Home Sweet Home

A few random shots.... Still can't get enough of this cute kid. I snapped these two days before we had Daisy.  I just love his cute little face! So sweet and sneaky at the same time!  This is Adaira's face painted up from the FSA carnival we went to the night before my adoption conference. It turns out that the lady they hired to paint faces placed her baby for adoption 40+ years ago and had been looking for a way to volunteer in the adoption world. She sure was delighted to be contacted by our Mesa FSA group!  A few pictures from the hospital (We didn't get that many of our own since Marisa did all the major picture taking for us) Our first week at home. Brighton and Adaira just love Daisy. They always want to hold her or feed her when I give her some formula on occasion.I figure that I probably spend around 5-6 hours of every day sitting around nursing Daisy. Not that I would quit, but man would I have more free time if she were formula fed because Brighton or Adair...

Veteran's Day The History Channel produced a 10 hour program (shown in installments) called Vietnam in HD. I started watching it thinking of my Father and the many other men and women who served during this thankless conflict only to return home vilified and forgotten. It was good to see so much support out at the Veteran's Day Parade in Mesa. My hands were sore after clapping for all the servicemen and women at the parade but my heart was full of gratitude for them. The most moving part was when the ROTC groups from several Mesa high schools marched past, each carrying a memorial to many fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan. Each had a roughly 8 x 10 photo of each fallen soldier. It was touching to think of all the families who were missing loved ones. On the way home I was able to thank my father and tell him how glad I was that he made it home from the war. He is a great man and hero, and I love him. On a side note: I have been working to expand the garden. So far I have p...

♫ Daisy Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you! ♫ So I purposely went over my due date so I could attend the Southwest Regional Families Supporting Adoption Conference on the 4-5th for work and had a wonderful time. I was able to say goodbye to some great adoption friends and coworkers, and make a little extra money at the last minute as well. At the conference I was able to facilitate the birthmother panel (always the most important panel/class of the day) and during the closing remarks of the conference the regional director for the agency recognized me personally for all the change I had brought to the agency in the past few years and his remarks were met with applause and even some standing ovations (made me feel pretty awesome/embarrassed). It was a great way to say goodbye to my adoption work. I had already scheduled with my OBGYN to be induced on Sunday the 6th. They assured me it would be an "inpatient" induction rath...

Happy Halloween! This year we went to the ward Trunk or Treat on Saturday the 29th. We opted to make homemade root beer to give out rather than candy (just to be different). It seemed to be a hit and we had quite a few kids (and their parents) return for seconds. Unfortunately I completely forgot to pull out the camera and get pictures that night, but I thought "Well at least I still have Halloween night..." and then for Halloween we went over to my friend Melissa's house for a little party and to go trick or treating in her neighborhood since my neighborhood is hardly conducive to trick or treating (houses are far apart, and there are only like 12 houses on my entire street). After we got to Melissa's house, I realized I had forgottten the camera AGAIN! Luckily Mel is great with her camera and she snapped (and edited) a few shots for me. Thanks girlfriend!  The boys were happy to run off and do their own thing ASAP, Adaira (as we all know) is more than happy to s...