Christmas Day

What can be better than Christmas morning? We had a great morning starting with Grace waking me up at 5am because she was cold. Then Hunter woke me up at 6am because he couldn't wait any longer to see what Santa brought him. The kids had so much fun opening their gifts. Hunter got lots of dinosaur things & books. Grace got lots of princess things & books. And Steven got some fun baby toys.

I got the best gift of all. I have been wanting to paint one of our bathrooms for along time now and Bruce stayed up till 3am on Christmas eve painting my bathroom for me. It was a big surprise and I that it was the sweetest thing ever! It looks great too. What a great husband I have!

One Busy December

Steven has had a busy month with his finalization, sealing and blessing. And then he gets to have his first Christmas tomorrow. My sister-in-law took some awesome pictures for us after the sealing. That was a sweet gift.

The whole family at the temple. It's funny how you can't get kids to look at the camera when you want them to. Sadly this was the best family picture that we got for the day.

Say Cheese

I wanted to take some pictures of the kids because they were all dressed up and Grace wanted to be next to our small Christmas tree and she didn't get her way in the first two pictures so we moved after a few pictures to the small tree and immediately the frown disappeared and a smile came across her face. Much better. By the way...Steven is six months now!!

Hanging Out with Tawni

We had fun hanging out with Tawni (Steven's birth mom) the other night. She is such a sweetheart...it's obvious where Steven got his sweet personality from!

The picture of all of us was taken by Hunter. It's amazing that a four year old can take good pictures!

Look Ma, No Training Wheels!

Hunter asked if we could take off his training wheels last week. He learned to ride his bike without training wheels in a matter of minutes! Of course now he thinks he is big enough to ride in the street. I remember thinking the same thing when I was little. That is a wish that won't come true for quite awhile! Way to go Hunter!

Hiking with our family

Hunter & Grace had the best time hiking. We went with my mom and my brother's family.

Having Fun

The weather was gorgeous today so we went exploring. The kids had a blast.

How Cute is this boy?????

Hunter and Grace love to climb, hike & explore. Look at those happy faces.

Five Months Already!

Steven turned five months this week. He celebrated by having a fever and the runs. Sometimes we just don't get what we want in life...and that's OK. :-)

Decisions, Decisions...

Since Grace loves to dress up, she had a hard time deciding what to be for Halloween. She went to a few parties so she decided to be three different things this year.

• A Princess (something she dresses up as on a daily basis),

• Tinker Bell (something she also dresses up as on a daily basis) and

• A Witch (something she didn't want to be at first because she didn't want to be "scary")
  

I recently bought her a Snow White dress (after Halloween 1/2 off special) and wanted to use it as an incentive for potty training. She loves the dress, but she has no interest in potty training yet. After a week of letting her stare at the dress and ask if she could wear it but not getting her to use the potty, I decided to put it away and save it for her for Christmas. So, after Christmas you can be guaranteed to see her around town in her Snow White dress. :-)

Happy Halloween!

Steven in his cute Halloween jammies.

Hunter showing off all his goodies.

Bruce, Grace & Hunter

The two nice witches

Our sweet little bumble bee

We had a fun and drawn out Halloween. The kids dressed up so many times I think they think Halloween lasts a whole month and not just a day. Grace dressed up as a princess, tinker bell, and a witch. Hunter & Grace loved going Trick-or-Treating!

First bites

So Steven went to the doctor's yesterday for his 4 month appt. He weighs 17 pounds! No wonder my back has been hurting lately! His Doctor told us to start him on rice cereal. Hunter was so excited to help feed him that we had to do it right when we got home. In the first picture you can see Hunter's little arm feeding Steven. It started off a good experience but in the end he got pretty mad at us. From what I remember, Hunter and Grace reacted about the same when they were first fed cereal.

Spiderman

Hunter went to a Halloween party over the weekend. When he put on his costume he went crazy. He was so excited to be Spiderman. He started doing kicks and punches and all kinds of crazy moves. Look at the smile on his face. His first choice for Halloween was to be a Paleontologist but since I had no idea how to pull that off I told Hunter that he could see what his aunt Jen had available and this happened to fit him. It made him very happy!

Fun with the grandparents

The kids sure had fun this past week with their grandparents (A.K.A. Meme & Poppi). They were spoiled with all kinds of fun things...a trip to the rock quarry & DQ, animal bones, legos, books, & new clothes. Thanks for coming to visit, we love you!

So Sweet

We just love Steven's smile!

I sometimes can't believe how lucky we are to have three beautiful children. Sometimes it doesn't seem real or that I even deserve it. I feel bad when see couples that I love from my adoption support group who are still waiting for their good news. I just want them to experience the same joys that I do. So, I just want my children's birth moms to know how much I love them!!! You have truly blessed my life! You gals are the best!

Funny Grace!

Grace thinks that she is the funniest person around. She will do anything for a laugh and while she is making others laugh, she makes herself laugh too. Yesterday she was making her cousin and mom crack up by hitting a plate on her head...so silly!