Home Sweet Home

All Aboard! My parents gave us some extra money to buy Christmas gifts for our kids from them. They figured it would be easier for us to do the buying since we would know what they would really want. I wanted to somehow incorporate time with my Mom and Dad with the gift for the kids. At first I was thinking of getting movie tickets for a movie they could go see with Grandma and Grandpa, but then I thought of going on The Polar Express train up in Williams. It's been four years since we went last and the kids have asked almost ever year, "When do we get to go on The Polar Express again?"  Justin's parents live 45 from Williams now (and Joanna had actually come to stay with us for a few days after the blessing so we already had her with us, and she was oh so helpful to have around. Thank you Joanna!) so we thought it would be a neat present to them to invite them along as well and have all the grandparents come with us on The Polar Express. We didn'...

My Best Friend After Child Birth... I wanted to make a quick shout out to my favorite post-delivery recovery tool, my abdominal binder! Back when I was pregnant with Brighton, I was talking to a recent new mom in my ward at the time and she said she had heard of women wearing some sort of girdle after having a baby to help get their stomachs back to normal. I was a little freaked out wondering how my stomach would look after having a baby, so I jumped on that idea and went online searching for something. I found this band called an "abdominal binder" from a medical supply company (can be bought on amazon.com). It is meant for anyone who has had trauma to their abdomen (surgery, c-sections, etc.). Not only do I love it because it provides extra support to sore and weak muscles after delivery (which is really important when you are in bed and have to get up every few hours with a baby in the middle of the night), I really believe it helps put everything back in place really qu...

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...