Happy New Year!!!!!!

Put your party hats on!!!

Tomorrow is a new year!

(I'll try to be a better blogger in 2012)

(Photo taken by Holly Brimhall Photography)

Dinner with Our "Birth Mom"

Last Friday night we had dinner with Denea, our BIRTH MOM!!!!!!!

She is due November 20th, and it's a...

GIRL!!!

We have been emailing back and forth with Denea for a month, and were finally able to meet her for dinner. She came with her Mom, and our caseworker met us there. We had a lot of fun chatting and asking each other questions. She lives in Mesa, so we won't be too far when she goes into labor. She even invited us to be in the delivery room. How amazing is that?! We are so excited about this new little person who will be joining our family, and we feel so blessed to have found Denea. We think she is absolutely amazing!!! We love our birth Mom and think she's adorable.

My Big Boy's 1st Day of School

Kade's 1st day of preschool. We had to take a couple of pictures.

He has his new Spiderman backpack, and his Sharky, for show & tell.

cutie-patootie

Heading to his teacher's house.

He loved his 1st day of school, and even told me he had fun, as soon as I walked in to pick him up!

Birthday Weekend - Camping

We went up to the white mountains for another weekend of camping. It was a family reunion weekend. We lucked out, and were able to stay in the motor home, with Rob's parents. Friday was Kade's birthday, so he called it his "camping party"...

Kade and his cousin Shelby have birthdays 1 day apart. Grandma made them a cake to celebrate.

Then Kade opened some presents by the campfire.

Grandma & Grandpa chillin' by the fire.

Rob's brother Eric & his wife Kim.

Playing with cousins.

Going on a mule ride.

Gavin, Garth, & Kade

cheeeeeeeese

"the big boy cousins"

Kade with jasper, Colton, and Jack

The trailer ride up to Greens' Peak.

All the kids load up camp chairs on the big flat bed trailer, and take a long ride up the mountain. The rest of us ride up on quads, motorcycles, or rhinos.

Rob's cousin, Amber.

The trailer takes off to head back down the mountain.

Rob & Wade had a rock tossing contest.

Look at Wade's form!

Rob's stretching, to get a good toss.

One of Rob's cousins built a big zip line, and Kade was brave enough to go on it.

Kade climbing the ladder to get all hooked up to the zip line.

At the top of the tree, waiting for the ride to start.

When he was all done, he didn't want to take the helmet off, because he wanted to go again.

Playing some baseball.

Check out the catcher...

We had a little Sunday devotional where different families got up to share something.

Another rhino ride.

Charlie, Kade, and Gavin

They never stopped talking or yelling, the whole time.

A Little Getaway To Memaw & Papa's

We went to visit my parents, for a 3-day weekend. As you can tell from our very few pictures, we spent most of the time in the pool.

Kade with his super soaker.

Memaw & Kade, reading a story before bed.

Daddy throwing Kade up in the air. Check out his left hand (he was counting to 3 for the toss).

Jumping between the goal post.

He loved jumping in the pool.

(And Mom loves the invention of the life vest.)

"Poo" Party

We went to visit with some friends this past weekend. We spent a ton of time in the pool, or "poo" as Kade's friend, Remi calls it. We swam, played games, went to the Temple, BBQ'd, played horse and knock out, and swam some more.

Kade likes to hang on Daddy's back, while Rob pretends that he can't find him.

Jumping off Dad's shoulders.

Get ready...

Go!

Jumping of the side, with his buddy Remi.

Jumping with no life vest. He wanted to practice his swimming.

Sleepy, after a full day of swimming.

Night swimming...

Kade was brave enough to jump off of the water fall, by the time the sun went down.

Splash!

Thanks friends! We had a blast! We'll be back for more, soon. :)

BBQ, Fireworks, Friends and a Monsoon

We had a fun 4th, with friends from our neighborhood. We played at the park and had a BBQ. When the monsoon hit, we had to duck for cover under the Ramada. Luckily it didn't last long, and the temperature was perfect for watching fireworks.

Some of the guys even got in a game of football.

Nice catch, Rob!

Eventually the kids wanted to join in.

How many people can you stuff under one Ramada?

slip 'n sliding

Some of the kids playing at the park.

Our group getting ready for the show.

You can't have a 4th of July without an Eegee's icee. :)

Kade was a little afraid of the sparklers.

Kade & Mommy, watching the fireworks.

Thanks to the monsoon, it was only in the 70's. Perfect!