I am a Harry Potter fan!! and I am so excited because I am going with Ashely my Niece (here at BYU) to the opening night of Deathly Hollows Part 1 tonight (well in the morning) at 3:30!! It is my first time going to an opening and I am so excited!! I will share pictures latter because I plan on taking some for sure!! Yeah!!! 

Our Little Guy's Surgery 

I can't wait to be able to use their names. I have agreed that I wouldn't post their names so that I can post our adventures on our blog. For those that don't know we are in the process of adopting the boys and we are all very excited about it. Last week on Monday we took "J" in for surgery. He had tubes in a couple of years ago and needed to have them put back in and his adenoids taken out. He has failed all of his hearing tests and I know that has made things so difficult for him. Just as I know this will make things so much better for him, including his learning and moods. He really did very well with everything!! There were only two things that upset him, he didn't want to put the hospital gown on, the Dr. convinced him that it was cool and when we got into the Post Op he saw the other kids in them and then he was totally ok with it. The other thing he wanted nothing to do with us getting on the hospital bed, he didn't like the idea of going "back to bed". So he asked Dad to carry him back which he did all the way back to the doors going back to the operating rooms (as far as we could), then the Dr took over. As you can see in the pictures, yes I was on the phone but only because we were still waiting for the phone call to happen for the surgery approval. Mom was NOT going to wait any longer so I was franticly calling everyone in the offices to make sure things didn't go wrong. It worked, I was able to get the supervisors supervisor and get it all taken care of, just in time!! Everyone was grateful (the charge nurse was relieved as we were too) third scheduling was the charm. 

Isn't that smile just contagious, even at 6am!!

I have fallen in Love with our boys!! 

Even though there are some hard times with them, it is worth it :)

THEY ARE WORTH IT!!

 PUMPKIN CARVING FUN!!!

They all got to pick their 

own pumpkins and designs...

 and they were all stoked!! 

The Ghost 

and 

GOBLINS 

are 

OUT!!

SILLY DADDY!!!

I THINK WE HAVE SOME

 HAPPY BOYS 

TONIGHT!!

I think that there is a reason you forget about carving pumpkins and all the work it takes...

if you didn't, you'd never do it every year!! :) 

but really I love to see their little eyes light up and the smiles on their faces!! 

MAKES IS ALL WORTH IT!!!

A full day!! 

Eric's first day of school... 

and a fun family night at Hee Haw Farms all wrapped up into one day!! 

Let's rope that Bull...

 Animal train ride anyone...

I don't know, do they look happy??

mmm...

I'm thinking 

Y E S !!!

 Petting and feeding the animals...

And trying to not get eaten.





A hay ride for all... 

The Gang!!

He was so excited to finally get to go to school!!

and be a "big boy" like his brothers!!

And it was even better that HE gets to be the only one to ride a 

BUS!!

The smile says it all!!

We've been doing a program called Joy School with 3 other Mom's and their children. 

He has really enjoyed it and it has been really good for him to be with other children is age and start being in a learning environment. It definitely got him ready for Pre-School.

We are still going to continue with Joy School as well as 3 days at Pre-School. 

He loves it and looks forward to going to school every day!!

The boys love meeting him at the bus when he gets home too... 

And he just smiles and walks off like he's been doing it his whole life!!

 FAMILY!!

I am so grateful for my family and hope that I never take them for granted!! 

LOVE YOU GUYS!!

YOUR THE BEST!!!

ALWAYS AND FOREVER!!

There has been a ton going on in our lives and part of the biggest part of it I can't really talk about and that has somewhat kept me from blogging besides the fact that I haven't had internet at home still... I have found a temporary way around that and am working on a permanent way around it. I also changed my background again.... I'm not going to keep it on Bronco's long term, but in honor of my dear husband and the first game of the Bronco's being today, I thought it fitting!! :)... Enjoy it hun because you know me, I'll be changing it again :)

I am excited to get back to blogging!! One of the things that I will be doing for a short time is not using the boy's names... In short order I should be able to, but please don't use them in any comments until you see me use them in the posts.

