Growing Fins

My girls LOVE to swim. I swear that if you look close enough you can almost see gills and fins sprouting from their bodies. Jeff and I took the girls to the Scera pool yesterday afternoon to cool off. We had lots of fun.

Here are a few videos of the kids swimming. Hallie has been so funny this year. She absolutly loves the water. She'll wave to me and say, "Bye, bye!" and then go underneath the water and kick her legs and move her arms to make herself swim. Abbi has been working on her backfloat for a while now and just hasn't been able to get it until yesterday. Jeff took her out in the deep and worked with her for a while and she finally got it. The Scera pool is fun, but not as fun as the city pool or the Veterans pool. The lifeguards wouldn't let Abbi go down the slide because she wasn't 4 feet tall. When Jeff asked if he could go down with her, they said not without a life jacket. When Jeff asked where to get a life jacket, they said we could buy one at the concession stand. Every other pool we've been to has had life jackets to use for the slide. So stupid. And why does it matter how tall she is? She can swim and I'm sure there are kids over 4 feet that can't swim as well as she can. It really made us mad. But oh well, we still had a good time but I think next time we'll stick to the other two pools.

Home Made Ice Cream

Okay, so I was a little skeptical to try this treat, because I honestly didn't think it was going to work. It's home made ice cream that you shake in ziplock bags. But we were bored Sunday night so we gave it a try. Here is the recipe for those of you who want to try it.

Put in a sandwhich size ziplock bag for each person (we double bagged ours and I would highly recommend it):

1 cup half and half

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put that bag in a large ziplock bag filled with (we also used double bags here):

3-4 cups of ice

1/4 cup salt

Shake and shake and shake for about 15 minutes.

And then you get this. Your own little bag of ice cream.

Here are a few tips. I would probably do this outside because the salt/ice bags had holes in them and it made a mess. Jeff got smart and shook/rolled his in the sink. And it would be really fun to do for a family night or at a big family party.

Fun At The Parade

Ever since I was a little girl, we have gone to the city parade. I love it. Even though it seems like there are getting to be less and less floats and more people advertising. It's still fun to sit and watch. We have the perfect place, too. Jeff's family has sat in the same place for years and it's nice and shady all morning. It was actually a little bit cold right at first.

The kids, especially Hallie, loved the royalty floats. She would get all excited and run out to see them.
There was so much candy thrown out that my kids didn't even want their lunch afterwards. But isn't that what city celebrations are all about.

Fiesta Days Rodeo

I think the reason why Jeff loves Fiesta Days so much is because of the rodeo. Before we had kids, we went all 4 nights. Anyone who knows me, knows I don't enjoy the rodeo that much. So now that we have 2 little cuties, I only have to go 1 night. But really, I do have fun. It's just part of the city celebration and it wouldn't be the same if we didn't go. Hallie was so funny during the bucking broncos. When the horse would buck she would yell at them and tell them that they were naughty. And then when the pick up men would rope the horse to go back into the pen, she would yell at them saying that those horses weren't theirs. It was killing me. She's such a funny little girl.

Here is my wonderful mom helping out with Hallie. She held her a lot of the time. Everyone pretty much took their turn with her taking her out and spoiling her with treats. It makes it so much easier when you have a great family willing to help with your kids.
My little sister took this picture of me. It pretty much sums up what I think of the rodeo. Really, I just threw it in because it's one of the only ones we took of Abbi. She's so cute in her hat.

Hangin' With The Carny Rats

After the Stock Parade, we walked over to the carnival. All rides on family night are only $1 so it was now or never. Even though it was hot, it was so fun to watch Abbi and Hallie have fun. They both liked the merry-go-round the best.

Hallie thought this duck ride was the bomb. She thought she was so big riding it all by herself.
Abbi and Jeff went on this ride that made me sick just watching them. Jeff said he almost threw up. I'm glad he didn't for the sake of the other people riding on it.

Stock Parade

The 24th of July in our town is one of my favorite times of the whole year. Jeff says that it's better than Christmas. Even though I wouldn't go that far, I agree that it is pretty fun. We always like to take the girls to the Stock Parade to see all the animals. They both got all dolled up in their cowgirl attire and we headed out. Aren't they so cute.

I love, love, love this picture of Hallie. Even though you can't see her face I love it. She looks like such a big girl in her cowboy hat and boots.

BBQ with Michelle and Our Family

Saturday night we had a BBQ down at my mom and dads house with Michelle and our families and some of Michelle's friends. It was really fun with lots of food and people to visit with. We had hot dogs, hamburgers and yummy marinated chicken and pork that Michelle's aunt and uncle brought. I will be posting the recipe as soon as I get it. It was to die for good.

