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!!

Belated Easter Greetings!

I never imagined three years ago that I would be celebrating Easter with TWO amazing children, but there we were on Sunday, baskets in hand, camera at the ready, and more than a few tears in my eyes as I realized how very blessed I am. I love Easter because it is a time of new beginnings and it has always been a time of reflection for me. I think of all the Savior did for us- even for the people who hated him and killed him. He loves us all so much and therefor he gave his life so that we can live with Him again. I don't think it was ever easy for me to imagine the kind of love that took for our Heavenly Father to watch his son go through that. That is, until I watched our boys' birthmother experience a similar sacrifice as she placed not one, but two children in our arms to raise as our own. Her strength has helped me to better understand the Savior's love for me and her trust in us reminds me each day what a blessing it is to be a mother and what a great responsibility I have to do my best in raising them so that I am worth of the heartache she went through. So, Cori, to you I say THANK YOU for what must be the millionth time! I also want to remind you how much you are loved and appreciated. We want so many good things for you!

Okay, so our Easter, aside from being rather cold and rainy, was by far my best EVER! Last year Kolton was not walking yet so this was really his first year of really getting to HUNT eggs and by the time he finished his fourth egg hunt he was a total PRO. And when it came to decorating eggs, he was super careful and knew each color he wanted. We found some cute egg kits with 'Cars' and 'Mickey Mouse Clubhouse' stickers and he was very specific on which sticker he wanted on each egg. And, as luck would have it, he ended up LOVING to eat the hardboiled eggs the next day!

here is is dyeing a 'lellow' egg

He had so much fun with the egg utensil that he decided to eat his macaroni with it as well!

These stickers remained on him for two days. He was pretty attached!

The final product! I think he did a pretty awesome job!

Sam even got in on the fun!

This was the egg hunt in Richmond. We woke up to a fresh blanket of snow, but nothing was going to stop Kolton from digging through every inch of it to find the eggs and 'canee' (candy)!

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Garners in between sessions of General Conference on Sunday for a yummy lunch and egg hunt! Every year, Grandma gives them seeds to plant a garden and puts them in the eggs instead of candy. It was a nice break from the sugar rush!

Wes entertained us all with a little egg juggling. Kolton tried as well, but I think he may need a bit more practice!

We didn't even have to help Kolton find his special basketball eggs. He knew which ones were his and found all eight of them on his own!

We finished the day off by going to my sister, Cristi's house for the biggest Easter egg hunt this side of the Pecos. She has a half acre of land and lots of trees . This means many great hiding places and a lot of competition between the older kids to find the 'uber egg'. This is a jumbo egg full of money and really good prizes that must be filled and hid by the person who found it the year before. This year my 7 year-old nephew, Caleb, found the uber egg hidden in some crusty old squash in Cristi's garden. I told you the competition was high!

Sam and Alex got caught up on the latest happenings while the other kiddos hunted for eggs

The first thing Kolton found was this carrot egg. He would have been happy with that and nothing else and he still keeps it close to his bed each night. He didn't even care that there was candy inside!

This is a small fraction of all the people there. There are 20 grandkids in our family, not to mention 18 adults!

Sunday night while I was cleaning up and trying to get Kolton down from his sugar high I put on 'Baby Einstein' for Sam and found out just how much he loves it! He talked the whole way through it and cried when it was over. Is this a blessing or curse? Only time will tell...

And finally, I cannot share the stories of the last week without mentioning 'Bear'. Bear is Kolton's new best friend. Kolton includes Bear in all he does; sleeping, eating, getting his diaper changed, and even his artistic pursuits! Here are some pictures to illustrate how super cute this is!

you can't see Bear in this picture, but believe me, he was close by!

Bear's favorite food is Nerds, apparently!

To top off this very long post, Sam is now spending some time in this walker that was given to him by his cousins. The flower part is actually a mirror and I don't think he will ever tire of looking at himself! He is growing so fast and just keeps getting cuter by the second!

Temples and toddlers, porridge and poses

What a weekend! The perfect weekend! A lot to be thankful for and smile about. I'll let the pics do most of the talking. To start with, my little sister, Keli, went through the temple for the first time on Saturday. That makes her the last out of 8 children to be endowed. It was a really special experience and I am so happy for her!

Keli is the one in the middle with the tan bag next to my dad

The love of my life!

(forgive the underlining right here...can't fix it and don't want to figure out how to)

And this morning Kolton came up to me and handed me the camera, saying, "cute, mom, cute" and, thinking he had taken a picture by himself, I checked the camera and found nothing. I looked down at him to ask him what he wanted and he had struck

...wait for it....

this pose

and he just held it until I took the picture!! I just can't get over it!

Now, even though I am a couple of weeks behind where I started with Kolton, I finally gave Sam his first taste of rice cereal yesterday. Once again, the pictures speak for themselves~

He preferred to use his hands rather than the spoon, but the job got done and he was SATISFIED!!!

And to top off my weekend, Sam now fits into these overalls, which I have had in his drawer since day one in the hopes of this very day!

'I've said it 'afore and I'll say it again' (from the movie Carousel) that I am truly the luckiest mom in the world! At least I feel like it right now...maybe not so much when Sam gets cradle cap or Kolton colors on everything BUT the paper I give him, but for now I am content!

A good Saturday so far!