Thank you!!! :)

More to come really soon!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

We had a great day today!!

Thank you to ALL my boys including the ones not pictured!!

It was a great Mother's Day because of all of you!!!

I am so grateful for the AWESOME weather today!!! I took ALL the boys to the park, (we hadn't seen Jimmy or Chis all week so we were excited to see them) they changed my plans for the Bean Museum, they wanted the extra time at the park. They played hard and had a ton of fun!! I wasn't quite prepared for that one since we were headed to the museum so I didn't have sun block...oops.. I must get that all re-packed. We had so much fun and got a little too much sun, but it was so worth it!! :)

Hope everyone had a great day in the sun and the end of spring break!!

I'm going to post pictures tomorrow from the day...

Tonight I am grateful for the good weather and for some quiet time tonight!!

Now I just need to get some sleep....

long weekend ahead of us, I'll try and get some pictures and let you in on what will be happening around here....

Oh ok I'll tell you... WE ARE STARTING THE GYM TOMORROW!!

We are getting a roll off and we are DE-JUNKING OUR LIVES!!!

as much as possible!! and even though it is going to be a LOT of HARD WORK!! We are so excited to get things thinned out and trying to get a grasp of our lives...FINALLY!! :)

**UPDATE 4/10/2010- The can didn't come today as promised...I guess we'll have to start on Monday... So we worked on other things around the house and took the kids out to play and had our First B-Q in a long while (we've been out of gas). Good day even without the can :)

Today I sent Chad a message and said... wow you've been real quiet today... is everything ok?

His response,"Good day kids have been good"... YEAH!!!!!!!! Very Grateful for good days!!

Very Grateful that Chad and I are a TEAM!!! I have watched this wonderful man of mine change and develop right in front of my eyes!! It has not been an easy 2 months, but he has been AMAZING!! I will tell you more about some of these things a little latter... I have to be up in a couple of hours and really need a little sleep. But I just wanted Chad and all of you know how grateful I am for him and ALL that he has done!!

THANKS BABE!! YOUR AMAZING!! AND I LOVE YOU!!....

SO MUCH!!!

THE GANG!!

Ok so EVERYONE has been after me for not getting pictures up of the boys...

Here is Chad and I and all the boys.

Jimmy, Chris, Jay Jay, Jo Jo, and Skeeter...

not our names for them but nick names they know and I'm trying to protect them,

so I'm going to use them for now, until I can figure out what I'm going to do about the name thing...

They had just got new church clothes (for the first time) and hair cuts the night before,

it was like Christmas Morning at out house!! :)

They were SO HAPPY!!

This was a great day!!

Ok so it's almost been 2 months...

There have been a lot of grateful moments, and I should have posted them and kept going on my gratitude posts, they may have helped on the tough days, but I'm back and things are finally calming down a little. There is so much to tell my closest friends and family about, I will get to that... but right now this is a gratitude post

Today I'm grateful for a really good day at our home!! Chad and the boys had a REALLY good day together, even with the youngest getting a "haircut" from his brother and face planting into the wall and getting a bloody nose. He is at an awkward stage of going to fast and tripping over himself. When I got home the day continued to be a good one. We all ate dinner together and the boys got to stay up late since they were so good today!!! :)

There were no fits, no hitting, and VERY little arguing with each other.

That is an awesome day for us!!! We have only had a couple of those in the past 2 months!!

THANK YOU BOYS!! WAY TO GO!!

So much to be grateful for... and so much to catch you up on!! but for tonight I have to keep it short!! I'm so tired I might just collapse right here as I'm typing. I am grateful that Chad and I have followed the direction that the Lord sent us on... We were inspired I know.

We got a call with a need for a home, for a family of 3 little boys. We felt strongly that we needed to help these Brothers, so we went and meet them and brought them home with us last night. They are beautiful little boys and they have LOTS...no... TONS of energy!!! Chad has been so great with them and they have already had lots of fun with him.