Every single one of Jeff's brothers and sisters along with their kids and spouses came to support us. It was so great. I love his family so much. They are amazingly awesome people. Everyone of them have always supported our adoption and our way of doing things with our birth moms. My mom and dad and Kristen and her boyfriend Weston were also there. My dad and Kristen were so great to cook all the meat for us. Cody (my brother) and his girlfriend, Erin, weren't able to be there. Cody was in a golf tournament and we totally understand. My family is also amazing and I love them so much. We wanted to have this BBQ at the park under the pavillion, but I called EVERYWHERE and every pavillion was booked. So my parents were kind enough to let me have it at their house in their back yard. It's times like these when I really remember how much all these people mean to me and love each and every one of them.
This is Michelle's friend Natalie who I LOVED to pieces. She was really cute and it was fun to get to know her. Although, since I've been stalking her blog, I kind of already feel like I know her.
Here is Amy and Mike and their little boy. Amy is the one we have to thank for hooking us up with Michelle. She has been awesome in all of this.
We didn't get pictures of Michelle's other friends that were there. Things got a little busy with preparing food and everything. But her friends Chris and Crystal were there with their little girl who I wish I would have gotten a picture of. She is such an adorable little girl. I also failed to get pictures of Michelle's aunt and uncle and their kids. They were so nice and laid back. Very easy to talk to and I fell in love with them the minute I met them. They are very supportive of Michelle's choice to place Korver with us. Hopefully this won't be the last time we meet with them before Korver is born. I'll make sure to get pictures of them next time. It was such a fun night.

Kover is doing great and cooking away in Michelle's tummy. He was quite active while we were visiting and I got to feel him kick and move around several times. At Michelle's doctors appointment last Wednesday they scheduled her C-Section for September 23rd. It was kind of a disapointment because he'll only be 2 days early. But I guess the longer he can cook in there the better. However, the doctor wants to watch her very closly to make sure that she doesn't go into labor. Michelle has a hip disorder and if she were to have the baby normally it could cause her hips to dislocate or possibly break. So we definitly don't want that to happen. She officially asked me to be in the delivery room with her. I was completly honored and excited. I mean, only one person gets to be in there with her and it's ME!! Woot! Anyway, it's been a busy week, but very fun. I'm going to be MIA for a while. I've got to get some sewing projects accomplished that I'll post about later. So it may be a week or two before I post again. (Janean, I'm okay!)

Pictures of the Birthday Bash

Let The Party Begin

The day after Abbi's real birthday, we had a friend party. Let me just say that having 16 (yes I said 16) little girls in your home is pretty overwhelming. But it was so much fun. We chose to just invite girls this year which was really hard for Abbi to decide on because she has so many friends who are boys. But I think it turned out okay. Hopefully all the boys out there didn't get their feelings hurt. Below is a picture of all the little girls that came to the party.

So since we invited just the girls, we decided to do a girl themed party. Kristen came over and helped me do glitter nails. We had a million different colors of glitter for the girls to chose from. It was fun to see all the cute colors the girls chose.
Then we made puffy flip-flops by tying strips of fabric onto the straps. They were adorable. Even though they took a long time, I think the girls liked them.
Abbi decided that she wanted donuts instead of a cake or cupcakes and icecream. So earlier that day we went to Macey's and picked out a bunch of assorted donuts. We even stuck the candles in the donut that Abbi chose for herself.

Party Night

On Abbi's birthday we let her choose where she wanted to go to eat. Well, she LOVES Pizza Factory, so that is where she decided to go. Our waitress was so sweet and brought Abbi out her very own pizza shaped like a "7." They also let her choose a cookie to take home. The food was yummy! Way to go Abbi for chosing a great place to eat.

Clearly, Hallie also loves pizza. It's one of the only things I can get her to eat.
Abbi also chose her cake. We went to Macey's and out of all the cakes there, she wanted Wall-E. It was extremely cute and very good.
We then had a party with family. She got lots of fun stuff including the chair she's sitting in.
Abbi was nice enough to let Hallie help her blow out her candles. They are such great sisters and always so thoughtful of each other.
I think she had a pretty good day. When it was all over she said it was the best birthday ever.

Happy Birthday Abbi

Our little Abbi is 7 years old today and I seriously can't believe it. Her birth mom, Teressa, texted me today and said, "7 years ago today we were both freaking out with anticipation." And I texted her back saying, "And we both thought 'she' was a 'he.'" That's right, Abbi was going to be Cooper Jace Swenson right up until the day after she was born. When Teressa went into the hospital to have Abbi, our caseworker called us and told us the news. He then called back later saying that she had gone into have a c-section and he didn't have anymore information. We knew she was at the Provo hospital, so we took some flowers over, but had to promise that we would leave them at the front desk and not go any further. That KILLED me. Knowing my baby was in that hospital and not sneaking up to see him. The next morning I was at work (I went to work only because I knew if I sat home, I would go crazy) and my caseworker called and said he had a little surprise for me. He said, "Your baby boy is a baby girl!" I sat there stunned. I was so unprepared for a baby girl. I called Jeff and told him the news and we both cried with joy. I immediately left work and went shopping for baby girl clothes. I was so excited to hear that the baby was here and okay. We were told by our caseworker that Teressa and Ashton wanted us to come to the hospital the next day. When I walked into that hospital room, I was overwhelmed with complete joy. Abbi was so little and perfect. She had a full head of hair and she was wearing a blue onesie. We got to hold her and take pictures with her. It truly was one of the best days of my entire life. Teressa and Ashton placed her with us on July 19th, 2001.

