Welcome, welcome! Thanks for taking the time to read about our crazy, fun life. Look around to learn about us, our adoption story, or to find out how to contact us. Feel free to make comments (LOVE comments). We do have the comment moderator on, so if you want it private, just say so. Also, we have pass along cards. If you'd like some, just let us know! Thanks again and happy reading!

Sunday, December 22, 2013

The happenings

Been a while... thought I'd give a briefing on what we're all up to.
Bree has been sick ... pretty much since just before Thanksgiving. Thankfully not with line infections. She has been getting virus' that go around. Other then that, she's doing good overall. Still refusing to walk. She's scared. So we're working on trying to build that confidence. Hopefully it'll come soon. She's mimicking sounds, words. That part is way fun. I was thinking today... she's definitely more of a little girl then a baby now.
 Ayden is 2 lol Unless he's pretty much constantly entertained, he's into everything. His speech is taking off, in its own way. He's trying and loves to talk. Due to some problems with his ears ... I'll go into that in a bit... he isn't quite saying things right. For example, "doo dah" is snowman. He loves snowmen, mickey mouse, trucks, school buses, and trains. He loves singing  "Once there was a snowman" and "Wheels on the bus". He's still tiny, but has finally broken 20 pounds! i just hope he stays above and keeps gaining :oP So about his ears... in the last post I wrote, i mentioned both of his ear tubes has stuff building up in it, he failed his left ear hearing test, and his left ear drum has something going on with it. So, long story short... both of Ayden's tubes have fallen out and he has major fluid build up behind his ear drums. Because of this fluid, his ear drums can't move. With the ear drums not moving, he can't hear us properly. Mid- January, he's going to have tubes put back in and he'll have his adenoid removed. Really hoping that helps this little man and his speech.
With Bree being sick, I've been doing a lot of cuddling... even more laundry... and trying to stay on top of life, getting ready for Christmas. Short, sweet, but that's my life lately :oP
Jared is still as amazing as ever. He's been swamped at work. He still manages to come home on time almost every night. He has had an occasional later night but not often. Other then that, he comes home to be a fun, loving dad and an incredible hubby. :o)

So that about sums us up. Hope this finds everyone well :o) Love to all. 

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Domo Arigato

In case you did not know I, Jared, work at a company named DOMO. This is a great place to work. Devin is frequently jealous of all the perks: Free Cokes, Lunch is provided every day, Fridays there are donuts. Also there was a previous post about the tailgate party. Devin does not believe we actually work.

Every few weeks we have hack night at work. The last one was raspberry pi night. Just so you know a raspberry pi is a $35 computer that is about the size of a credit card. The challenge was to see what you could do with a raspberry pi. The team I was on created a door from Monsters Inc.
This was fun. I will describe all the features of the door. 
1. As you approach the door a motion sensor is triggered and a video clip from the movie plays stating the "Eastern seaboard is coming on line"
2. On the desk there are 2 NFC cards you can scan by putting them by the brown box.
3. If you pick the wrong one a clip is played of Roz saying "Don't let it happen again"
4. If you pick the correct one  the light on the door comes on and an electric latch triggers so you can go through the door. A few seconds later you will hear a child scream.
5. When you scan the card we also take your picture and post it to a website of Top Scarers.

There where lots of fun projects: custom video games, Warnings for getting to close,  and A Zoltar machine. It was lots of fun and at the end of the day the team I was on won a "Major Award"
The other day I went out to lunch with my wife and kids. Ayden has a few favorite animals his most favorite is Mickey Mouse followed by Roosters he loves to say "Cock a Doodle Doo". I just had to take him inside for a photo with the DOMO Rooster.
He was so excited to see the rooster. And Devin still wonders how we get any work done when so much fun is around.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Update time

I figured it has been a while since I put a official update on what we're all doing, so why not? To sum up, nothing much lol

