Welcome to our World

We are fortunate to have good free fun entertainment around here lately. Here's a picture of Kaelah at a traveling petting zoo. This baby goat is about 3 months old & named Misfit. He came around behind where Kaelah was sitting and loved being petted & hugged by her. She also got to pet a miniature pony, a donkey, a llama & her favorite: a HUGE bunny. Meanwhile, Dad stayed at home with Danny. Oh, the joys of being old enough to enjoy things! Kaelah was Daddy's date for his annual company picnic. She enjoyed miniature golf but her favorite part was picking out a red balloon to have painted on her face. Dan says she only moved once. When did our girl get so big??? Kaelah is surprising me every day with the words she is saying & linking together. The other day she ran around calling herself daughter. That had been what I called her when I didn't want her to know I was talking about her. Guess that won't work anymore. Some examples of phrases are...

There are so many thoughts rushing around my head when I think of Father's Day. I will try to simply give a nut shell version here. I adore Father's Day. I have a great dad & a great father-in-law & the perfect husband for me. Dan does a great job juggling work & home and we were so excited to celebrate with not one, but two precious children in our family. This picture was after Shannon & I made chocolate cupcakes with candy lawn mowers on top. Kaelah was so excited she couldn't look at the camera while saying, "cheese." I adore the royal crown she got to make him at church. After nap time we decided to put the children in the matching outfits the Downs, Parkers, & Smiths gifted us so Shannon could take Father's Day pictures. Thanks, guys! Top 3 reasons baby Danny loves his dad: I feel safe in his big, strong hands He's calm like me We have the same awesome first name Top 3 reasons Kaelah loves her dad: He can fix my toys when I...

Kaelah turned 23 months old today & Danny turned 12 days old. My mind still wonders how my children ever ended up so close together in age! I remember how much Kaelah liked the doll Shannon bought her for Christmas last year & me telling Stacie there was no way I could have another child by this year but was hoping for 2010. Boy, was I wrong! Sorry, Stace! Kaelah is doing absolutely wonderful with her new role as big sister. I couldn't be more blessed. Speaking of Shannon, she's here visiting us from Texas. She spoils all of us by entertaining Kaelah, snuggling with Danny, buying the children presents, and helping out with making dinner or doing the dishes. It's been extra wonderful since Dan was only able to take 3 days off work this time instead of 5 & we didn't have as much time to prepare the nursery. Thank you, Shannon!!! Here's a picture of Kaelah being a girly girl! Somehow I don't mind pink as much and I am much more likely to dress h...

The day after we returned from California we received an exciting phone call. Our case worker with LDS Family Services called me right as I was leaving work. He had news ... he had been meeting with a young woman named "Dani" that was considering placing her child with us, and she was due in THREE WEEKS!!! A few days later he called again saying that Dani wanted to meet with us and that she had chosen us to be her baby boy's parents. What a blessed surprise!!! We had only gotten back up on the adoption website in April, and here we were in May being told we were adopting a little boy in June! Little Daniel Jakob ("Danny") was born 5 days early on Sunday, June 7th at 9:15 PM. Although the delivery was difficult, his birth mother was a real trooper. Danny weighed 8 lbs. 15 0z. and is a very healthy and happy young boy despite a broken clavicle. We were so blessed to be able to be at the hospital when he was born, and be able to visit him every day unti...

Memorial Day weekend can't go by without a Rockies game... for us at least. Last year the weather became so cold we ran up & bought Kaelah this Rockies outfit to keep her warm. Luckily it still fit a year later. I realize it's hard to tell from this picture, but she absolutely adores Dinger. It's just the camera man she's not too sure about. Notice how empty the bleachers are? The Dodgers kicked some Rocky butt & the place pretty much cleared out in the 7th inning. Oh, well. It was still fun. Grrr.... Kaelah's game face. All ready to go! Dad, are you done taking pictures of me yet? We are so grateful to take a day to remember loved ones & the sacrifices of others. How blessed we are to live in the USA.

While in California we spent a day at Disneyland with some of Danny's family. This was Kaelah's first trip & Dan & my first trip there since before our missions. Of course we met lots & lots of Disney characters. She liked the Pooh ones best because we used to read her classic Winnie the Pooh stories (I'm assuming). Eeyore was Kaelah's favorite since she's in love with cows & horses & donkeys right now, but I thought this picture was cuter. The only repeated ride was the carousell. I mentioned she liked horses, right? lol. I guess you can't live in the same house with me without being an animal person. Kaelah loved the characters as long as they stayed out of her personal bubble. Bullseye jumped in at the last second.... I highly recommend eating lunch at Celebration Ranch. No reservations are necessary & you can enjoy the petting zoo next door while you wait for your table. Kaelah got to pet a cow & goats that were the exa...

Last week we had the blessing of meeting most of Danny's family in California. It was wonderful! Above is a shot of the 3 youngest cousins after getting their sunblock on before swimming. Here's Ashlee a few hours before her team won the El Segundo softball championship! On Saturday we got to watch her game & her 2 brothers with their baseball games as well. And of course we had to eat at In & Out Burger in between. I've never hung out at Huntington Beach before and thought it was terrific. The only bad part was that it was pretty breezy so Dan didn't notice he was getting a horrible sun burn. Other than that, we could have stayed at the beach all day long. Here's a picture with Ruby's in the background. It was for sure Kaelah's favorite place to eat while we were gone. And when she's happy I'm happy. I love being her mom so much! On Monday night Most of the group got to go to a Dodgers/Mets game. They lucked out -- extra innings. ...