Starvation Reservoir Part 2

The next morning we woke up to a little bit of rain and lots of clouds. But we decided to take the boats out anyway. It was Korver's first time on a boat and he did pretty good. He got a little fussy when we first put his life jacket on. But when he realized that no one was taking it off for him, he settled down and fell asleep.
I love this picture because he looks so mad.

It was really fun because my little sister and her husband just bought a boat and my parents have one too. So we could all be out on the water comfortably together. We would just follow each other around on the boats. My kids loved it when we went fast.

The girls love the tube the best. My dad is so cute with them on the boat. He loves to see them having fun.

Mr. K sound asleep after a few minutes of being on the boat.

Hallie's favorite place to be was right up in the bow with Aunt Kristen while we were going fast. She cracks me up around water. She loves it so much.

The second day was lots warmer. We took the boats out again and did some tubing and wake boarding. But I forgot my camera back at the trailer, so I didn't get any pictures. It was such a fun weekend. I would have to say that boating is my all time favorite thing to do in the summertime. It makes me sad that we only have a few more weeks of warm weather that we will be able to take the boat out. I want to let my mom and dad know how great they are for taking us and doing fun things like this. We all enjoyed ourselves so much. My sweet mom stayed behind on Sunday to watch Korver for us so that we could really get out in the water and do some serious boating. I'm so lucky that she's so great to do that for us. I can't wait until the next time that we can go boating.

Starvation Reservoir

Over the 24th of July weekend, my family decided to go to Starvation Reservoir with the boats and trailers. It was SO much fun. We got there on Friday and stayed until Sunday. Our trip started out kind of rainy and windy. So instead of being able to go boating our first day, we set up our trailers and just hung out. That night they had fireworks, which was a surprise to us. We had no idea they were going to do that. They let them off from the water and it was really cool. My kids LOVED it.
For dinner that night we had tinfoil dinners, which we had planned on doing over the fire. But you can't really do that without a fire pit, which they didn't have. So we had to make do over the BBQ grill. Which didn't work really great, but it still got the job done. It just took a little bit longer. We also wrapped the corn in tinfoil and cooked it over the grill.

My dad took the girls and Sadie for a walk when we first got there.

Korver loved camping. He thought it was great to eat his food outside. He did great the whole trip. He even slept well in his playpen which he's never slept in before.

I love my little sister. We have so much fun together.

Licorice Rocks!

Need I say more?

Abbi's 8th Birthday Party

I think Abbi had a really great birthday this year. She started off by having a campout in the backyard with her cousins and some close neighborhood friends. And then she got to go shopping and to dinner with her Grandma Diane and Grandpa Roger. And then she also got to go shopping and to dinner with her birthmom, Teressa and Grandma Jenny (Teressa's mom.) On her actual birthday we took her swimming at the Provo pool which is our favorite. Aunt Kristen came along. We then had a family party in our backyard for her. It was a really fun week for her and she got some really fun stuff.

The outfit she is wearing is the one she picked out while shopping with Grandma Jenny and Teressa. They said she was really cute picking it out and knows exactly what she wants. They took her to Justice and let her pick whatever outfit she wanted. She was so excited to wear it on her special day.
This is the cake that she requested this year. She really likes pandas right now so that's what we made her. It was really fun to make. She got a Nintendo DS from Jeff and I. Hallie and Korver gave her a game and some accessories to go with the DS. Aunt Kristen and Uncle Weston along with Uncle Cody got her a cute purse for the DS and a game. Grandma Diane and Grandpa Roger got her an art set that she's been wanting for a really long time. She also got some cute clothes from her Great Grandparents and Grandma Ann and Grandpa Garth even sent her money from their mission in Chicago. She got TONS of stuff from her birthday party with her cousins and friends. I think she had a good day. I really can't believe she is 8 years old.

Afternoon Fum

One of my favorite things to do in the Spring and Summer is to hang out in our backyard. Our house faces West, so we get awesome shade in our backyard from about 3:00 on. This particular afternoon Jeff was pitching balls to Abbi and Hallie, Korver and I were watching. It was such a relaxing afternoon and the weather was perfect. Hallie took most of these pictures. Her favorite thing to do lately is grab the camera and snap away. Good thing it's the days of digital and I can earase the hundreds that she takes that don't turn out.

Way Too Much

One Sunday morning before church, the girls asked if they could have a picnic outside with a few stuffed animals. I agreed and went about my business with the morning routine of getting ready for church. When I went outside this is what I found.
I said to Abbi, "I thought you said a FEW stuffed animals." She replied, "I did, this isn't ALL of them." That's when I had a little reality check of just how many toys and stuffed animals my girls have. That night and next morning, we went through all the toys and stuffed animals. The girls were told that they could each choose 10 stuffed animals to keep and the rest would be sent to charity. It was a hard decision for them, but they narrowed it down. We also went through and threw out anything that was broken or missing pieces. I gave away 7 large garbage bags full of just toys and threw away 3. Our house is small and the girls share a room. I honestly couldn't believe all the toys they had in there. Funny thing is, after getting rid of all those toys, they have done nothing but want to play in their room. I think they can now see how much they have in there and it's a lot more fun for them to play. The new rule is, something comes in, something goes out. Especially with stuffed animals. I think I counted 80 that we either threw away or gave away. That's not including the 20 that they kept.

