


He thinks its fun to dance in the carseat like Kaden does.


He will lay his head on your shoulder just to snuggle...and gives the biggest, wettest kisses.


He can hold his own bottle, but won't.

at the beach this summer

He smiles and giggles (and calms down) when I sing "you are my sunshine" to him.


He wants to do what Kyle and Kaden are doing...play trains, wrestle, eat, etc.


He screams and claps with everyone else when Kaden gets a strike on Wii bowling.


He can say Da da, Papa, Ba ba, Uh-oh, Go. He's said Mama once.


He looks really handsome in any shade of blue.


He loves Macaroni, Spaghetti, Pears, Cheerios, Wendy's frosty, Chicken nuggets, Popcicles.


He is a mama's boy.

He is such a sweet boy, and we're so thankful he's part of our family!

First day of school

Today was Kaden's first day of preschool. Technically it started on Tuesday (when we were coming home from Colorado), but I just told him that today was the big day. He was pretty excited and we've been saying, "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" (like on Finding Nemo) all week.

Here he is with his new backpack.

He was ok with it until he saw everyone else's....then he was sad and informed me (and Lindsey) that his backpack was NOT COOL and everyone else had COOL...stuff like spiderman, thomas, etc. Who knew that his backpack would be his biggest concern!

He had a fun day and can't wait to go back.

I love these boys!

Kaden is giving Bosten a ride on a homemade sidecar.
I love these boys.

Road trip to Colorado

Last week we realized that Kyle actually had 4 days off in a row (never happens...well, not very often!) and we decided to take advantage and hit the road to see Kyle's parents. We stopped in Moab and went to Arches and in Monticello to see the temple (man is it SMALL). The rest of the time we hung out.

Someone offered to take our family's picture...I was thinking lots of the family, little of the rocks but obviously she had other ideas!

Notice everyone's BYU shirts? I think its what helped them win the game! :)

It sure is a long way to Grandma's house! Good thing we can watch movies in the car.

The Monticello temple

Kaden was bummed we didn't get to go in this one.

The boys got to help with lots of projects around the house.

He even got to do the dishes (which he loved...weird kid)

We went to the park to feed the ducks a couple of times.

Of course when we were there we had to play on the swings!

We went out to lunch and to the rec center with Grandpa and Lynn.

Both of the boys LOVED swimming and didn't want to leave, until we promised ice cream at Dairy Queen. We were in the car pretty quick after that.

One of our most favorite things was playing with all the toys at Grandma's. She's saved all of Kyle's old toys and the boys were in hog heaven.

It was fun to go and we were glad to have a few days being together. Thanks Grandma for a fun time!

My new project

My friend, Heather, has a new project that I'm really excited to help her with. (You may remember that Heather and her family are the ones that kept Bosten those crazy first few days...and have since adopted.) Here's a little from her blog about the project:

You may remember me mentioning my amazing friend Carol who pretty much made Ryder's adoption happen, and who I've decided is the Mother Theresa of Utah. Seriously, she's awesome. Anyway, she's been volunteering at the homeless clinic in Salt Lake and other crisis centers for women. She helps educate women about birth control and gives IUD's to women (she's a nurse). That may not seem like a big deal to you at first, but let me tell you, its a HUGE thing. These women that seek help at these places are pretty much at rock bottom--either on drugs, in an abusive relationship, or homeless. Carol has met many women who have had LOTS of kids (like 6, 7, 8) and who have had them ALL taken by the state and placed in foster care for various reasons. Or there are women who are raising children in the most horrible circumstances you can imagine. These babies are starved, neglected, or abused--either by the moms or boyfriends. It is a sad, sad cycle. So helping to prevent babies being born into these circumstances is monumental in helping to break the cycle. But, as Carol said to me today, often it is too late for an IUD to be the answer. There are many women who go to these clinics/shelters/etc already pregnant and resigned to the fact that they have to raise their babies in complete and utter poverty. They are usually completely ignorant to other options. The clinics will offer abortion as an option to these women (of course, I will not get into that right now), but that's it. There are no other options, as far as these pregnant, homeless, destitute women are concerned. So that's where Carol and I have devised a plan. Or really, more of a mission. Ok, mostly its Carol, but she's kind enough to bring me on board! We are going to gather information about adoption, such as pamphlets, crisis numbers for unwed mothers, and contact information for several adoption agencies, including LDSFS. Carol has started getting permission for us to place this information at the various centers and clinics for the women there to look at and take home. I think this information is essential and wonderful to have at those places, but its really just a START. Carol and I think that what will really get these girls and women to seriously consider placing their babies with a good family is for them to SEE that family. Or several families. So my goal is to put together binders with adoptive couples' paper profiles in them, along with their letters to birthparents. Also, we will have contact information for the adoption agency that the couple is with. We will not put the couple's personal contact information, of course, unless some of them want their link to their online profile or website shown, then we will do just that. So ideally, a birth mother will find a family that interests her, contact the affiliated agency, and then get the counseling/help she needs while planning a better future for her baby. Our plan is to place these binders at the clinics along with the pamphlets and other information about adoption in general. I think the profiles are so critical. A scared, pregnant girl may read an adoption agency pamphlet and think, "yeah, that's great, for somebody else." But maybe she just happens to pick up a binder and look at pictures of a FAMILY, a family who goes to the park, or on vacations, who has loving extended family, who has a JOB and a HOME, and maybe something about their pictures touches her and she feels a desire to give her unborn child a life like that. So THEN, maybe, she'll be motivated to make the call to an adoption agency. This probably will not happen all the time, but if it even happens just ONCE, and saves just ONE baby, then it is worth it. SO that's where you guys come in. I know some of you are adoptive parents who are planning to adopt again soon. Would you consider letting me put copies of your profiles in these binders to be placed at these crisis centers and clinics? OR, some of you may have friends and family who are wanting to adopt. Could you please ask them how they would feel about giving me copies of their profiles to put in the binders? I know adoption agencies encourage their couples to do things like this, its a part of what they call "networking." So I think most adoptive couples would be open to this. Some thing you should be aware of, though, is that these birth moms do not come without baggage, such as a possible history of drug or alcohol abuse, or other potential problems. BUT, if they seek help at an agency soon enough, a lot of these problems can be avoided if the birth mom gets the help and counseling she needs. I'm crying a little as I write this, and I think its because this is a cause that is so close to my heart.

