Life Goes On!!!

Hello there - Well life is crazy. We had a good time on the cruise, but just for your information, don't take a 2 year old. It was HARD! Everything is geared to older children, and we really had to keep a close eye on Christian all the time. (we lost her for a few terrifying minutes in New Orleans - just to start the trip out right)

This is Christian on a little chair she felt just right on. Notice the comfy, laid back pose.

It was fun to spend time with Matt's siblings, and have fun with Gram and Gramp. We did get to spend a little time snorkeling, and on the beach. -










Here is Christian sunning in sunny Cozumel. One of the only 2 days of sun we saw.







Here are Matt, Christian, and I in Costa Maya. Christian had a BLAST playing in the little community water sprayers.











We did some humanitarian work in Belize, and in Guatamala, and that was awesome!!! - Here are some paintings we did in the lunchroom in Belize, for the students to brighten up the atmosphere. We also painted a classroom, and worked on their computers(Dave got 2 running-they only had 1, so now they have 3).





This other pic is the children in the school in Guatemala. They sang us a song in English. The building in the back right is their one room schoolhouse. We painted the inside, and also brought shoes for almost everyone. We also brought school bags for all, and some soccer balls. They were such cute kids.


































We got home and had a busy week. The kids had planned a "surprise" 50th anniversary party for them.


We ended up having it at our house - It was "crazy" in this valley, and every place I called was booked for weeks ahead. It was fun, and we had a great night visiting with old friends and all of the family that was there. It was really a great weekend.

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This pic is Mom & Dad kissing on the ship to celebrate our dress up dinner. They came and sang, "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". It was so cute




It has been awesome to just have a week to recover and rest and only have to worry if the house is picked up enough to have a friend stop by or not. We went and watched New In Town. It was a cute show.

Amelia is just a cutie, and she was an angel while we were gone apparently. She is just growing, and growing. She is gaining weight, and is so content. What a fun little angel.

Christian was very glad to be home, and just seemed to relax. She is getting to be so "two". She is so independant, and she doesn't need any help with anything. She is one of the most determined little girls, and that is both good and bad. She is so cute, and just so much fun to watch. She does cute things every day, and she is really starting to repeat all of the words she can. She even repeated Daddy the other night when the s--- word came out when he dropped her stuff in the dark in the theater the other night. We laughed and said we are really going to have to watch our mouths even closer. I hope all is well for every one, and I'll try harder to be better at blogging more often.

Changes !!!

Okay, so I have seen all of these cute blog templates and have wanted to try some new ones, but being the computer E-word that I am, had to take forever to figure it out. But hopefully this will give me a new invigoration to get back to a little blogging. It is fun every once in a while.
Life has been busy here, but Amelia is fitting in quite nicely. She is definitely getting more comfortable, because she is getting louder. She isn't quite as timid as she was a couple of weeks ago. She is a little wary of Christian, because she has had to show me Amelia's eyes. At her age, though that means she gets a poke in the eye. Big sisters, huh? Christian does think she is pretty cute, and she loves giving "Mill-me" kisses.
We had a great visit with Amelia's grandparents today. They expressed a desire for her to be with a family who can be a permanent situation. That was a relief to us in so many ways. We are really hoping this will turn to an adoption. We go to court next Tues. and hope to have a little better idea of a time frame if this happens. Keep it in your prayers.

Work has been busy, and that is a good thing as this is typically a slower time for us. The challenges we are all facing with the economy have helped us because even though people aren't taking as many big trips, hopefully we are all needing some entertainment.







Christian is doing super well. She hated the swing as a baby, but now that Amelia uses it, she thinks it is way cool. She will climb in and sit in it and swing for quite a while. She is repeating words you say, and she says scout, garbage, dad, mom, nana, papa, NO, baba, raggie, luv you, and many others very well. Hopefully sentences will be coming soon. She is sure fun though.

She thinks talking on the phone rocks. And gets a little testy if she can't play with it if you have it.

Thanks for checking up on us and I will try to get back soon. Love ya!

Livin the dream...

Okay, I have had everybody after me to update, so here I am. As we were driving to SLC the other day, and both babies were crying, after we had pulled over and cleaned barf up out of the new car from Christian, Matt just sits there while the screaming ensues and says, "Well, we're living the dream now, huh?" Yes, I could strangle him sometimes if I didn't love him so dang much. So, to clear things up, here goes.


We have a new addition. We hope forever, but we are fostering a 5 mo. old little girl, Amelia. - MIss Amelia Bedelia - She is gorgeous, and smart, and looks incredibly like Christian. We hope to be able to know a little more at the end of the month about her situation. If things with her family don't work out, it will take some time, and then we may be able to adopt once things are decided.
Like I say, we will know more later.
She is so cute though.
These are the girls playing the other morning. They were laying in the living room playing on the rug.



And, yes, we did get a new car. It really isn't any different from the X-terra, and it is just the next car up. We got a Pathfinder because poor Christian was jammed up against the drivers seat, and Matt was feeling really bad for her. So, we traded the X in for something a little roomier.

So, yes, we are living the dream. More responsibility and less money. Life is actually pretty darn good. Work has been a little busier season for us, and we are actually doing some updating at the Towne in the restrooms. New sink, toilet, paint, wallpaper, and some of those fix-its that don't get done until you have a project time.

We had a great Christmas. These are some cute pics of Kalob and Christian the morning after Christmas plqaying with the cars and inchworm, and then of Christian seeing her Elmo Christmas morning. We tried to take it very easy. We didn't go overboard on gifts. We had a lot of fun visiting with the family, and just taking it easy. We have had some great family parties. Colton's mission stuff, and Christmas, and New Years, and we had FHE with my side last Sun. and we will have Matt's side this Sun. It should be fun all around.






We had a great dinner at Kent & Missy's the other week too. I went and helped Missy tile in her bathroom almost a year ago, and she asked all summer if I could help her grout, but we just couldn't seem to work out a time, so we finally said let's just do it on a Sun. The Lord will definitely have to forgive us for working that day, but sometimes you gotts do it. And, it was probably a good thing because they said this week that now their other bathroom isn't draining the way it is supposed to. They may have to do some work on it too now. Crazy life, huh?














Well, things are settling down, and everyone seems to be doing well. I will let you know how the fostering is going. It has gone very smooth with her so far. She actually slept for 6 hours last night. I was stoked. It is hard to get used to getting up in the middle of the night again. She is fun though. Take care, and we'll talk later!