Carlye's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Carlye's 8th birthday yesterday! She has been looking forward to turning 8 for a long time now because she gets to be baptized and get her ears pierced. Scott and Cindy also made dinner last night and it was great! Scott made ugly steaks that literally took up the full plate. I can tell you that Shaileen loves her sister very much and we had a lot of fun putting her present together. We got her a sign language book. She has been into learning more and more about it and we have her a small book with about 50 signs a couple of months ago and she had all of them memorized within a couple of days. This book has over 1000 signs if i remember right so it should keep her busy for a while. Shaileen also put together a little craft box together for her to but all of her craft stuff and Shaileen filled it all of the way full with fun stuff so she could start scrapbooking if she wants to. She also gave her a blank scrapbook so she can start out. We printed out some photographs of the family also and Shaileen made an awesome collage and put it in a frame! We love Carlye very much and are happy that she has turned 8. She is making some awesome choices to get baptized and confirmed this next Saturday! (of course you know there will be a blog about that)

Woohoo Sign Language Book!

This is the craft box that Shaileen made for her.

I just had to take a fun eyes shot!

Stacy and D gave her about a million silly bands, Carlye was going to put them all on and got to about 40 and said nevermind!

This is my favorite shot of the day!

Shaileen just loves helping out with anything! :)

NEW URL FOR BLOG

When we went to the adoption orientation on Friday we learned that we have to change the name of the blog so it does not include our last name for privacy purposes if we want to use it in the profile that we will put online in a couple of months. So here we go so we can get that checked off of the list. The new URL is ShaileenandKurt.blogspot.com (MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW US) :)

Taylorsville Dayzz

Last night was the Annual Taylorsville Dayzz celebration! We enjoy going every year to at least watch the fireworks and listen to the music. Last night they Aba came and Shaileen loved it because most of the music was from the movie Mama Mia so she was singing all night long. We went with a big group of friends and had a blast. Of course I had to bring my camera stuff and shoot some photographs. They turned out decent I thought this year, these are the 3 that I liked of the almost 200 that I had took (thank goodness for digital cameras and not film). I always feel little bit bad because whenever we go to fireworks Shaileen always sits there and watches the fireworks as I am trying to capture some good photographs. She says that she doesn't mind because I am doing one of the things that I love!

Independance Day Craft

This morning Shaileen had a craft day with my Mom and Kimberly. They had a lot of fun. With it being summer and close to independance day they made some stars and fireworks. I have to say that Independence Day is my favorite holiday just to let you know :) . Shaileen was watching our friends kid named Max as well. She really enjoys watching kids. As you can see they enjoyed their selves and did an excellent job with their craft as well! There should be another post tonight or tomorrow as well because it is Taylorsville Dayzz this weekend and it makes for some fun photographs and we are going with some friends this evening.

DJ is excited for craft day!

Gotta prime first!

Way to teach him Grandma :)

This is Max....what a stud!

DJ playing with his cars while the girls were doing girly things!

Firework blocks

Stars (if you couldn't figure that out by yourselve)

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

Completed the Orientation!!!

We got a lot of information at the Adoption Orientation this afternoon! We learned a ton about the process and had quite a few questions answered. We turned in the application today after the orienatation and this means that this next week they are going to send out a recommedation letter to our bishop and hopefully he will fill it out and get it back in asap. As soon as all of that information is done we get to get the "full" application and start that process. We have been told that it will take about 3ish months to get the application filled out. We were a little bummed because one of the classes that we have to take to complete the adoption application was held this weekend and since we are just starting the process we were not able to get into that class. This stinks because they are not holding another class for until October but there is an annual conference for Adoption that is held in August that we can go to as well but that just costs extra money that is not included in the adoption process. We have known about all of the ways to adopt even with other agencies but it was nice to hear more about them. We are thankful for the process of adoption because if not we may never be able to be parents. We believe that adoption is a blessing sent down from above! If you know of anyone that is thinking of adoption please keep us in mind and don't be afraid to tell your friends about us as well. We will probably be making pass-a-long cards here soon which are kind of like business cards that you can hand out everywhere you go. We have been told that we need to be as proactive as we can. When we first heard about pass-a-long card we thought it was kind of weird but if it has worked for others maybe that networking will work for us! Thank you everybody for your ongoing support. Both Shaileen and myself truely appreciate it! We Love You! :)

Adoption Orientation

We are pretty excited because this Friday we go in for our first orientation for the adoption process. We are really excited because it has been a long time coming now. It will be nice to get some questions answered about how the process will go and what to expect! Hopefully it wont be as painful as a lot of people say it is. We hope to get through the process quick so we can get our profile online and have birth parents looking at us. It is nice to have a sister that has gone through the process and is starting to go through it again that can help us out and let us know a little of what to expect. I am excited to see Shaileen as a mother with her being in her element. She is so excited and I cant wait to see her completely happy as she should be! Wish us luck in our Adoption process!

Fathers Day

This past Sunday was Fathers Day and both Shaileen and I love our fathers very much. On Saturday evening we went over to Kimberly and Jason's house and celebrated Fathers Day with my side of the family. I just have to say that I have the best Dad on the face of the planet and am so very thankful for him and everything that he has taught me! I hope to be a Dad to my children as he was to me. I also look forward to having children so that they can have the greatest Grandpa in the world! On Sunday Morning we woke up and went over to Shaileen's mothers house and celebrated fathers day with Robert which is her step dad. We had a delicious breakfast and it was nice to sit and talk with them. Sunday evening after church we went to Shaileens dads house and ate dinner over there. We had a good time as you can see. I was stupid and forgot to take pictures at my family get together and the morning so I found some old photos of me and my dad and of Robert as well.

Me and my dad

Robert, Shaileen's step dad

Shaileen's Dad (dressed as a missionary)

This is one of the pictures that Carlye drew for her dad!

I love how you can see how much Shaileen loves her little sister here!

Shaileens Birffday

On June 8 2011 Shaileen turned 23 years old so we celebrated her birthday! The night before we had Carlye come sleep over at our place. We woke up nice and early and I decided it was a good time for Shaileen to open her present from me. (yes just one...I am cheap)

Shaileen has been asking for new pots and pans for quite some time now she at least pretended real well that she liked them

Dont ask me what Shaileen is doing here...

We also went to Virgs Diner for breakfast for some good eating

Yes, I am actually there...hahaha

Shaileen has also wanted to go to the zoo for quite a while as well so we got up and went. My Mom and DJ also went with us because they were home and the more the merrier.

DJ loved this Churro and ended up dipping it in my moms icecream to make it even better!

Any time you go to the zoo there is an unwritten rule to take a picture in front of the Gorilla sillouettes.

Here is the full clan!

Shaileen, I hope you had a wonderful birthday this year. It wasn't much that we did or that you got, but know that I love you and am the happiest being with you these last 2 years! Keep up on being the best wife a man could ask for! I wish you the best year and I know things are going to look up for you and I know that soon you are going to get the little present that you really want and deserve! I LOVE YOU!