I love adoption, it is such a miracle, and I have two beautiful miracles asleep in their beds right now. And they both have such amazing adoption stories. But I have to talk a minute about my boy. His birth mom would easily fall into the category of those women that I have described above. I am soooo grateful to her for the choice she made for Ryder. I love her and respect her for that. But I am also soooo grateful every day that I have Ryder, and not her. I'm grateful that he's not in a situation right now where his dad is in jail, and his mom is trying to feed and take care of four little kids when she can barely take care of herself. I'm grateful that he gets to sleep in a clean bed with a clean sheet, in a (mostly!) clean home, and can roll on a floor free of cigarette butts and beer cans. He eats regularly and gets taken to the doctor for his check ups. He gets medicine when he needs it. He is so loved and adored by a daddy, mommy, and big sister. It is very unlikely that he would get all of these basic comforts if his birth mom had chosen to keep him. And it is HIGHLY probable that eventually the state would have taken him away from his birth family for different reasons, and he would have lived his life in various foster homes, with no stability. It is also HIGHLY likely (and it kills me to say this), that he would not have even survived these last four months of his life if he had been living with his alcoholic birth father. Ryder was not an easy baby at first. I am more grateful than I can express that we were fortunate enough to have been chosen to be Ryder's family. His family history and family medical background is not perfect, but I couldn't care less. He's my boy, and I love him. If this could happen to just ONE more family, and ONE more baby, as a result of binders with families' profiles being placed at homeless clinics, then I am more than happy, and more than committed to doing this. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help me out if you can.

Wow. I'm really committed to helping with this project. I'm not sure what that means exactly yet, but Heather and I are going to brainstorm and see what we can come up with. She's so right...

if ONE family is blessed with ONE baby its worth it.

if ONE baby is placed with a loving family its worth it.

Want to help? Want your profile to go in these binders? Have any good ideas?

Please, please let me know.

Thanks.

Just wait

When we lived in Oregon, we were friends with BIG University of Oregon fans. We, being, Oregon State fans, had lots of fun during the season playing with them the night before a big game. (Wish I had the pictures, but they're on my computer in storage)

We did stuff like

orange and black streamers all over the house

orange and black forks in their yard

hung a stuffed duck by a rope on their porch

turned their lighted snowman into an OSU player with jersey

staked signs in the yard

removed all the red Christmas bulbs from around their driveway and replaced them with orange ones (my personal favorite) during bowl season

It was lots of fun...don't worry, they did stuff to us too. Anyway, last season we were good and didn't do anything. When I saw the leftover blue butcher paper in the preschool room (we've been working getting my sister's preschool up and running), an idea started forming.

WE WERE BACK IN BUSINESS.

Last night when it got dark, Lindsey and I took our forks, sign, and balloons over to our friends' house. The Utes have their first game tonight, but we thought we'd usher in the new season with this:

The text I got early this morning said this:

Just wait!!!!

Its on. It may not be the same as army crawling in front of Brian and Laura's front window in the cold and rain, but this is going to be fun.