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A perfect afternoon

Many of you know that October is my favorite month- HELLO! It's Halloween and the colors are changing outside and the holidays are right around the corner! *sigh* Yesterday just felt like the perfect day to make some yummy puffy sugar cookies with my little guys. I must have a hundred pictures, so I'll try to restrain myself- but I just can't get enough of these two little bundles of mushy gushy love!

He was such a pro at cutting them out! His cookies looked better than mine!

This was at the beginning of our project. Kolton decided he was 'grumpy' and didn't want his picture taken :D

Kolton's pride and joy

Yes, he dumped EVERY sprinkle on his cookie!

Sam devoured the beaters covered in frosting!

I truly cannot get enough of this wonderful season and getting to share it with my incredible little family. The cookies were FANTASTIC and I even made a double batch of the dough so I can have a repeat of this wonderful afternoon! (I am trying to beef up the adjectives in this post, can you tell?)

Note to self...

Do not feed neon orange sweet potatoes to a baby with a cough.

And in further news: I FOUND MY CAMERA!!! I just can't justify blogging without pictures because I know they are what speak the most so please forgive my prolonged absence (cori!!).

Aside from that, I had a total disc replacement in my neck on Sept. 30 (hence the Frankenstein-esque scar in the above picture) so that is my other excuse. Wes was doing the housecleaning while the boys and I were staying with my Mom while I recovered and found my camera in HIS coat pocket...I wouldn't have thought to look there. So, since I have been down and out a bunch still, I let Kolton do the picture taking- and I must say that for a two-year-old I think he did pretty darn well!!

Wes:

His favorite show; Dinosaur Train

El Gato, Kolton's favorite of the moment

Our recently uncovered Halloween plates (a bit dusty!)

And the man himself!!

And lastly, both of our little guys have been sick. Sam got a high fever after a week of runny noses and Kolton followed shortly after. This served two purposes of which I will whine unashamedly; no sleep or rest for post-surgical me and I had to say no to everyone who offered to babysit for me because my kiddos have fevers!! *sigh* kay, that was the pity party for the moment... :P Anyway, I can't help but get pics of my kiddos when they are sick so I will end this post with them! I hope everyone in bloggerland is doing well!!!

Let's talk turkey...I mean chicken...

We are not talking about this kind of chicken:

We are talking about THIS kind of chicken:

This post is not for the faint of heart or queasy of stomach, but I feel like if I don't blog about it I am depriving you all of a super funny part of my life at present. As you know from last week's post, Kolton is potty training. A few weeks ago he FINALLY pooped in the potty for the first time and when he looked at it before flushing he said "mommy- it looks like 'cheekin'" Well, we HAD eaten fried chicken tender strips the night before so I guess he had a point. My favorite was when we were at the library last week and he announced loudly in front of the other kids at story time, "mom, I have to go 'cheekin' dinner"...nice.

Well, since that time we don't 'poop' in this house....we 'cheekin'- Truly one of the highlights of my summer- does that make me gross? I don't care! It will probably be called 'cheekin' for the rest of our days.

I { lightning bolt } Potty Training!!

I couldn't think of a good opposite to I { heart } something, so lightning bolt seemed to fit. It has been going on for over a month, folks. Between the back and forth trips to Utah and Kolton and I getting sick, I don't know if this will EVER end! On the plus side, I cannot get enough of him running around in his little undies. He has NO butt whatsoever so they are always too big for him. Slowly, but surely, I think we will get there. In the meantime, I will just have to keep my mop and carpet cleaner at the ready as well as lots of treats and good potty-time books, tracking charts, stickers and dance music. Here's to mommyhood!!!

This is him eating his potty treat with the gold star on his forehead!

Even Milo got in on it!!

What a lucky mom I am...

Sam has been having a hard time sleeping tonight and Kolton, who is currently sick with strep throat, BTW, came in to me and said, 'Mom, I read Sam 'Jejus' (Jesus) book (it's a children's board book bible we have) and he need bottle" and he handed me a little scoop with some formula in it that he had retrieved from the bathroom counter. After that, he walked right back into their room and back into his bed to sleep. Every day I am completely entranced by my boys and in awe of all I have been given!

My Eternal Family!

