Back to School

It's the first day of 4th grade!  Just like every first day of school, no worries to be found and excited to go back and see all of his friends.

Campout

What a great way to end the summer!  Steve and James camping out on the trampoline.  They even stayed out there all night.

Colorado! (Again)

Another fun trip to Colorado!  Biking, canoeing, and an awesome day in Boulder.  Not to mention Grandma & Grandpa ;)

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to us! (I won't mention how old we are now though)  

Happy 4th of July!

Baseball Season

Another season of baseball!  Although James's team did awesome, and James's skills have really improved, I think the thrill of baseball is starting to fade for him.  We'll have to wait and see if there's another baseball season next year!?

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day brunch for the best dad around!  We love you daddy!

Memorial Day Weekend

We went up to Portage this weekend to put flowers on Grandma & Grandpa's graves.  It's a newer tradition that I happen to love.  Portage is a beautiful place.  I miss my grandparents a lot, in a small way I feel like I'm still taking care of them a little still...can't wait to see them again someday.

Payson Temple

We got to visit the new Payson temple. We barely made it inside before the storm came!  (Leaving the temple was a different story.)  It's absolutely gorgeous inside and out. We know someone who got to do some of the craftsmanship inside the temple so  we had kind of an inside scoop on some of the detailing before we went inside. It's always nice to get the opportunity to be inside a temple with my family. Hopefully we'll get to go in again soon if we are blessed with another adoption ;)

Easter in Colorado

We spent the Easter holiday in Colorado with my mom and dad.  We had a quick trip but we managed to squeeze in a great Easter (including dying Easter eggs, an Easter egg hunt, and a yummy Easter dinner), a fun day in Boulder, some fishing at Dad's lake, and even a little shopping!  (James picked out some bright blue Nike shoes that he loves so much he wants to sleep in them!)

James's 9th Birthday

We celebrated James's 9th birthday with my family a couple of weeks early so that dad could be there to celebrate.  He came home from Colorado for a few days so we decided to have our family party for James while dad was in town, and of course James had no problem celebrating early ;)

Then on James's actual birthday, we went to Classic Skating with Steve's family and with Rose (James's birth mom) and her daughters.  He had a blast running around with his cousins.  I think we'll have to do this every year for his birthday.

Happy birthday my sweet 9-year-old boy!

Poor Solo

Solo is not having a good year already :(  She had surgery about a month ago and she just finished he medication and grew her fur back when a German Shepherd decided to come over and show her who's the boss.  Luckily James wasn't there, but poor Solo got it pretty bad and he even got me in the leg a bit as well.  (Man dog bites hurt!)  She had to have surgery and the vet had to shave her fur off again in multiple places, and she has to do another round of antibiotics.  If my little bit hurts like crazy then I can't imagine what Solo feels like.  

Ice Skating

We had to postpone our yearly Christmas tradition of outdoor ice skating because of the bitter, bitter, cold weather that we had in December. It usually is cold when we go ice skating so we just bring along some hot chocolate and doughnuts to warm us up, but this year it was just too cold out to even think about being outside. (Especially for our family visiting from warm California :)  Now here we are in February and it's 60 degrees out...we didn't even have to wear jackets to ice skate this year!

Stomp!

For an early Valentine's Day gift, I took Steve and James to see Stomp perform.  James LOVED it!  He was clapping and cheering louder than anyone else in the entire audience.  He got souvenir drum sticks after the show :)

First Trophy

James got his first real trophy!  He placed 3rd in his school's Art Inspirations contest for his painting.  He's gotten ribbons and medals and certificates, but never a trophy and he's wanted one so  badly for so long.  He even asked me to but him one at the store :) We are very proud of our little artist!