It's Official!!!

Yay! It's 100%, certified, tied up with a little bow, OFFICIAL!!! We are now, legally, Kayden Grace and Kaelin's parents. We had the court date on Monday. Phew! So glad it's over. I couldn't sleep the night before and had nightmares of something happening. And something did happen... We were given the privilege to become the parents to two amazing, beautiful, sweet, little girls. We invited as many people as we could to come to the hearing. Of course, our families were there as well as some other special people. The judge was AWESOME! She allowed everyone present to stand up after all the "officail business" was taken care of and say a few words. It was emotional and heartwarming to hear what everyone had to say about Yeadon and I and the girls. So, here are some picts of one of the most amazing days of my life!

These were all the people present for the hearing. And, yes... I made Kayden's dress! She looked so beautiful in it, if I do say so myself.
This is judge Schumacher, the best adoption judge ever!

Sweetness Personified

My girlies are so SWEET! Yes, I have a two-year old who everyday decides she needs to be more and more independent. And, yes, I have a one-year old who has decided that sleep at night time is overrated, so she's not sleeping (AGAIN!!) (But, c'mon!! Aren't they beautiful?? Not that beauty and sweetness are related, but I just had to throw that in there... they're both so beautiful!) Anyway... back to the sweetness factor... I love being Mama to my two girls. I still can't believe that a year and a half ago kiddos were not even in the picture... Our God is amazing, is He not??

So there are these funny stories...

Yep... that's Kayden wearing daddy's socks! Her shoe fascination has now spread to Daddy's nasty socks... Oh well, she had a blast wearing them and my floor got clean!

Uh, huh. That's right. Toilet paper. All over the bedroom. She had fun playing with it... I didn't have so much fun picking it up! Oh, well. Such is life, right?

Here's to the 4th...

Yeadon had the day off so we spent the 4th of July together, as a family, just the four of us. It was great!! After being on my back for weeks, it was nice to just be a family with no worries of appointments or anything being broken. My friend Hope sang at a local event called Reno Idol (a take-off of American Idol). She did GREAT! However, the judges had to have been paid off or something cuz she didn't win and the two women that tied for first couldn't sing...Anyway... The event was at the Sparks Marina. For those of you who don't know what the marina is, let me just fill you in. We used to have thus HUGE pit in Sparks where mining had occurred. It was right off the freeway and was a large eyesore. Then, about 12 years ago, we had a ginormous flood that overflowed the river on the other side of the freeway across from the pit. Suffice it to say, the pit was completely filled in with nasty water. So, the lovely people of Sparks decided that instead of draining the pit with it's nasty water, they would "purify" the water and create this new, stylish marina where children can frolic in the water, and people can enjoy their time outside. Needless to say, I would NEVER let my children in that water! When we were at the event on Friday, we passed by it and it looked GROSS. Murky, dirty, and with who knows how many unidentifiable floaty things in it. So instead of lounging around the "beach" with countless people who should never have left their house in the clothes they were wearing, we took the girls for a drive. We looked at houses in Sparks (just in case we were ever able to sell our current house) and even walked through a couple of model homes. We then went to the part of Sparks where they generally set of the fireworks. There were many bounce houses for the kiddos, but one look at their faces and we could tell that they were done for the day. So, we bid Sparks farewell, and went home. No sparklers, no fireworks... Just an early bedtime for the kiddos, and a nice, quiet movie (which Yeadon fell asleep during!) for Mama and Daddy!

Belated Birthday

So... As you have all seen, I have not posted anything for Kaelin's 1st birthday. Sad, I know. We were able to go out on the actual day of her birthday, but we were unable to have a birthday party for her due to my back. I was crushed. I cried and said that I would be able to do it, but Yeadon (in all his husbandly wisdom), vetoed the idea and had me stay in bed the whole day. Hindsight: I would NEVER have been able to make it through the day! So here are some pictures of our little adventure to the pizza parlor and later to the mall where riding trains and merry-go-rounds was the highlight of my one-year old's birthday!



We decided on pizza for Kaelin's first "official" taste of non-baby food. It was so much fun watching her face as she tried out the textures of the food. On a side note: This is the restaurant where Yeadon and I had our first date. Kinda cool that we were able to take our baby to the restaurant where we first got to know one another.



75 cents for a ride on a big, metal train, plane, or automobile. Crazy!!! I couldn't believe the price, but it was worth the money just to see the girls having SO much fun!


And of course, what's a 1 year olds birthday without her first taste of ice cream? We went to Dairy Queen in the food court at the mall and let me tell you... everyone around us was entertained by the antics of the kiddos. Both girls enjoyed their ice cream... until we had to put a stop to it because they were going to make themselves sick!

Blessings and Thank You's!

Well, I know that all of you who haven't heard what's been going on in my life are wondering where I've been. Here's the skinny: I have an advanced herniated disk and my girly doc thought I might have a tumor on one of my ovaries... Fun stuff, huh? Not so much. I was floor-ridden (I couldn't even sleep in my own bed!) for over two weeks, I couldn't lift my kids, I couldn't drive, and I had a horrendously sharp pain going from my lower back, down my leg, to my foot. After an ultrasound trying to determine what was going on with my back, I found out that I might have a tumor on my left ovary. Really, God?? Well, yes, really. So, what have I done about it all? Asked my prayer warriors to be on their knees before the throne of God for my family, asked every friend that I can to help with my kiddos and to take me to appointments, and got to know my dad and grandparents even better because of all their help taking care of my kiddos during the days. What are the results? I've had two MRI's in the last two weeks, had blood drawn by an overworked nurse, and had an IV put in which STILL hurts! To top it all off... I had an epidural last Friday and it took the tech 6 tries to get my BP because I was so scared of the needle!! Suffice it to say, the epidural is working great (so far!) and I have more movement than I've had in the last two weeks. I went to my girly doc yesterday and... there's nothing! Whatever showed up on the ultrasound was decreased in size by the time I had my MRI. The doc said I have nothing to worry about and life is good for me! So, here's to the blessings of Almighty God and the blessings of friendship and family. And a big, huge THANK YOU to all of you for your prayers and support during this fabulously enlightening time in my life. Enlightening, you say? Yes, enlightening. When you are unable to do anything but lay on the ground and watch the world around you keep going while you are stuck stationary, you tend to think on the important things in life. My marriage, my kids, my faith, and my family are all things God had me take a look at. I love my husband more than I ever thought possible, my kids are FANTABULOUS, my faith is sucure and firmly established on the ONE who holds my life in HIS hands, and my family is amazing. So again, THANK YOU! Thanks for the love and true demonstrations of what being a Christian are all about.

P.S. I will hopefully be blogging more often... it's just that sitting and a herniated disk to work well together. But... I will be trying, don't worry!