Tis the Season

Christmas is wonderful every year but always a little better when Bailee, Zach and Canyon join us.  We feel very fortunate because they have come our way three years in a row.  It is going to be very strange not having them around next year.  It will be the first time Bailee doesn't come home for Christmas.  They are already missed.  Here's to 2013 (cross our fingers).

 Christmas tradition=christmas jammies.  This year we were able to find a matching pair for both little ones.

 Oh, what a stocking!  My grandmother has crocheted each child, grandchild, great grandchild, great great grandchild and all the spouses this same stocking, names included.  She is an absolute angel for giving us each this connection with our extended family.  We love her.

Playing with Canyon's new train set.  The kids had fun playing all day with each others toys.

Mr. Grinch

Miss Bea has discovered she loves to dance.  It may have nothing to do with dance but everything to do with her bff, Emma.  But I think she really loves to dance and wiggle to the music too.  They learned a little dance to the song, "Mr. Grinch".  She would dance around the house singing, "You are cuddly as a cactus" all day long.  Emma's mom is the teacher and is absolutely wonderful.  We are so glad they moved here and we have been able to get to know them so well. 

Posing for the Pics.

Here's the whole class.  Emma is the third from the left.  They really are two peas in a pod which can be good and bad.  Depends on the day.  They have the potential of being buddies for a really long time and I sure hope it plays out that way.

Gratitude aboundeth

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Cheeri & her family; Nana & Grandma Martha; Todd, Michelle & Michelle's father.  It was wonderful to get together and enjoy each other's company.

Half of the party.

 The rest of the party.

Our Gratitude tree.  I hope this becomes a tradition for our family. I put together a tree from branches off our maple tree then left a stack of paper and pens next to the tree.  Everyone took a little time to write down the blessings in their lives and hang them on the tree.  After dinner we read each note and were all overwhelmed with love and gratitude.  (idea from pinterest-source to come)

Little Red and her Crew

Bethanie knew she wanted to be Little Red Ridinghood eight months before October ever rolled around.  It all began when Greg changed up his bedtime story to one about Buster the good wolf and the big bad wolf.  Somewhere in the story Little Red Ridinghood arrived and Greg always made the character a lot like our Bea girl.  So was born the desire to be Little Red for Halloween.  Greg and I joined in the fun as the Big Bad Wolf and Grandma.

 Here we are at a Halloween party.  Many people could not figure out who we were unless Little Red was close by.  Greg was in full on face make-up and I spent a little time enhancing all my wrinkles.  Blah!!  Too bad we don't have a close up.  I did look thirty years older.  Scary! Very scary!

Little Red next to pirate bear.  Our welcome bear by our door has lost an eye so he made a great pirate.  Happy Haunting!!

To the Zoo with Grandma

My mother teaches 7th grade math.  What made her choose this career path is beyond me.  After all, she raised 6 kids who all were probably at their most difficult beginning during 7th grade or at least during their junior high years.  Why she would want a hundred new ones every year seems absolutely crazy to me.  However, she does get to send them home to their parents each afternoon.  A luxury she didn't have when raising us.  Her students love her and so do we.

Grandma went to the zoo with us during her fall break from school.

It's tradition to take a picture of the group as we wait for the train ride to begin.

Taking a break.

Birthday Bash for Bethanie

We threw Bethanie her first friend party. Until now we have only had family parties. She was so excited to send out invitations to her friends and more excited when they showed up. One of the highlights for our Bea girl was helping her dad hang the balloons.



 The best part of opening gifts at age 4 was watching the child who gave the gift. They were so excited about their gift and almost as eager as miss Bea to open it and play with it.

 Here's the crew. Aren't they cute?  Bea has made some great friends.



Gift bags for guests to say, "Thank you".

Bea's Hello Kitty theme was a hit.  

Lava Tubes

My sister and her family came to visit for Labor Day.  Bethanie loves to have the cousins' visit.  We hiked the Lava Tubes after breakfast.  The lava tubes are an underground tunnel that was formed by a lava river flowing thousands of years ago.  The mile long cave stays between 35-45 degrees fahrenheit, a cool change from my sister's 100+ degrees this time of year.

The tubes were even a hit with my teen and  pre-teen nephews and neice.  Afterwards we all enjoyed lunch at a local hamburger joint. To my sister and her family, "Come back and play again soon!"

Family fun

Just a few of the pictures taken during our trip to UT for cousin Ashlee's wedding and the Adoption conference.

 A day with some of Greg's extended family although we mostly stayed at the kiddy rides with these two cuties.  Bethanie just adores her nephew.

 Hangin' in our cool ride.

 Day two-Temple square.  Bethanie loved seeing all the old tools which were replicas of what was used to build the temple.  She also enjoyed the large Christus.

Day Three-Second trip to Lagoon.  Bethanie's all time favorite was the bumper cars, she rode on various cars at least eight times.

 Yay!  She has graduated from the stationary carousel animals to the ones that move up and down.

Conference Update

The adoption conference was wonderful.  My favorite classes were the Adoptee Panel and the Birth Parent panel.  Great insights were provided into how each of them felt about either being adopted or having made an adoption plan for their child.  All were beautiful people with beautiful hearts.  It is amazing how they were all willing to tell their story to others so opening.  We  both left with our hearts full of love for adoption in general, our own miraculous adoption and the possibility of a future adoption story.  The Lord knows each of us and our needs. 

With the birth parent panel it was evident how the hand of the Lord played His part in bringing families together, providing needed comfort, peace and healing.  Each story reminded us how important the Lord's hand was in bringing our daughter into our lives.  As each birth parent spoke we also reflected on the love we have for Bethanie's birth mother and her family.

The Adoptee panel allowed us to skip ahead 13 plus years and imagine how Bethanie may feel about adoption when she is older.  Three of the four adoptees were married, two had children of their own, one had adopted a child, and one was still in high school.  The common theme or take home advice was openness and love are key to success.  We are grateful we have been telling Bethanie since birth about her amazing arrival into our family.  Our favorite quote from the session was from the adoptee who was always told, "You are growing up in the right family, you just had to take the scenic route to get here".  Humor was another theme that seemingly helped each of these individuals grow up to be amazing adults.

We were able to attend four break out sessions a day.  During a few of the sessions where we couldn't decide on just one we would divide and conquer.  So all together we attended, between the two of us, 10 sessions.  Hopefully we will be able to apply what we have learned as we teach and raise our daughter and also to just be more educated about adoption.

ROOTED IN LOVE

Families Supporting Adoption Conference 2011

We are so excited to be attending this years conference.  In the past we have had a variety of conflicts which have made it inpossible for us to attend.  Our hope is we will be inspired and educated in all things about adoption.

While we have been in town we have been able to attend a niece's wedding, a baby shower for two sisters-in-law, two days at Lagoon with our three year old, a family picnic, and a quick visit to temple square.  No one can say we can't squeeze every moment out of a vacation.

Stay tuned, we will post a summary of what we learned.

love, Dione & Greg

Under Construction

We are so excited to be putting this blog together with hopes that those who read it may get to know us better.

STAY TUNED!

Dione & Greg