Family Photo Shoot

We were in serious need of a new family photo. I needed one that didn't have a copyright because I need to be able to make copies. My friend Amber was nice enough to shoot some photos of us. We went up the canyon at about 5:30, and the lighting was perfect. She was totally creative and took some really fun pictures of us.

Getting all four of the boys to smile and still look somewhat natural is a feat of gargantuan proportions!! I swear I am going to have to make them start practicing in the mirror. ;)


Amber was a real trooper and took lots of shots. Here are two of my favorites:

Amber is also a Photoshop wiz, so she edited them and made them look really cool. But I'm not going to show you, because I want you to be somewhat surprised when you get our picture in the mail this holiday season. :)

Oh, and did you notice that Tyler is not looking in the last shot. That is so Tyler. Crazy kid!


Thank you so much Amber!!!

Wow, kids really do grow up too fast!

You know how when kids are little and they call each other? They ask, "Can you play?"

As they get older, it is no longer cool to say "Can you play?" It becomes "Wanna hang out?"

Apparently at the ripe old age of 5, Justin is too cool to play anymore. I picked him up from a friend's house today and we had the following conversation:
Me: "Did you have fun?"
Justin: "Yes, we played with cars!"
Me: "What else did you do?"
Justin, rolling his eyes: "I don't know mom, we just hanged."

Adoption Ups and Downs

We found out that the birth mother we have been waiting to meet decided to get married. She is having a little girl. It is a huge disappointment, but I feel more at peace than I thought I would.

We just feel very sad for her because we think the birth father's parents talked her into doing something she didn't want to do. Right from the start she wanted to place her baby for adoption. I hope everything works out for her, but I know they have a very rough road ahead. So very sad for everyone.

We have pretty much given up on LDS family services, so we are going to contact the agency we found in California called Little Angel Adoptions. We planned on working with them way back in May, we just stopped because we really thought that this girl would be the one. Now we're right back where we started. We are hopeful that this agency will be the right one for us. All you can do is just keep moving forward, right?

Labor Day Week

It was another busy week at our house. We had a family reunion in Idaho over Labor Day weekend. We were in charge, so it was more stressful than usual, but I think everyone had a good time. They are always over too quickly! We didn't get a lot of photos because we were busy running things, but here are a few:
We had fun playing games:

We hiked up to a lake:

We celebrated Grandma's birthday:

Here is the whole crazy gang:

We drove home on Monday, so Tuesday was a fun filled day with un-packing, laundry, and housecleaning. Tuesday night Justin had a soccer game, Spencer and Brandon had to ref soccer, and Tyler and Spencer both had a football game.


Wednesday was crazy hair day at school in Justin's kindergarten class. He was afraid he was going to miss the bus, so I didn't get a great picture. But you get the general idea:

Wednesday night Justin had a soccer game, and Brandon and Wes had scouts.

Thursday Brandon had to ref two soccer games, Tyler and Spencer both had football games. They were both thrilled because their teams won. Yay!

Friday I spent the day canning 20 pints of salsa, running errands, and doing 8 loads of laundry. Friday night Wes and Brandon went on a 25 mile biking/camping trip with the scouts.

Saturday Spencer, Tyler, Justin & I cleaned the house while Brandon and Wes rode the 25 miles back home. Everyone else watched the BYU game while I ran stinkin' errands again.

That evening we got our family pictures taken up in the canyon. We just got the CD back, so as soon as we download them I will get some pictures loaded. Thank you Amber for taking our pictures!!!

One Nation Under God

Our neighbor is an artist. A very talented artist. His name is Jon McNaughton and not only is he a great artist, but he is one of the nicest guys around. Totally down to earth and friendly. We just love their family.

For his latest painting, he used Justin as a model. He has it finished and it is totally amazing.
His images are copyrighted, so I can't show one here, but you can see it on his website. Just click this link, then click on the picture to enlarge it.

One Nation Under God

The little boy in the yellow shirt is Justin. Is that cool or what?

Oh, and he used him as a model for another painting too. This one will have him sitting on the Savior's lap. We are sooo excited to see it. He told us it is finished and is being sent to printing. We'll let you know as soon as it is done.