So sorry that it has been so long since my last post. I have been up to my neck in unpacking and I am finding out that it takes FOREVER to do it with a two-year-old!! Finally my upstairs (all the bedrooms and the bathroom) is done and I am taking a break from it all by blogging my guts out!

Let me start with some of my favorite pictures in the world (not of my boys, but of Kolton's blanket) I'd like to introduce you to "Blue One Blanket"- this is Kolton's all time favorite blanket in the world and as such, it is almost impossible to wash it. I am lucky if it gets washed once a week but most of the time it is every other week. So, one day I was on my way downstairs to finish packing our house (BTW- we are in Montpelier, ID now!) and here was Blue One Blanket, standing up on its own!! It looked like it was actually CRAWLING up the stairs!! I am not exaggerating nor did I doctor the pictures- this is actually how I found the blanket!

Now on to more wonderful matters (yes, even more wonderful than blankets that stand on their own if you can imagine) and that is Sam's finalization date! On May 25 at 2:30 we went to the courthouse in front of Judge Wilmore where he declared us to be a 'wonderful family for Sam'! Our adoption of Sam is now final and binding!!! To say that Cori was on my mind that day is a total understatement. To think that she so selflessly gave this incredible gift to us when she got so little in return makes me wonder if I could ever do something so selfless. She is honestly one of the people I look up to most in this world. What an incredible GIFT! I am sorry the picture is so dark, but I can't get a good program to edit my pictures so this will have to do for now.

It makes me feel a tingle in my tummy when I see Sam looking at me in this picture. The judge was totally smitten with him and Kolton. He actually said that we'd better get a picture with him when it was all done!

from left to right: Judge Wilmore, Me and Sam, Wes and Kolton, Charity (our caseworker from LDS Family Services) and Paul, our attorney.

Afterward, my family did a fun play date at McDonalds both as a congratulations party for Sam as well as a 'good luck in Montpelier part' for our family. Kolton had a blast on the play area and was even brave enough to go all the way to the top and slide down!! You can tell by his red cheeks that he was having the time of his life!

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Sam. He was passed around to everyone and adored and kissed. He also got a vanilla ice cream cone all to himself!! My camera ran out of batteries (grrrr) so I couldn't get a picture of his ice cream face, but it was adorable!

And now, one of the greatest experiences of my life: SEALING DAY!! It all happened on May 28th at 7:30pm at the Logan, UT Temple. It was so completely AMAZING to have Kolton and Sam in the Temple with us! It was such a neat experience to teach Kolton all about what a special place the temple is and to read books and sing songs about the temple with him. Sam was an ANGEL (as always, of course!) and during the entire ceremony, he locked eyes with the man doing the sealing and when it was done he looked at Wes and I with a big smile on his face. I knew that his spirit understood what was going on and how important it was for him to be part of an eternal family. I know that angels were present in that room and that the Lord was pleased with us. I also felt so strongly that Cori would be blessed for her sacrifice and that the Lord was pleased with her as well. I can't go into it more because I am blinded by tears already! I left the temple feeling as though no woman in the world could be as happy as I was. To have my two boys and wonderful husband with me all in white- an eternal family- was so overwhelming it was really hard for me to keep my emotions in check. My whole family was able to be there (except my mom, who had to be in St. George to care for my uncle) as well as Wes's family. It is so wonderful to see how much support we have had and how many people love adoption and accept Sam as a natural part of our family. I am thankful we never had to contend with negativity about our adoptions or about Cori from my family. I couldn't be more blessed. And now, the PICTURES!!

Here we are walking out of the temple in our 'whites'. We were allowed to be outside of the temple for 15 minutes after the sealing to take pictures. I know that not all temples allow this, but I am so thankful that the Logan one does!

I don't know why, but I really like this picture- (but I wish Sam was smiling!)

One big happy eternal family!

Sam was so tired and snuggly and I just couldn't give his face enough kisses!

I am hoping that my little sis can do some magic with these pictures, but I think they are pretty magical anyway. What an incredible day!!

Well, that is it for now. I want to give a shout out to c-dawg (cori) and say I am so sorry that I haven't posted about this yet. I hope you know how very loved you are in our house! Kolton even began saying, when asked whose tummy he came from, "Cori's tummy!" To say adoption has changed my life is a huge understatement! I think don't want to do it any other way from now on! The Lord could not be more wonderful to us.

