Maya's prayer this morning

Please bless that Daddy can come home soon AND that I can watch movies all day long.

Simple requests!

P.S. I really need to post pictures of all of our adventures, but when do I have time when I am the only parent here and having too much fun with friends and family when the kids are sleeping!! :)

Still Alive

This is an update for my Aunt Maud Mary who says she keeps checking to see where we are at now :).

We have had a fun, busy week and amazing enough, I am still enjoying myself and not ready to go home yet! We went to Idaho, Logan and are now back in the Salt Lake area. My cousin's wedding on Friday was beautiful and then we have been staying at my Aunt Roxzann's house since. Yesterday I had my cousin babysit the kids and I actually had some time away from them. I forgot how often I leave them with Jer to run errands or something so it was a much needed break. They didn't even miss me because they had so much fun playing on the trampoline and at the park. The Utahns are complaining about the heat, but it is ONLY 95 so we are loving it!! :)

Last night was our family reunion with my dad's family. Maya loved playing with her cousins and second cousins, Kenyon loved eating watermelon (ate 10 triangles of it down to the rhine!) and I had a great time visiting with family that I rarely see. Then last night we went to Taylorsville Days fireworks. Kenyon fell asleep during them and Maya says she loved the "Boom, boom, boom."

Poor Jeremy is sure getting lonely, but passing time by using an unlimited golf pass that he bought so he is golfing everyday. He has also been boating with friends twice so I am not really feeling that bad for him!

This afternoon we are headed to stay with our friends Adam and Katie and their 2 cute kids. We are excited to hang out there and let the kids play for a couple of days. Katie and I have this vision of sitting on her patio sipping our sodas while the kids play together perfectly... Nice vision to have, but the reality is we will be breaking up fights, changing diapers and cleaning up messes!! :) We will be there until Wednesday and then are headed to Park City for the 4th.

Safe and Sound in Wyoming

We made it! The kids did remarkably well on the 11 hour drive. Jeremy's good friend Rowdy got married on Thursday. The kids had so much fun at his reception dancing and playing outside in cooler weather.

Friday we went camping with Jeremy's family. It was SO much fun to camp, canoe, go on walks, fish, roast marshmallows and just spend quality time with family. The kids were in heaven and completely covered from head to toe in dirt by the time we were done on Saturday. So we took them swimming at the rec center. There is a big water slide that Maya loves to go down by herself and then she also decided to go off of the high dive by herself. That girl has no fear! I didn't have my camera, but Jer's mom did so I will have to get some pics from her. Saturday night we celebrated a belated Father's Day and took Grandpa Tony to one of his favorite restaurants, Don Pedros in Heber.

Today we went to church with Jer's family and then I headed up to Wyoming to my grandparent's house with my mom and the kids. They had a fun afternoon of playing with the kittens and enjoying the great outdoors (really, they live in the middle of nowhere, but my kids love it!).

Jeremy flew back to AZ today :(. We are sure going to miss him, but someone needs to bring home the bacon for this family - love you honey!!!

Tomorrow we are headed to Idaho (can you believe how much driving we are doing?!) to see my aunt and her family. Should be a great time since Maya can't get enough of my cousin Koby! Then we are back here for a couple days and then on to Logan for my cousin's wedding.

There you have it! My camera is full of pictures I need to post, but I forgot my cord to transfer them so until I can find someone with a cord or take my memory card to a store (no stores here in small town Wyoming!), you don't get pictures yet!

Off to bed!

Scheduled!

I did it - scheduled my eye surgery. As of July 17th, I will be able to see without these bottle caps I call glasses. It is still very surreal, and downright scary when I think about the risks, but there are far more benefits than risks. Like being able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without having to feel all around the night stand for my glasses. Or being able to swim without spotted glasses. Better yet, being able to fall asleep at naptime with Maya and actually see her face instead of the blurb across the bed from me. Oh I can't wait!

So as we depart tomorrow for our month long excursion to Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and wherever else we end up, I can honestly say, "I will return to this 113 degree hell hole - I have something very exciting to look forward to!" Until then, I am not sure how much I will blog. Wish me luck!

Our Weekend Getaway

For Father's Day I pulled off a great surprise for Jer. Most of you know, I have a hard time keeping surprises because of my big mouth so this was a great accomplishment. I pricelined a resort in Scottsdale/Fountain Hills and ended up getting a great deal on Fort McDowell Resort and Casino. Here were the highlights:

*Getting pedicures
*Staying at a fancy resort
*Dining on prime rib and swordfish
*Playing bingo with all of the old people
*Eating amazing cupcakes from Sprinkles (check it out at http://www.sprinklescupcakes.com/)
*Sleeping in a comfy sleep number bed without kids to wake us
*Receiving breakfast in bed
*Spending time talking and talking and talking, something I feel like we rarely get to do!

