A Forever Family

I am happy to say that yesterday my stepsister Angie and her husband Brett adopted these 3 beautiful kids, Raoul, Elyda and Jacqueline, into their family (and mine!) Congratulations!!

Tagged

Tagged

JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Pizza Villa
2. Day Care Manager
3. Storage Unit Manager
4. Mama - this one's my favorite!


MOVIES I CAN ALWAYS WATCH:
1. Ever After
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Phantom of the Opera
4. Home movies of my kids!


PLACES I'VE LIVED:
1.Idaho
2.Utah
3.Montana
4.Michigan

TV SHOWS I ENJOY:
1. Oprah
2. American Idol
3. The Today Show
4. The Biggest Loser


FAVORITE FOOD:
1. Fruit
2. Pizza
3. Italian food
4. Cheese - more when I'm pregnant :)


WEBSITES I VISIT:
1. My local library site
2. My friends\families blogs
3. Google
4. My email


PLACES I'D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW:
1. On vacation with my family
2. Eating out at a restaurant
3. Scrapbooking
4. Right where I am!


4 BLOGGER BUDDIES TO...TAG YOUR IT:
1. My mom (you can do it, mom!)
2. Brittani
3. Emily Ann
4. Anyone else who wants to! This means you. :)

Copy and paste this...and fill it out for you. If you really want to.

The girls

We went on a beautiful walk today close to our home. The girls LOVE to be outside and seem to just soak in everything around them. We saw a toad (which I caught so we could have a better look at it - but we didn't get a picture of it because it peed on my hand and I dropped it!), a bunny on our trail, and a beautiful red cardinal that Sophie spotted way up high in a tree. It was so fun to just be together and let the girls explore. They are growing up so fast! I love being able to be home with them each day and watch them learn new things and seeing their little minds work. They have been getting along so well and really love playing with each other. Sophie is a wonderful big sister, and is so excited for a new brother or sister to join our family, although she is hoping for a brother! Today she said she will love me, dad, nora and the baby in my belly forever. She is a sweetheart. Nora is a little crazy,typical 2 year old! She pretty much thinks she's invincible. At the playground she will climb everything and not stop until she gets to the top of whatever it is she is climbing. And I have to say she is pretty good at it! I think she's a little too confident though because she tries to do it as fast as possible. Her favorite saying lately is, "Actually, mom..." She says it all the time and it is so cute. What can I say, I'm one lucky mama!
(Sophie really was having a good time, she kind of looks sad in the picture and Nora just pulled her hair out of her ponytails!)

Shaped like a mitten.....

Ever since we first found out we were moving to Michigan we started telling Sophie that we were moving to a place shaped like a mitten. She always acted excited about it and then one day I overheard her talking to my sister on the phone and she said, "We're moving far away like you (my sis lives in Georgia) and my mom says it is shaped like a mitten, but really I think it's shaped like a square!" I kept trying to convince her that it was shaped like a mitten but she wouldn't buy it. So I dropped it. When we pulled up to our new place in Michigan Sophie looked out the car window and instantly said, "See! I told you it wasn't shaped like a mitten, it's a square!" This made me laugh because this whole time in her little mind she thought I was trying to convince her that the place we were moving to would be shaped like a mitten! She was quite proud of the fact that she was right. I guess I should start teaching her about the 50 States!

The previous pictures...

Because I can't figure out how to put a caption under the photos right now I will add in a little explanation for some of the photos. But because there are so many and I can't remember which order they are in you'll just have to figure it out! Sorry. :)
There is one of the girls chilling on the couch at the hotel, they LOVED staying in Hotels and swimming every night and the continental breakfast each morning (which I equally loved!) There are some of Winter Quarters and Nauvoo, where Sophie was thrilled to find a birdhouse somewhere in one of the gardens we were exploring. We had to convince her that the birds were coming back to their house so we could not take it with us. There are some pics from my uncle Terry's house. The 2 large bears (yes, they were really alive - once!) There's one pic of Brian sitting in a Mercedes. He was quite excited because he got to take some of my uncles' cars for a spin (a Rolls Royce, a NXS, a porsche, and a mercedes). There is also a great picture of Brian imitating a clown picture from my uncles house. I thought he did such a great job I just had to share!! There is one picture of a beautiful covered bridge in Madison County,Illinois (I'm pretty sure it was Illinois?) Ever heard of the bridges of Madison County? There's a picture of Sophie holding my uncle's shih tzu - named Sophie as well! And a picture of my mom and sophie in the car on our way to Denver.It was so nice to have her for the first 9 hours of the trip! And a picture of Toph and Emily, Brian's brother and his wife, who without their help (and my mom's) we would not have been able to accomplish our move in such a timely manner - thanks a bunch mama, emily and toph!

We're here!

We made it! We are here in Michigan and getting settled. The drive out went well. Sophie was an angel in the car and was content to sit and color and look out the window. Nora didn't do quite as well, but considering her age she did great! We made some stops along the way in Denver at my uncle terry's house (we were lucky enough to have my mom ride to Denver with us!) We saw his amazing car garages where he has over 300 AMC cars that are completely re-done and beautiful! Then we stopped at Winter Quarters in Omaha, Nebraska and at Nauvoo, Illinois. It was really fun to see a lot of the church history sites. My favorite place was the burial site of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith. It had a really neat feeling there. We went to our new ward and were one of about 10 new couples/families moving in! Two others were here from Sandy, Utah! It should be a fun ward. One of the best things about being here is that Andy and Ashlee Woolf and their two girls live here as well! (For those of you who don't know I grew up in the same ward as Ashlee and we went to High School together). It has been fun to have them here, and they are in our ward as well! Brian starts school on Monday and has had meetings and stuff all week from 8-6. He starts teaching a substance abuse class on Tuesday and is busily trying to create a sylabus and get everything ready for that. He's a great teacher so I know he will do a wonderful job! It has been quite the adventure for us so far and we are looking forward to being here and experiencing Michigan life, although saying goodbye to all of our family members and friends made me realize why people choose to stay close to home their whole lives! The girls are adjusting well. Sophie loves her new Primary class and can't wait to go to church again on Sunday. Nora turned two the day after we got here, she is such a doll and follows sophie around all day long. Overall, we are doing well and are happy to be here!!!

Leaving Alpine Storage

The girls in the office at Alpine Storage

Rachel, me and Brittani

Sophie and Charli being silly

Brian, Deryck and Nic in the backyard at Alpine

Audrey - Megan and Shaun's baby, Sophie adores her!

Cute little Preslee

Rachel and Camden

Cory, Ethan and Kristen - used to work at Alpine with me

Sophie, Tayson and Charlie in the office

Nora, Sophie, Charli and Tayson in the playroom

Sophie and her friend Lizzie

Jeremy, Brian, Woody and Colt out at the Rawlings' house

Marie, Jason and Noah - friends from our old ward

Nora and Noah - cute smiles, huh!

There are a few things I didn't know would happen during our time here at AA Alpine Storage, but most of all I didn't know I would make such wonderful friends! I will definitely miss them and will make sure to keep in touch. The hardest part of life when you're raising young kids and moving around for school and work is making such great friends and then leaving them!
We have enjoyed the last 2 1/2 years in SLC and will miss all of our neighbors, friends and family who live down this way! Thank you all for your friendships and examples! Michigan - here we come!