And last, but certainly not least, I wanted to post some pictures of my beautiful Sam. My sister, Britney, took them when we came to stay for a couple of days at my mom's house. She is the one that does MAGIC with photos (that's a plug- she does it for a ridiculously small fee) and I am so thankful for her willingness to edit lots of pics for me and for taking these beautiful pictures of Sam.

Oh yeah, before the edited ones, I have to show what a total and adorable little CHUB he is!!

This is Britney with Sam. What a crazy duo! He adores her!

Could I POSSIBLY have more to write about???

I hope y'all are patient because I am FINALLY sitting down to attempt to share our lives over the last month or two. So much has happened that I really don't know where to begin- so I will start from the beginning! On May 21st I had to go in to have my gallbladder removed. It was pretty sudden- but I kept thinking I was getting the stomach flu over and over and it ended up being gallstones! Go figure... Anyway, It was pretty uneventful, but, it wouldn't be a story without pics so here you go~

Lovely, eh? These are both pre-surgery, of course. I have a couple of post-surgery pics, but they are scary beyond all reason. I'm not joking.

It was pretty exciting as I have never had surgery, stitches, or anything like that before. It was a few weeks of recovery but well worth the pain! I have not puked in over a month and that is saying something!!

Stay tuned for the most important post---our Finalization and Temple date with Sam!! I would post about it now, but we have a train to catch (seriously, we got free passes to ride the train here!)

A very picturesque post!

This post is going to be mostly pictures and captions, otherwise it will be three pages long! I wish I was one of those talented moms who can say it all with just one perfect picture, but, alas, I can never chose just one to post! Plus having a birthmommy in the picture who has to miss out on these moments makes me want to post as much detail as I can so that she can feel as though she was there! Do you feel it, Cori?? We went to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center on April 10 (I know- a whole week ago, but don't judge me, my sister got married and we put our house on the market last week so I was not online much!). It was our first time going and we will definitely go next year! Kolton had the best time of his life, partially because of all the fun animals and activities, but also because some of his cousins were there with us. It was a dream come true for me to take my kiddos to something like this where they can learn and grow so much. It was a reminder of those days two and a half years ago when I would be invited to go 'even though I didn't have kids' and I would cry and long for a family of my own. My gratitude for Cori grew ten fold that day, which I didn't even think was possible...DO YOU FEEL IT, CORI??? Kay, here I say it will be mostly pictures and there I go blubbering!! Here's the pictures, folks....

I must have a million pictures of Kolton on his daddy's shoulders, but it gets me every time!

This was a rather boring hay ride, but the horses were HUGE so Kolton was in heaven!

Mr. Messy Face McGee

My three bears!! (Get it? I'm Goldilocks!!)

This was a proud moment for me- he was so brave!!

Kolton's favorite part, hands down, was the train ride- he talked about it all night!

Little Sam in his overalls for the occasion. He didn't enjoy the day as much as Kolton, but he was a good sport and smiled a lot anyway

This baby goose was so soft! Kolton just smiled the whole time he held it! On his left is his cousin, Kelsea, and on his right is his cousin, Justin

I think this part was my favorite! This bunny was completely adorable and snuggly and kept giving Kolton kisses. I wanted it so bad (only $10!!) but Wes reminded me that we are probably apartment-bound in the near future...sigh...

Justin was very brave and ate a barbeque flavored cricket- yuck!

Believe it or not, Kolton did this cool rock all by himself! He painted it and etched out a design with a toothpick. What a budding artist!

I just love this picture of him- his little red cheeks and runny nose! What a cutie!

Kolton was less than enthusiastic about petting the calf- but eventually got brave

Kolton playing us a soulful song on the drums...

And Wes and Sam joining in!

It was a terrific day and I was as happy as could be with my little family! Kay, to end this very long post I have to brag a bit...Our dining room table was re-done by your's truly when we moved into this house five years ago. It remained beautiful until Kolton turned 18 months and then the chairs looked like this...

So, I got a wild hair the other night and decided to re-do them AGAIN in a more stain-friendly fabric and ended up with this!!...

I bow, you clap, and we all rest easier knowing that people coming to look at my house won't run away in fear. Whew!!