Adoption

I'm sure all of you have heard from us by now but, if not, Jared and I would like all of our friends and family to know that we have been approved to adopt. If you know of or hear about someone in need of placing a baby for adoption, please let us know and we will give you our online profile address and other info to pass on. Prayers are much appreciated, as well! :) We are hoping, wishing and praying that something happens very soon.

May 2010

May began with dinner out with my family to celebrate my dad's birthday. We ate at a new Mexican restaurant in Hammond and my mom brought some cake:
On Tim's birthday (5/4), I went to my parents' house to have dinner with my family:
On Sat. the 8th, I took my mom out to eat at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro for Mother's Day:
This past Thursday was Jared's birthday. He took the day off and we got some stuff done around the house, went to a baptism, and went out to eat at a steak house. The next morning, I got up extra early to exercise, after which we left for Mobile, AL. We met two of Jared's sisters (Carrie & Stephanie) and their husbands/kid there and spent the weekend touring Mobile. First, we went to Fort Conde:
Next, we toured the Conde-Charlotte House and went to the hotel and relaxed for a bit and had a little birthday party for Jared. His sisters were SO sweet and gave him a basket full of gifts and made some of his favorite dessert, Black Magic (basically marshmallow creme and Oreos):
We went swimming that evening until it rained, then had dinner at the hotel, after which the boys went to see "Robin Hood" while the girls went for a walk and hung out in one of the rooms.

Sat., we spent several hours at the USS Alabama Battleship:
It started raining just as we finished touring the USS Drum submarine and, while we were inside the Aircraft Pavilion, it started storming. We went and waited in the gift shop until it eased up a little, then we went and ate dinner at a seafood restaurant just down the road. We were hoping to go swimming at the hotel that evening but it rained all night, and we were all pooped, so we just stayed in our rooms and relaxed.

The next morning, we had wanted to go down to the beach and fort at Dauphin Island but it was raining, so Jared and I headed home--the others stayed in Mobile until the next day. It was a fun trip and it was so good to visit with family that we don't get to see that often (the 21-month old nephew is SOOOOO cute!). I just wish the weather would have cooperated a bit more. But still a great trip! Now ready for all the fun stuff June will bring!

April 2010

WARNING: very pic-heavy post!!!!

I spent most of April in Utah. On Thurs. (4/1), Jared asked me if I'd be willing to go to Utah to help out one of his sisters who had just had a premature baby. Of course, I said yes. So we bought the tickets the next day and I flew out three days later, the day after Easter. We had Easter dinner at the Rendine's house:

My time in Utah; I babysat a niece on Jared's side for the first week and 1/2. I was able to stay at Kiki's and babysit the niece there. It worked out so perfectly and the niece loved playing with Kiki's kids! Here are some of my fave pics from the 3 weeks in Utah:

{Princess Carma}:

{Wyatt LOVES the Baby Alive doll Carma got for her birthday; he is constantly giving her kisses}:

{Carma and her baby, Tiana}:

{I brought Carma and Judson to get some Sub Zero ice cream; since I was on the Game On diet, I didn't have any--I was proud of myself for resisting!!}:

{Carma and I "camped" in the backyard in her Dora tent}:

{Kiki and I made crowns with Carma and one of her friends}:

{I love this pic of Wyatt}:

We took the kids to the park a few times while I was there:

{More princess pics of Carma}:

{I took Judson on a "date" to Winger's}:

{Judson and I brought home some Asphalt Pie from Winger's and he shared it with Carma}:

{Judson acting really silly!}:

{Carma dressed up for the ward talent show--she danced with her dance class and sang a solo}:

{Here's a video of Carma when she was practicing her song a couple of days before the talent show--notice how she was much more animated than she was on the stage in front of everyone. But, for her first time singing in front of a crowd, she did awesome!}:

{Kiki and I went and visited a friend, Jamie, at her house and went to lunch with her; she's so awesome!}:

{Jared made some awesome dragons using tin foil}:

{Kiki and I took the kids to McDonald's}:

{Kiki and I took Carma & Judson to play putt-putt}:

{One of the many times Wyatt played in either the car, truck or van; he LOVES cars and likes to just sit and play in them}:

{And yet another Princess Carma pic--I just can't resist!}:

{Wyatt was a full-on binky addict while I was there--completely addicted to them! He went into rehab after I left, ha ha}:

{All dressed up for church--what cuties, huh?}:

I got this great video of Wyatt singing and playing the ukulele; so freaking cute!!!!!}:

I had a great time in Utah but three weeks is a long time to be away from home and Jared, so it was nice to come home. However, I came home to a dead computer!! It was over a week before I got a new one but I've been very happy with the new computer and Windows 7 (except that my scanner wouldn't work with Windows 7 so I had to buy a new one and spend hours and hours figuring out how to use my electronic die cutting machine, which I use for scrapbooking, with W7).

BTW, in case you're wondering why I never put pics of the nieces and nephews on Jared's side, it's because I don't have permission to and Jared has asked me not to. Otherwise, I would LOVE to put pics of them and show everyone how cute they are and how much I love them. :)

March 2010

We went to our ward family camp-out. It was really fun!
I went with my parents and Ben's family up to Jackson to visit Maw-maw at Aunt Patty's:
I made a tutu for Belle's birthday:
We all went to Chuck E. Cheese for Belle's birthday:

AND we had two nephews on Jared's side born on the same day in March!

Oh, and I started a new weight loss program called Game On. It's a competition diet and is working well for me. I've lost 16.5 lbs. so far. :)