More to come after we both get some sleep!! :)

Well it's been a week since I posted but I'm going to keep up my Gratitude posts even if I miss some days!! This is one goal that I want to accomplish for myself!! It's been a long week with a lot going on in our lives. I have also been avoiding my computer because I have so much work to do to get it back to functioning for me. But it's time to get back to what I love and stop avoiding it...

Tonight I am grateful for the past week being behind me, and having a fresh new week ahead of me. Just like what Christ has done for us so that we can have a new and fresh day and life ahead of us with the atonement, I believe that it also allows us to "restart" and "renew". I look forward to a renewed week ahead of us.

Today was a quiet day for me. I was home alone all day. I took advantage and took the steps that I needed to do to restore my computer. I had to take it back to the factory settings. Therefore EVERYTHING was whipped off the computer. If you know me, my LIFE is on this little piece of "technology" (as Jimmy would call it)... well ok WAS on this computer. I took the steps to save everything on my external drive so hopefully I will be able to move what I need back over. KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED!!!

With that all said thou, tonight I am grateful for two things:

FIRST is, to have Chad home with me. Safe and sound.

Second is that hopefully now my computer will stop crashing and I won't loose my work anymore.

** NOTE: Sassy went with Chad this time, Griz went with him the trip before. I took some pictures of Sassy in the truck with him, it was so cute... I'll have to get some with Griz now too. But here ya go!! She had a blast and I was glad that he wasn't alone and had some company with him. :)

Sassy and her first trip in the "Big Truck"

Chad says she did better than Grizzy did on the truck!! :) She looks like she's in charge!!

He had to barter with her to get her to share the bed with him!! But at least she was there to help him stay warm.. :) LOVE YOU TWO!!

I'll have to share the pictures he took of her on the truck... I'll have to re-load them... :} Something to look forward to another time.

I haven't posted for two days because I was working my bum off... I didn't get home from work till 3 am each of those days. Long story very short... DEADLINES and past employee NOT doing her job. So tonight I am VERY Grateful for my bed and to already being in it!!! Night all... More to come...

Later after some ZZZZZ'S!!!!

INTERVIEW DONE!!

Finished pulling the house together... a month of not being able to be on my leg more than 15 min without being in massive pain, makes it hard to have a Clean house vs a tidy house.

Got the fensing done around the window wells in the front of the house

(waiting till spring to have the covers made).

Both the boys to their Dr appointments, Chad to his two Dr appointments, Boys off to school, got my work day done, Jimmy off to Scouts.....

THEN.... OUR RFC INTERVIEW/MEETING.

YEAH!! We can have children with us ANYTIME now... 2 days to well "when ever"

HEW... ALL IN A DAY FOR ME!! LOL

Thank you Heavenly Father, I needed that help/STRENGTH today!!!

Now I'm going to head off to a very much needed LONG, HOT, SOAK!!

and to bed before 1 am tonight, I'm exhausted but VERY HAPPY!!!

Lucky Chad... He's already been asleep for an hour!!

He's doing better now that today is over.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND CHEERS!!!

I have posted on my Facebook how I feel about this picture. This is what got me searching for a new picture to begin with: "Retro week is over! Starting now, post a picture of someone fictional that you think best represents your personality. Be creative. It will be interesting to see what/whom you choose...Copy and paste this so we can all play along."

And here are a few of my comments about the picture and myself that I posted:

*We as Women are VERY strong and should share the strength with our families and the ones we are raising!! as well as our TENDERNESS :)

*I think that this picture stands for so much.. It was a time of change, some great...some not so great for all Women. It also for me shows my determination and my attitude towards life and all that I do. I CAN DO ANYTHING THAT I PUT MY MIND TOO!! I DO HAVE THE STRENGTH TO DO IT!!

I am grateful for this Strength, the knowledge of the inner strength to do what I need to do and know what that is. To be able to reach deep down inside and do what has to be done when the time comes. To be able to pull out all the stops and accomplish what looked imposable prior. And with all that, the knowledge that ALL this is possible because of a LOVING Father in Heaven and ALL strength is possible through CHRIST!!

I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE STRENGTH CHRIST GIVES ME IN MY LIFE!!