Making Cupcakes

Hallie got a cupcake maker from her Uncle Cody, Aunt Kristen and Uncle Weston for her birthday. One day while Abbi was gone, we pulled it out and made some treats. Hallie was so cute and surprisingly totally into me taking pictures of her.
Take note of the cute apron she's wearing. My cute and crafty (and might I mention unbelievably talented) mom made it for her. It looks like a miniature version of one of those flirty aprons.

She had a lot of fun making the cupcakes. They turned out pretty tasty (well, as tasty as a microwaved cupcake can get!) Her favorite part was putting on the sprinkles.

She's HOW Old?

8 years ago today, I went to work like any other normal day. I got a phone call saying that Teressa, Abbi's birth mom, had gone into labor. Our case worker didn't have any other details but said that he would let us know as soon as he heard anything. Back when we were going through the adoption process with Abbi, everything was semi closed. We had met Ashton and Teressa once and had been corresponding with letters and pictures for about a month and a half. We didn't know last names, addresses, phone numbers. All of our letters had to go through the agency. We weren't allowed to be present at the time of her birth. Or should I say HIS birth! That's right, Abbi was a boy the whole time she was in Teressa's tummy, or so we thought. We were going to name our sweet baby boy Cooper Jace. We had TONS of baby boy clothes and the nursery was decorated in Noah's Ark. We were planning for a baby boy. Anyway, later on, I got a call from my caseworker once again saying that Teressa had to be taken in for a c-section because of the way the baby was turned. Still no more information. We wanted to send flowers. He told us that the baby was being born at Utah Valley and gave us STRICT instructions that we were not to go see Teressa and Ashton or the baby. But that we could go as far as the front desk to drop off the flowers and that he would call us tomorrow with more information. WHAT!!! My baby is coming into this world and I can't even go see him. So, we did as we were told (and yes, it killed me knowing the room number and everything and not being able to go up.) After a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG and sleepless night, we once again somehow managed to get ourselves to work. About 10:00 that day the secretary of the agency called and gave me the stats on our baby boy. 7 lbs. 4 oz. and 18 inches long. And then she said, "Oh, we have a surprise for you. But your caseworker really wants to tell you, and he's not available right now. So I'll have him call you back." I said, "Um, NO! I have been waiting all day yesterday and all night last night. You tell me what the surprise is." She then broke the news that our baby boy was not a baby boy at all. I think I actually screamed with excitement into the phone. Really, I didn't care what the baby was, but it was just too funny. I think I was also excited to FINALLY hear something. The other surprise was that Ashton and Teressa really wanted us to see our baby girl and asked if we could go to the hospital the following day. I hung up and got right on the phone with Jeff. He thought I was kidding and so did everyone else that I called to share our news with. So after the longest day and night of my entire life, we headed to Provo to see our daughter. Of course, she was beautiful with a full head of hair. We spent a couple of hours visiting discussing names and other things and then our caseworker told us it was time to go. Placement would be the next day and I would finally be a mom. The only thing I had ever wanted to be. My dream was coming true in a little over 24 hours. Placement was the next morning, so we got right up and got ready for the day. After a phone call asking if it was okay to postpone placement until 2:00, I couldn't stand waiting around any longer, so I headed to the mall with my friend, Janean. My baby needed girl clothes! Jeff headed to work to take care of a few last minute things since he would be taking a week off to spend at home with us. At about 1:30, I got another call saying that Ashton and Teressa were still having pictures taken with Abbi and if it would be okay if we yet again postponed placement until 4:00. I was starting to get a little nervous, but kept myself busy. Finally at 3:30 we headed over the the adoption agency. I remember going down our street thinking, the next time I come down this street, I will be a mommy. It's a very surreal feeling going to "pick up" your baby and those of you who have adopted know what I'm talking about. It's a very bittersweet day. You're so excited for yourself, but at the same time your heart aches for the birth family. We arrived at the agency and were brought into a room. Inside was Ashton and Teressa who was holding our sweet girl, and some of their family and friends. I lost it. I couldn't believe that this was it. Holy cow, a whole flood of emotions were going through me. As soon as we walked in, Teressa kissed Abbi on the forehead, told her she loved her so much and handed her to me. It was overwhelming to say the least. I was so happy and yet so sad at the same time. Seeing how much she was hurting really got to me. We gave them some gifts that we had made for Ashton and Teressa, visited for a while and then said our goodbyes. We were taken into another room to spend a few minutes with our sweet baby. Holding her in my arms was indescribable. I just stared at her and couldn't believe this was actually happening to us. Finally after 4 1/2 years of trying to have a baby. Being poked and prodded all to be told that it just wasn't going to happen. After waiting and waiting for that one call from the agency that we had been picked. It was happening. My dreams of being a mom were finally coming true. Our family of 2 was now 3. And now that sweet baby girl is 8! Where does the time go?

Here are some things about Abbi that we LOVE:

She is extremely talented at art.

She has a kind heart.

She has an amazing singing voice.

She's a pack rat.

She loves kittens and cats.

She also loves dogs.

Loves riding horses with her dad.

She has a great sense of fashion.

Comes up with AWESOME names for our pets. She named my parents duck Lisa (who was a boy duck,) and wanted to name our black lab Sharon (yeah, also a boy.)

Happy birthday Abbigail Diane. We love you and feel extremely blessed and honored to be chosen to be your mom and dad.