 
We haven't been up to nothing much at all. Just same ol', same ol of work, being parents, and going day to day. We were able to escape for the night one of the times Bree was inpatient at the hospital. My best friend took Ayden and I kind of surprised Jared with a hotel room. I say kind of because... so we took Ayden out to dinner with us, then on our way to drop him off we started talking about what we wanted to do. Jared said something about how he really wishes he could leave Ayden for the night and get a room. I say he cheated. lol But we did have a blast. Thank you so much again, Heather.
Ayden is my character lol. Still way tiny, but so much energy. He has recently taken to the potty. I wouldn't say he's potty training yet, but he may get there sooner then I thought. He now tells us "uck" pretty close to everytime he's poopy. He likes to sit on the toilet, but limited success. He's gone pee once and poo once in it. His talking/vocabulary has definitely picked up since Sept. (thank you Mel and Landon!). I still didn't feel quite right about were he was, had him evaluated by early intervention. He was delayed, but not enough to qualify for services. We did find out though... both of his ear tubes has stuff building up in it, he failed his left ear hearing test, and his left ear drum has something going on with it. We see the ENT this week to see what she tells us. Oh! He is cutting his two year old molars. I can't wait until they've cut! Last ones he has to get until his adult teeth. Other then that, he's still energetic and keeps me cleaning up messes lol. He LOVE LOVES LOVES mickey mouse right now. Ayden's a joy to have around.
Now onto little Bree... she's caught up to her brother weight wise. He's still taller, but they weigh the exact same now. We went almost a month with no hospital stay. I think we're on the right track to keeping us out longer now... as long as she doesn't catch a cold or something. We have started kind of isolating her a bit for the winter. Hopefully it works. During that month she was home, we made great progress with increasing how much she takes through her feeding tube. She's giving us a run for our money again right now, so we'll see what happens. In some ways, this girl requires a lot more patience with her eating then Ayden did! Anyway~ She's staying right now track developmentally. She now moves EVERYWHERE! there's times all i can do is just follow her with her backpack of IV and feeding tube stuff. She crawls up and downstairs (and knows how to turn around at the top), pulls to stand using like any object/surface, and cruises along furniture like it's nothing. We're working on walking one handed a lot right now. She can do it but she's scared. Which I would be too if I had a bunch of stuff dragging me down/ following me. So we're working on getting her comfortable with it and we'll move on to the next thing. I think, and hope, she'll be a full time walker by Christmas... that is, as long as we can keep her home long enough.

Think that's about it for us! Hope this finds everyone well and everyone is having a great holiday season. Love to all!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Our Halloween

We started our halloween after the kids napped... or when they should have napped. :oP  We started by going to Jared's work party. It was awesome! I asked Jared to get pictures here... this is one of the best ones he was able to get.

 Ayden totally loved going around getting a bunch of candy from the bowls everywhere.

After we went to go see my granddad. I was a total loser and forgot to take pictures.

When we left Granddad's we went to see Ayden's bios.
It was a lot of fun!! Ayden kind of got it (as in trick or treating), but not quite. It was great to see all of them.

After we got a quick dinner, then Jared and Ayden stayed home while I took Breeann to go see her bio. mom. Unfortunately, Breeann wasn't in costume due to some throwing up she did in the car. I also was a dork and didn't pull out the camera either :'( I need to get better at that!

Anyway~ it was a fun, full evening. I hope everyone else had a happy halloween!!!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Ward halloween carnival

Tonight our ward put on a Halloween carnival. It was so much fun! Ayden is definitely getting to the fun stage of being so fun at events like this. Here's proof :

eating a doughnut off a stick
Bean bag toss
Face painting

There was a trunk or treat there too. We went around for a few mins., but it was too dark to get pics. I probably will get some tomorrow when we go around trick or treating. I may be biased, but I think he's the worlds cutest penguin. I'll get better pics of both kids in their halloween costume tomorrow.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Breeann's bios :o)

Today the kids and I went to go see Breeann's bio mom and grandma! It was so much fun. They're both great women. Here's a few of my favorites
We are so lucky and blessed to have these kids, their first families (now our family too!), and open adoptions!! Couldn't ask for much better.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Hee Haw

It is fall and that means there is plenty of time for fun. We decided to take the kids to Hee Haw farms to play and pick pumpkins

We started the day with the big slide

That was fun

Bree is here but she does not move much so she just sat around

Ayden really loves the animals he was very proud of climbing the fence on his own

In case you are wondering that is Ayden kissing a goat

Boy that pig sty looks like your room

There where games to play but the kids favorite was a corn box. Bree is trying to throw corn at her Dad.

Throw that corn in the air like you don't care

And of corse if you see them you got to ride the swings. Bree just laughed and danced with excitement

Lately Ayden is obsessed with truck, tractors and trains

Ayden was in heaven. we went on this ride several times

Pony rides should be fun. Our little girl did not know what to think.

Ayden trying very hard not to be scared while Dad took the picture

Later that night we got to paint our pumpkins

Mom just closed her eyes as the mess ensued

We wish you all a Haunting Halloween.
The penguin is planning on eating the lady bug for a snack :)

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Suspenders

Little background here... My granddad has worn suspenders as long as I can remember. You can't think of Granddad and not picture him in suspenders type deal. The two just go together. Anyway~ as many of you know, we have THE hardest time finding pants that fit Ayden. The boy is just skinny skinny!! Skinny 6-9 month pants is what fit on him. He'd still struggle keeping the pants on sometimes though. Well, last night we went to go see my Granddad. He told us he sent my aunt and uncle on a mission to find Ayden some suspenders! lol
Ayden loves them and they worked perfectly for him! Now to pack up the high-water pants and pull out the ones that fit length wise!!!