Just a quick note....

We are on the last step (I think) before we are able to have children in our home. We meet with our RFC tomorrow and we're a little anxious about it... Lots of emotions going on here. I just pray the Lord will help us and direct us in the way we are suppose to go to help these children that need so much and have had a hard "lot" in their lives. Wish us luck and keep us in your prayers!! oh... I didn't post that we have our licence already!!! yea!!! We picked it up the beginning of January!! Now we just meet the person that we will be working with at DCSF!!! and then

LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN!!!

Oh boy... here we go :)

Lots of unknown ahead of us!!

If your up to helping out "our" children that need to be loved and have a safe home they need you!!

http://www.utahfostercare.org/

READING TIME

Jimmy sat with me tonight and read to me, just the two of us sitting together enjoying a few minuets to ourselves. It was some much needed quality time that we haven't really spent together in a long while. He got to stay up a LITTLE late, but it was worth it and he fell to sleep really quickly tonight, which is a miracle for that kid!! :) He said that tomorrow is my turn to read to him before it's time to go home :). He did say that Cheyenne reads to him, I'm so glad!!

Thank you Cheyenne for all you do with and for the boys!!

We love you!!

This post if for Monday... My computer is really having some major "issues"...

I'M VERY GRATEFUL FOR

FAMILY NIGHTS!!

That is what we call it at our house... With our family having a "mixture" of religions and the up coming addition of new members in our home I thought that is the best thing for us to call it. Anyways... I am so grateful for our Family Nights!! The boys really look forward to it and having game time together!! We added about 6 games to our mix over the past 2 months and we are enjoying having new games to play and learn. The boys wanted to do something new Monday and we had a a Hair cutting night!! The boys finally decided that they wanted their hair cut short... shorter than I wanted to, so we compromised a bit. They look so good!! They were bouncing all over the house all excited!! Jimmy did let me know that he thought it should still be shorter... He wanted it "fuzzy" meaning buzzed to a #1... I did a #3.

Here are the results of the night. We had a fun night even Chad got his done. Not sure if that counts as a family night, but we were all together visiting and enjoying our time together... so it worked for me and I was glad to get some time with the boys,

it's been a while.

They wanted to see who cut more off... it was like a competition

Left was Chris's, Right was Jimmy's

I think he's happy, what do you think? :)

I Don't know about you, but you can't beat that smile!! That is one happy 5 year old!! He was running around laughing and dancing!!

He was SO HAPPY to have his hair cut!! LOL LOL ... I was totally laughing at/with him!!! :)

Successful FAMILY NIGHT!!

Today we studied the Creation in Sunday School...

and heard talks about Jehovah of The Old Testament...

I am SO GRATEFUL for both!!

Without the Creation we would not be here, we would not have the chance to be families, to learn and grow, to gain our bodies and experience the miracle of this life. How grateful I am for the knowledge and understanding of just how miraculous the Creation is and what this means to me and to ALL of God's Children. Our teacher made some great comparisons and I really liked this one...

"For God to explain the Creation to us is the same as explaining how a plane flies to a 5 year old, how do you do it so that they understand and it doesn't just pass them by with NO understanding." (of course paraphrased) Hence forth the explanation in the Bible of the Creation, is as if God explaining something to us that we just CAN'T grasp and yet helping us to understand it in the SIMPLEST of terms.

I really liked thinking of it this way and knowing I don't have to understand how it all happened, but just trust my LOVING God and know that he is in control of this GRAND plan of his and that Christ has followed it with the DEEPEST of DEVOTIONS and has paved the path for Me and You.

JEHOVAH

I have to admit that I learned something new today that me a member my whole life with a strong testimony should have known. Jehovah in the Old Testament IS CHRIST. I guess I may have known, just never gave it great thought to realize it. Another thought our teacher shared with us from a talk (I believe) was... The Old Testament is the Testament of Jehovah (Jesus Christ of the Spirit), the New Testament is the Testament of Jesus Christ and his mission of the Flesh, and the Book of Mormon and D&C another Testament of Jesus Christ. All four Standard Works being Testament of Him.

