Adoption video

I saw this video on someone else's blog and had to share. This is a video by Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) and it is very touching.

Christmas and Infertility

I am so excited to celebrate the Christmas season this year. This holiday is hard for many people, including those who have lost loved ones or are alone. Since we started trying to get pregnant, Christmas has been a difficult holiday for me. Almost as hard as Mother's Day. It's all about children and family and I ached as I wondered, "Will we ever be able to buy gifts for our child or see them light up on Christmas morning?" I know I should just be grateful for what I have and I have enjoyed spending the holiday with my awesome husband and family. It's just been hard for this infertile girl to fully enjoy the season in the past. We've also never sent out Christmas cards, because nothing has changed since our engagement pictures! (I shouldn't say that. Oakley, our Golden Retriever, has really been a part of our family since 2010). Anyway, this year is different. Even though Cameron is gone and we miss him like crazy, I have still decorated the house and made some goodies with my little Jacoby by my side. Children are so much fun at Christmastime. He was fascinated with the tree and rocks out to Christmas music with me. I am so grateful for him and so grateful for this holiday season. We are praying hard Cameron will be able to come home soon so he can celebrate with us! 

 Phase 1 of putting up the tree. I aalready have a present under there!

He's such a big help. He got so mad when I took the ribbon away.

Spontaneous Trip to Mesa

I just got home from a two week vacation to Mesa, Arizon! My college roommate, Jamie, from BYU-Idaho Freshman year, is still my good friend and lives in Boise with her husband and three boys. They have sold their house and are waiting on their new one to close, and she was getting antsy the last few weeks trying to entertain three little kids in a small rental. So she decided to go to Arizona where her family is on a Sunday night and left on Monday. She had called me and asked if I wanted to come. Huh? What? Go to Arizona where it is warm? Ok! Cameron was leaving the next day anyway for over a month. I re-arranged my work schedule and our amazing friends agreed to watch Oakley for 2 weeks. We were in her van with 4 boys under the age of 5 for 14 hours each way. It was pretty CRAZY but they did so good. We stayed in St George with her relatives to break up the trip. We got to Mesa on Halloween evening and it was 80 degrees. Heavenly. Jamie's family has a lot of people in it ( 12 kids with 7 still at home) and they have a big, beautiful house. So we just fit right in. I've met the Gerards other times as well and they are super nice. We mostly hung out there, going swimming and playing with the boys. We also got to do some shopping. Now I am super glad to be home, but what is with the winter weather?

Halloween! Cute little tiger

Lincoln pushing Jacoby in the swing. His first time ever!

7 am on my run in the Gerards neighborhood. Beautiful and warm.

Swimming in their backyard pool. Jacoby wasn't sure 

at first but ended up loving it

Gerard home

Jacoby's first big goose-egg! It was my faut, poor kid

Mesa visitor's Center at the temple. 

Jacoby was staring at the Christus.

Mesa Temple

We stopped here on the way home for the 

boys to go to the bathroom

Thanks Jamie, Beck, Lincoln, and Cache for an amazing time!

Road Trip to the Redwoods and Oregon Coast

So my goal used to be to post once a week, but once a month is what I've doing, so I guess that's better than nothing! I am so happy with my life and I'm grateful for all my blessings. Sometimes I take for granted that I have a wonderful husband who works hard for his family and holds the priesthood and is such a good father. I also sometimes take Jacoby's miracle arrival into our family for granted. I was reminded how truly precious he is today when I read this blog post. It's about a couple who recently had a failed adoption. They actually got to take care of the baby for 3 days before things took a turn. I sobbed as I read Mrs. R's story and I immedicately texted Jacoby's birth mother to tell her how grateful I am for her and our wonderful adoption experience with Jacoby. She texted back "I am so grateful for you and Cameron. You guys are doing an amazing job with him." What a great lady. Anyway, I was feeling really sentimental today and snuggled with Jacoby a lot. Here's a few 6 month pictures I finally got edited (they are already almost 2 months old-time flies!)

How I love that sweet boy. I'm looking forward to getting some family pictures the end of this month when Cameron comes home again. He just left again for 3 or so weeks. It is hard to see him go, but it is harder for him. He did not want to say good-bye to Jacoby! And Oakley gets depressed when he leaves. For the two weeks he was home, we got a lot done in the garden and house and we got to go on a road trip to the Redwoods in Northern California and drive up the Oregon Coast. We were gone 7 days and spent half the time tent-camping in a beautiful campground called Jedidiah Smith Campground inside a grove of Redwoods! We were there for one night during our 2007 road trip and just had to go back. Jacoby did pretty well traveling although we think he was glad to get home. Most of the other campers/tourists we saw were retired couples, and they just got a big kick out of our little guy. The highlights were hiking in Stout Grove and Damnation Creek, our hotel in Bandon, Oregon with the beach and ocean right outside, and fresh seafood restaurants right on the harbor. Enjoy a few pictures. It's hard to choose which ones to upload because we took several hundred!

Girls Weekend

My second post today! Labor Day weekend was so fun this year. Cameron's mom and his two sisters and me got to have a girls weekend Thursday evening through Saturday evening. My mom watched Jacoby for me and while I missed him like crazy, it was nice to have a break. On Friday, we went to Swiss Days in Midway, UT. It's a huge craft fair with TONS of booths of cool stuff to buy. I spent a lot of money, but it was worth it. Bridget and Brooklyn are both expecting babies in January, so it was fun to help them find fun baby stuff. We also went shopping on Saturday at Burlington, Babies R Us, and the mall in Midvale, UT on Saturday. We had such a good time and I am so grateful we all live close enough that we can get together like that. Enjoy a few of the pictures.

Catch up from Summer

This has been an interesting summer. And now it is over! I have loved not having to go to work everyday and getting to enjoy the sunshine and go for walks and work in the garden. I've also got to spend a lot of time with my family and Cameron's family since Cameron has been gone off and on this summer. I've missed him like crazy though, and we haven't got to do many family activities. We did go to Island Park and Yellowstone the end of July with our friends the Hollingsworths and the Clingers and that was our fun summer vacation this year. My brother, Vance, also got married that weekend. Here are some pictures of those activities and some other summer moments.

We floated down Big Springs in Island Park with our group. It was beautiful but Jacoby was teething and hot and some of the other kids were crying as well. Cameron got out and pulled us along to make it go faster!

My brother, Vance, got married July 27th. Another fun thing I did this summer was run a relay called Epic. My mom and I were on a team of 12 women and we took turns running from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY! It took us 35 hours. We were tired, sweaty, and sore, but man was it fun!

A few other fun, random pics from the last few weeks. Jacoby is such a cute baby and is sitting up all by himself now. He is also rolling over really well and likes to play with toys. I can't believe he is almost 7 months old.