And yes, Jeremy was VERY surprised!! :)

Happy Father's Day

(Could be Father of the Year with this picture - how buff is he???!! :)

5 Things Maya and Kenyon love about their daddy


1. Riding on his shoulders


2. Running to greet him when he gets home from work


3. "Going on dates to Home Depot" (straight from Maya's mouth!)


4. Sunday mornings when he gets up with them and mom sleeps in (Who loves it more, the kids or mom??!!)


5. Going on underwater dives with him in the swimming pool



5 Things Maya and Kenyon love about Grandpa Tony


1. The duck sounds he makes on the phone


2. Whenever he comes to visit or we go visit him


3. Riding on the bike with him to the beach


4. That he lives in the mountains so we can fish and camp there


5. Feeding the ducks by Great Nana's house



5 Things Maya and Kenyon love about Grandpa Gary


1. Chasing him and having him chase them around the house


2. Growling at him


3. Golfing in his backyard


4. Swimming in his pool


5. Sitting in timeout with him



5 Things Maya and Kenyon love about Great-Grandpa W.


1. Playing the organ with him


2. Eating Thanksgiving dinner in his garage (no one has a cleaner garage!!)


3. Going to the Live Nativity with him in St. George


4. When he came all of the way to AZ for Kenyon's special weekend


5. Playing with toys in his basement in Draper



5 Things Maya and Kenyon love about Great-Grandpa M.


1. Picking oranges from his forest


2. Sitting on grandpa's chair with him


3. Going on walks


4. Spending Christmases with him in AZ


5. Seeing all of the animals (cows, horses, goats, cats, etc.) at his house in Wyoming



We are so grateful for so many wonderful dads and grandpas in our lives!!



On a funny note, today I gave Jer a card that said, "I have an idea, let's not have anymore kids." You need to know that whenever our kids are stressing us out or have had a sleepless night, he says, "WE ARE NOT HAVING ANYMORE KIDS!" So the card was perfect for him! He read it aloud and Maya instantly (with a very concerned look on her face) said, "Oh, you are giving us away?" So sad, but very clever and funny!

Today

Well let's start with yesterday, Kenyon started swim lessons. He didn't love it so much:

But by the end of class today, he was doing great! I will have to post more pics of swimming lessons soon.

Also today, Kenyon was my helper cleaning the floor:

While Maya stared out the window at a lizard on the back patio:

Then tonight we went to the lake with some friends. Cooler weather, mud and rocks for kids to play with, a yummy picnic (Maya said, "This is the best picnic ever!"), fishing, good friends and just plain, old-fashioned fun! Jer even commented on the way home that none of the kids were whining the entire 3 hours that we were there!

P.S. Debbie and Aleck we missed you - sorry you were sick Aleck! :(

Girls Day Out

Saturday my friend Kiara and I took our girls to the salon to get their hair cut and styled. Maya loves to go see Jon! Here are some of the highlights:

On the way there with her wild hair!

The finished product (which was already looking messed up by the time we were leaving the salon so he ended up putting it in a ponytail).

Jon and his girls

Maya and Destany - they have so much fun together because they are exactly the same with their "strong personalities" and feisty attitudes!

So precious!

We went to dinner afterwards, but Kiara took those pics so I will have to add them later.

And I can't forget to post some new pics of Kenyon:

He constantly climbs up on the toy containers and gazes out the window - Love that boy!!

Grandpa Gary bought a new kid-size golf putter for the smaller grandkids. Kenyon always carried the big ones around Grandpa's backyard so now he has one just his size! Here he is giving it a taste! :)

Savannah, Georgia

I just got back from Savannah, Georgia on another adoption trip. It was SOOO beautiful there, along with hot and humid! Such a charming town nestled right on the river. The adoption itself was very stressful, but the food (amazing seafood and yummy pecan pralines) and the hotels (comfy beds and no kids to wake me up) were perfect! My dear husband is seriously the best man around. He never complains that I leave at the drop of a hat and he gets left with the kids and house in whatever condition they may be in. He even took the kids to church by himself (all 3 hours!!). A friend even told me that they looked cute! :) Then my mom watches them while he works which involves early mornings and she is NOT a morning person. Thanks Mom and Jer - you are the best!!

As much as I love these trips, I am trying to only do 1 a month and I am pretty much out for a while because in less than 2 weeks we leave for Utah for a month. Yeah, yeah! I am really excited and a little nervous to be gone from my own home, my own bed, my kids' own rooms, my own bathroom, my own kitchen, my own husband (he is only coming on the weekends)... Remind me again that this will be fun!! :)

Here are some pics from Savannah:

The view of the river from our hotel room at night

The streets were lined with green trees and charming mansions

Oh and horses that I almost ran into while I was looking down at the map while driving!

I loved looking at all of the houses!

River Road - made of cobblestone!

And our ride - all they had left at the rental car place. We definitely got some looks as we drove through some scarier parts of town by the hospital and the birthmom's apartment (in the projects, cockroaches everywhere!!!!) :)