J.J. is now three years old. He had a great birthday. It looked like Christmas again and we didn't give him a whole lot of stuff it was everyone else. He had a great day. He loved the attention and kisses and hugs and etc.

Happy Birthday JJ

Happy Birthday Gordo. I can't believe three years ago today you blessed us with your purple presence; it's gone by way too quick. I'm glad they finally got your breathing. We love you!

Surprise! We're Expecting!

Well the cat is quickly coming out of the bag so we decided we'd better just share it with everyone. It looks like there's a good chance that we'll be having a baby boy this year. Why is the time line not nine months you may ask? Well, our family has chosen to adopt a baby boy from Ethiopia.

We just submitted our "papers" otherwise known as a "dossier" last Wednesday (March 4th). The dossier is now on its way to the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. where it will be authenticated. It will then take its trip to Ethiopia where it will be translated into Amharic (official language) and then authenticated again. After all that's done, we'll be officially waiting.

It's expected that the dossier portion will take 3-4 weeks. After that, the agency has told us that we'll get a referral (pictures, medical history, life history) for our baby in about 4-6 months. After we have accepted the referral, it takes about 2-3 months to go through the court circuit. Once the court has approved the adoption, our little baby is officially ours and we'll have about 2-3 weeks to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet at the U.S. Embassy and bring him home. All in all out, we hope to have our little guy home by Christmas. The time lines will undoubtedly change but we're praying for a miracle.

We are really excited for this opportunity and Lisa and I know without a doubt it's what is meant to be for our family. We look forward to having another special spirit to bless our family. We feel so lucky.

Stay tuned for many, many updates.

The Dreaded Binkies

So we're on the way home from the gym tonight and a very tired JJ speaks up from the back seat, "I no more binkies." Lisa responded, "Yes, we don't have any more binkies." Without hesitation, JJ whined, "I wanna buy more binkies." What a smart and cleaver little man.

Kelly took Olivia and J.J. for one of their last rides in the Shelby Cobra. He is selling it soon. We are all going to miss it. I don't think J.J. understands and when the time comes he will not be happy. We have enjoyed having our vroom vroom car.

How Sweet

Our kids like to fight, but there are times when they really love each other enough to snuggle.

JJ -- "My Back Hurts"

So Lisa has been going through some back pain lately and has tried to change her lifestyle a bit and avoid large loads of laundry, picking up JJ., etc. Evidently, our little boy has figured out that "My back hurts" is a valid excuse for getting out of every & anything. We just told him to clean his room. "I can't. My back hurts." Smart little stinker.

Christmas Day

Christmas morning was fun this year. The kids loved everything they got. J.J. would not put his cars down from the movie "Cars". This year our family was spoiled. We got a WII from Santa Claus. We have had a lot of fun playing the games with the kids. I can't believe how our family has grown.

I caught J.J. lounging downstairs with his favorite things; Binky, giraffe, and his milk. He was very happy.

Olivia got to be a flower girl for cousin Rachel's wedding. She felt very special and of course like a princess. She looked pretty.

Halloween! Batman with a binki looked awfully heroic. The Sassy Vampire looked cute with a little yuck. Kelly the polygamist and his two wives won second prize at work. they looked good! They should have gotten first place. It was a fun year. J.J. is still asking months later if we can go "Halloween, be Batman."

We went to a corn maze with Karly, Nick,
Slade, and Lucas. It was fun 4-wheeling
in the strollers.

Livi has lost her two front teeth. She will be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." She has now lost six teeth and need four to grow in.

Olivia's Birthday

Olivia turned six on September 18th. She is getting so big. We have really enjoyed having her in our lives. I can't believe she is our six year old princess.

Kelly had the opportunity to help Kyle move from Atlanta to L.A. They had a lot of fun and did it in two and a half days.

Olivia's first day of Kindergarten. She is the tallest in her class!

For the past few years we have been going to the Balloon Festival in Eden. It has been a lot of fun. We have to leave early in the morning to get there in time. The kids have had a lot of fun seeing the different balloons.

JJ's Bite

We went to Springville to attend Chris & LeeAnn's boy's baptism. After the baptism, we went to LeeAnn's parents house (Doug & MarJean) to have pizza and visit with family. When Lisa and I were going to college we rented the basement in the little house next door to them. We became friends with the couple just the west of us, so we left the kids with LeeAnn & Chris for a few minutes to visit our old friends. When we returned, Chris informed us there was an altercation with JJ and the dog. I thought it was with Besty, Doug's fat bulldog. However, it turns out it was the cocker spaniel belonging to their other neighbors. Unprovoked, the dog lept out of its owners arms and ran to JJ, biting him on the cheek. (No fault of LeeAnn -- She feels really bad)

I was just grateful that it didn't get his eye. We spent several hours at the InstaCare. Though he had a pretty good size puncture wound, the doctor opted not to stich it because the scaring would most likely be worse. We left with a prescription for some antibiotics and some Bob the Builder stickers. He was a really good trooper. The dog's owners "offered" with a little pushing to pay for our expenses ($80 in copays) which I believe was the least they could do. What an exciting day!