So, in honor of Abbi on her 7th birthday I am going to list 7 things I LOVE about her.

1. She is SO unbelievably sweet.

2. She is such a great big sister. Honestly she helps out so much with Hallie and she loves her little sister so much.

3. She is such a Smarty McSmarty Pants. This kid amazes me with what she knows.

4. She comes up with AWESOME pet names. "Lisa" was the name she named my parents boy duck. "Sharon" was the name she wanted to name our black lab, also a boy. And the latest is "Black Mystery," the name she named my parents cat.
5. She is one of the most creative people I've ever met.

6. Her smile and laugh are extremely contagious. When she smiles, I can't help but smile. If she laughs, I can't help but laugh. She is so happy all of the time.

7. Abbi is so incredibly thoughtful. She is extremely aware of when someone needs something whether it be a hug or whatever. I swear she has a sixth sense about these kinds of things.

Making Memories

I've seen this on a few of my friends blogs and thought it would be fun. I hope all of you will play. I want to see all the memories out there. Here's how it works:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Poor Stella

Our poor little kitty, Stella, passed away July 11, 2008 from a bad case of food poisoning (we think.) Thursday morning I woke up to find Stella ill. We left for the day and came home that evening to find her even more ill. She wouldn't eat, would barely move and just looked sick. We dropper fed her some milk and tried making her comfortable. Friday morning I came home from work to find Stella had moved from upstairs to downstairs and she looked really good. I thought, great, she's going to be just fine. So throughout the day, we kept dropper feeding her. But by about mid afternoon, she looked really sick again. I was doing dishes when I heard her meow. I went over to her and her meows got softer and softer until there was nothing. It was very traumatic for me. Luckily Hallie was asleep and Abbi was playing with friends. I called Jeff bawling and he decided to leave a few minutes early to come home so we could break the news to the kids. I just couldn't bare to do it alone. When we told Abbi, she was devastated. We're talking sobbing and so sad.

Jeff helped her find this box and she decorated it. We found some old receiving blankets and put them inside and laid Stella in the box. Abbi even thought to put Stella's favorite toy in the box with her. Jeff picked out a rock from the garden for a headstone and we let the girls paint it.

We asked Abbi where she would like to bury Stella and she chose the farm. She picked a nice tree to bury her under. Hallie didn't really get it. She just said, "Oh, Stella in a present."
I have to say that Abbi was such a good "kitty mom" to Stella. She always made sure she had food and water and cleaned out her kitty box. She was very attentive to her and Stella loved her so much. Hallie was also a good mommy to the kitty. I would always find Hallie sitting next to Stella petting her and talking to her.
Goodbye Stella. We love you and we will miss you.

Glitter Mania

Most of you girls out there know that Glitter Toes is the new thing. Kristen and I decided to take the girls and get our toes done last week. Abbi and Hallie loved it so much.

The girls were so cute getting their tosies done. It took about a half hour and they both just sat there and enjoyed getting pampered.

Here are al of our toes all fancied up. Kristen's are the orange ones, mine are the bluish green, Abbi's are the silver and Hallie's are the purple. Cute, huh!

A Night On The Town

Jeff and I have been dying to get out together. We feel like we have both been so busy that we haven't had time to do anything with each other. So Jeff booked us a room in Salt Lake. The picture above is the room (I'm pretty sure you could have figured that out.) It was super nice with such a comfy bed and a jacuzzi. We started out the day by going to one of our favorite restaurants to eat, Chili's. Then we went to see Get Smart, which was very good and really funny. After that we went back to the hotel and got all dressed up to go to dinner. We have been wanting to go to The Melting Pot for a while so we decided to make reservations earlier in the day and went. It was so yummy. We got the four course meal which filled us to the brim. We wished we could have taken it home with us.
Below is the desert. I actually think I heard angels sing when I put the first bite in my mouth. It was to die for good. Funny that we were both so full, but we finished off the desert! The next morning we slept in until 9:00 (I know you're jealous.) Then we got up and got ready for the day. Jeff even sat in the jacuzzi for an hour watching t.v. while I got ready. By the time we checked out it was nearly lunch time, so we headed to Olive Garden (one of my other favorites.) We had a really good time and I wish we were rich so we could do it about once a month. Thanks so much Kristen for watching the girls while we were gone. You're the best!

Miley In Concert!!!

We are one of the lucky people who scored Miley Cyrus tickets (not easily) the first day they went on sale. Abbi could not have been happier. My mom and Kristen went with us and we had so much fun.
Abbi got all geared up in her brand new Miley hat and shirt and we headed off to the stadium for a night of fun. It was so fun to spend some time with her. She is such a fun kid to hang out with. She was adorable during the concert.
Our seats weren't great, as you can see, but they also weren't the worst ones either.
This was Abbi's face when Miley first came out on stage. She was pretty stoked to be there. On the very first song she turned to me and asked, "Would it be alright if I stood up and danced a little?" Is she cute or what. Of course it was alright! Kristen, Grandma and I got up with her and danced the night away. It was very fun!