14 years

I know, this picture is a bit gross.  Sorry to make you gag.  But we love to kiss and I couldn't find another picture of us that I haven't used before.
Tomorrow is our 14th wedding anniversary.  And I am in love love love with my husband.  Marrying him really was the best decision I ever made.  He has helped me so much to improve and settle down to the person I need to be.  I'm not quite there yet, but he's helped me to get a lot closer.  And that is why marrying him was such a brilliant thing to do, if I do say so myself.  He just makes me better.  I love being with him. I love so many things about him.  I am so lucky to have him.  And that he's stayed with me all these years, because if I were him, I would have run a long time ago.  I've said this so many times, but I will repeat it because it is still so true today:  He is the most Christlike person I have ever known.  And that is a fact.  How grateful I am to be his and that he's mine.  This is forever.

Spring Break

We went to Boise for Spring Break.  Besides Steve being sick the entire time, we managed to have a fun time.  At least the kids did.  Poor Steve got sick a few days before the trip and remained sick for about a month!  It started out as a flu according to the doctor.  Then the doctor said it was bronchitis.  Then pneumonia.  Poor guy.  (Poor me too.)

Anyhow, we took the kids to Zoo Boise, the Discovery Center, and of course to see all the great family we have there in the Boise area.

 On the way home, we took the kids through Twin Falls where Celeste and Jonah were able to do baptisms at the Temple.  Then we took the kids to the falls.  BEAUTIFUL!

Some random videos

Some Family Fun Days - Spring 2012

 The kids enjoying Discovery Gateway.

The kids at the Dinosaur Museum.  We brought cousin Jesse along too.  Isn't he adorable?

 The kids at Farm Country.  Charity was pretty trepidatious (is that a real word?) at first on that pony ride, but it didn't take her long to warm up.

 This was Hana minutes after getting kicked by a horse.  It knocked her a couple of feet away and on to the ground.  She was very tough and brave about the whole thing.

 This photo got out of order here.  But I'm too lazy to fix it.  Another time we took the kids swimming.  Isn't she cute with that cap on?  We gotta protect her fake hair.

Andy trying to hide his delight.

I'm realizing that I am not getting equal camera time for all the kids.  Oops.  I need to do better. 

 I do love them all equally.  

Bits and Pieces

I loved this picture Hana brought home from school one day.  I will correct the spelling.  She wrote:  "I'm lucky because I have a great family."  And the family pictured there is the best part.

 Steve and I had such a great time at the David Lanz and Kurt Bestor concert.  

Here they are after the concert signing autographs.  

 Celeste sang a solo at her last choir concert.  She did really well!  We were so proud.

 My sister Emily and her family moved to Utah back in March.  We were all so thrilled to have them here!!!  Especially Hana and Andy to be reunited with their old buddies from the orphanage.  Now they're cousins.  Such a happy ending.  Well, kind of...they only ended up living here for like a week or so.  My brother in-law landed a job in Boise quickly and that is where they ended up.  

But it's still a whole lot closer than Tennessee, thankfully.

 

 Charity at the grocery store.  

Samuel getting his first taste of solid food.

Our Serving With Smiles Group.  Great kids.  Lots of fun.

Celeste decided to dress up Samuel as a girl one day.  Poor kid.

This is Charity wearing MY shrug that my mom crocheted for me for Christmas.  It accidentally got shrunk in the wash.  Really shrunk.  Now it fits Charity perfectly.

 Samuel is such a sweet baby.  I so very much enjoy him.  We all do.

Charity playing dress up.

Chess

 Our Charter school offers all these great clubs.  I let the kids join one each if they wanted.  Jonah's on the robotics team, Eden did a school play, and Hana and Andy joined the Chess Club.  It was totally new to Andy, but he didn't do too badly.  The tournaments were pretty cute.

Hana's Hair

A book could be written about this girl's hair.  Up until a few months ago, her hair was seriously the hardest part of being her mom.  But then, I found out about this angel of a woman who does ethnic hair from my adoption group.  She came over and in a couple of hours, Hana's hair went from this:

 To this:

 That's the angel lady who did it ^ and her cute daughter.

 It took her nearly 3 hours to do.  But then I was home free for 2 months!  I didn't have to do her hair AT ALL for two whole months.

 Totally worth it!  After 2 months, I felt it was soooo worth it to do it again.  I took her hair out, and it looked like this:

 Washed and brushed it and it looked like this.  I'm not kidding you  Her hair just stands up naturally like that.

 And we went with a different kind of fake hair this time and a couple of hours later, looked like this:

 Hana (and her mom,) love it!  She's had this particular hair in for over a month now and it still looks just as cute as it did on day 1.  And I have done nothing to it.

Braces for Andy

This is Andy right after he got braces. He had to get them because if you've noticed, his two front teeth were aimed in separate directions. One was in front of his bottom teeth, and one behind. The dentist said this put him at a high risk of breaking one of those two teeth and he needed braces ASAP. He was excited at first because his cousin Hayden, whom he worships, has braces. But after the soreness kicked in, he wasn't so excited.

Steve's Birthday

Steve turned 41! He's such a special guy and we all tried to make it a special day for him. But he is so nice, anything seems to please him. He did go to work that day, so I shot this little video on my phone for him of the babies to send to him while he worked.

The 3 youngest growin up

 I gave a very half-hearted shot at potty training Charity in February.  I gave up in a few hours.  She may have been ready, but I sure as heck wasn't.

 Samuel has been the best baby ever. Really.

And here's Hana and I at school together.  She is so much fun.  I am so glad we adopted her too!!!