How GRATEFUL I am for all The Savior has done and will do for me and all of us. I am grateful for this knowledge and for the love I have and feel from God and His Son and that I have for them.

This Gratitude fills my heart, body, and Soul. I pray that I will always be true to this knowledge, and what the responsibility each of us has being a Child of God and all that in tells.

MOTHER NATURE!!

I am grateful to live were we get to experience 5 seasons!!

I know that many don't care for the snow but for me I love it...

This was last night while we were being pounded...

After just an hour of snowing!!

We need the moisture and it is so beautiful...

I love watching it fall and how quiet, calm, and light it is

outside while/after the snow fall.

Ok so after a day or two and it's all dirty not so much,

but this is a gratitude post not negative.. :)

Sassy was not happy with me that I wouldn't let her go BACK outside to play in the snow!! She was playing snowball fights with the neighbors...

She CRACKED me up!! LOL

The dogs stayed outside...

well I went to bed at 1:30 am and they still wouldn't come in.

I'll tell you what though they slept till about 1 this afternoon!! LOL LOL

They are so fun!! and they were VERY GRATEFUL for the snow!!

I'm grateful for LAUGHTER

You can have a long and exhausting day and yet when you've been able to laugh through it all and have fun with your loved ones, pets, and friends, it just puts it all into perspective!!

If you know me you know that I love to laugh!!

It is the MUSIC to my SOUL!! :)

I had a day FULL of laughter and I find myself tired but SMILING from ear to ear!!

My favorite scripture is:

"Adam fell that Men might be; and Men are, that they might have JOY"

I TRULY BELIEVE THIS AND TRY TO ALWAYS REMEMBER AND LIVE BY IT!!

I finally got the Christmas Tree down...

I know it's January 21st, but I've been hurt since the middle of December and haven't been able to do as much as I would like to and normally do around the house...

I am grateful that my knee has held out for two days so that I could get some

Very Much NEEDED things done in our home.

I am grateful for friends that allow you call them and set an "appointment" to come over just so you can "VENT" before you explode, and then rejoice with you when you feel better at the end of a much needed vent... it didn't even take very long... :)

I HAVE GREAT FRIENDS AND I LOVE YOU ALL

AND AM VERY GRATEFUL FOR YOU ALL!!

Well tonight I'm going to keep it short and sweet...

I am grateful that the Lord granted me the strength and stamina to make it through the day!

It was a really long day and I needed his strength to physically make it through it, and that is just what he did for me!!!

Thank you Heavenly Father!! :)

Ok so about an hour ago I was thinking about my day trying to decide what I was most grateful for. I was going through my wallet looking for receipts and found a FULL CAFE' RIO card. So since I'm home alone tonight I went and got a FREE DINNER. It's my fist Cafe' Rio salad in 6 months (to the best of my memory).

So I'm VERY GRATEFUL for my FREE SALAD!!!

YUM-O :)

(Thanks Rachael Ray... I love that word/phrase)

I am so grateful for my family!! Each and every one of them. Each one means the world to me and are the center of my world. Each one is unique and has a unique and special place in my heart and in my life. Even thou we may have some bumps in road we always find our way back to each other! and I'm grateful that we have each other!!

In the end FAMILY is all you have and WHO you are and WHAT your made of!!

THANK YOU FAMILY FOR ALL THAT YOU GIVE ME

EACH AND EVERY DAY!!

GRATITUDE

I know that my posts have been "wordy" lately, but I guess that is how I've been feeling lately. Like I need to get the words out of my mind and into the written word. I was thinking today that I could use my blog to post the things that I am grateful for. There is so much that I am grateful for that I need to thank the Lord and our Savior for all that they have given me. I have tried MANY times to start a gratitude diary and have never been able to follow through. So maybe I can do a QUICK post of 365 things that I am grateful for!! I thought this was a good way for me to think of other things than missing the boys...

#1: I am grateful that my Hubby was here with me today taking care of me, He has done a great job and has really shown me how much he cares about me. :)

THANKS BABE!!