Well, we finally got Sam into the nursery and out of his cradle. We decided it was finally time when he kept kicking at the foot of the cradle when he got excited. It was hard to see him sleeping in the crib that Wes made for Kolton and to realize how quickly they have both been growing. Sam is already 14lbs!! It took about five minutes for Sam to fall fast asleep in his new bed.




Pics of Kolton's new room are coming when it is a little more finished. We are getting ready to sell the house because Wes is losing his job in a couple of months so I haven't been able to do much other than get things packed up to make the house look bigger and more 'sell-able'. Hopefully I can find time this weekend to finish his blanket and curtains. I hope the rest of my Saturday is as productive as the first part has been!

My incredibly talented sis (again...)

Well, she's done it again! My sister, Britney, went with us to the Logan temple today to get some family pictures. The grounds were closed *sniff* but we still got some beautiful shots. I realized recently that I have very few pictures of all four of us together and I don't like any of them, so I recruited Britney and her amazing talent at photography to come capture my beautiful family. My boys are seriously the most beautiful children in the world to me (and to everyone else, right?) and my husband just still takes my breath away. I can't help it! I feel like the luckiest girl alive sometimes! So, here are a few of the pictures (she is going to glorify them by editing out the yuckies and smoothing everything out and making colors pop, etc. but I couldn't resist putting some on here anyway!) If anyone would like some great family pictures taken and edited by her, I know she would be very good and very cheap. Her &*#$%@ husband (pardon my French) just left her completely and kicked her out to live with my mom again because he decided he doesn't like the responsibility of marriage and the feeling of being tied down to one woman and she could really use a boost (in self-esteem AND cash) so just contact me and let me know!

This is Britney and I this weekend while we shopped in SLC

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E.... 'nuf said

Oooh, aaaahh....Dance in Smarty Pants!

Here is just a quick vid of my adorable little Kolton showin' off his smart brains. He blows me away most of the time! He knows that every time we see North Cache middle School that we are close to grandma's and he also knows that when he puts soda on Sponge Bob Square Pants cheeze-it crackers they grow....I just can't keep up sometimes..~

Oh! And happy St. Pattie's Day everyone!! No one in the world is as lucky as I to have such wonderful people in my life.

One crazy week!

Hello to all! As many of you know, we have had a very insane week around here. I'll start with a part that few of you know about, and that is the new red stain on our bedroom carpet...

No, folks...it's not blood...it's fingernail polish in the beautiful color of 'vampire red'. Kolton got a hold of said fingernail polish using skills hitherto unknown and dutifully poured it all over the carpet and shower and bathroom tile...

Looks like something out of 'psycho' eh?? Anyway, that was how March started out for us... Then Kolton became quite sick and had a very high fever. We took him in last Tuesday and found out that he had brochiolitis as well as a double ear infection. We immediately had him on antibiotics and thought we were out of the woods. Well, Tuesday night as we were all snuggly in bed I heard a small cough come from the foot of the bed where Sam's cradle is. I tried to pretend I didn't hear it until it came again...and again...and again. Knowing that taking him to the doctor just for a cough would be futile we just decided to wait for a couple of days. Well, the cough continued and a runny nose and congestion were added. Every time we decided to take him in he miraculously started improving for those few hours. Finally, Saturday morning he didn't want to eat and I decided that wild horses couldn't keep me away from the instacare clinic. The doctor there did a chest x-ray and found pneumonia. He also tested for RSV and it came back positive. After much hesitation about whether or not to send us to the hospital or home, he decided to send us home. Home heath care people showed up shortly after to set up and show us how to use a suction machine and albuterol nebulizer. I thought, 'surely we can handle this!'-- how wrong I was. I went to my sister, Cristi's house for a scent of the month luncheon (she sells Scentsy) and afterward we sat down to plan my little sister, Keli's, bridal shower. Shortly after getting started, Wes called me and said that Sam's face was turning blue. I rushed home as quick as I could and my sister, Billye was right behind me to pick up Kolton and take him to her house. We rushed to the hospital and as we were driving Sam's color pinked back up, thankfully. Shortly after arriving, Sam was admitted to the hospital. We stayed there until this morning and, after much care and love and praying and blessings, he is finally doing so much better. The nurses at Logan Regional hospital were so attentive and caring. After what has been a very stressful few months, it was actually kind of nice to spend some time up there with my little Sam and enjoy him and not have to worry about anything else. I brought my camera up with me so I could catch some of the memorable moments. Judge if you will, but I think it is good to have pictures of the challenging times, too!

Thankfully he only had to be on oxygen the first and second nights.

Wes and Kolton coming up was so much fun. Sam recognized them both and smiled a bunch!

Here's Sam snuggling down with the bunny his cousin, Alex, gave him as a get-well gift

I love this picture! Sam kept tipping his head back so he could watch the TV overhead.
I can't thank everyone enough for the meals that were brought, the prayers and blessings that were offered, and the visits and phone calls we have received. It is always humbling to experience something like this. It makes me want to be a better person and member of my ward. It also makes me want to be a better mom and friend. Above all, it makes me want to do all I can to let the Lord know how very thankful I am to be a mother and to have two amazing little sons and a wonderful birthmom who's concern for little Sam was as great as mine. I hope this wasn't too lengthy for all of you in blog land! I finally got a new computer and finally have the chance to sit and try it out! I can finally load pictures and it doesn't take two years! I hope all of you had a calmer week than we did, but still got as much out of it!