4 wheeling in Uintas

Yesterday we had an absolute blast. Kimberly and Jason invited us to go up to the Uintas with them to check out some camping spots for later this summer as well as ride some 4-wheelers around. The day started off a little rough with one of Jason's 4-wheelers leaking oil and gasoline. He was able to get it fixed and then we were going to load the 4-wheelers and a welding point on his trailer had given and fallen off. We got the bikes loaded and got on our way.

It was absolutely beautiful up there. We went up to Soap Stone in the Uintas

Here Shaileen is being an amazing Aunt.

See I told you it was beautiful up there.

Unfortunately the same bike we were having problems with gave us fits up there too. We even had to end up towing them up a hill. 

Jason, Alex and I got on the wheeler and I rode him back to the truck so he could drive it up to load the other bike.

 

We found a little grasshopper so I picked it up and showed the boys! They love it. DJ loved it so much that when I let it go he decided he would step on it.

Memorial Day Weekend

We started this weekend out right. We went out to the cemetary and visited some graves. 

 I decided that I wanted to bring some apples to put on Grandpas grave! I truely miss him...

Grandma putting flowers and windmill on Terry's Grave (her son, my uncle)

Marah found a big worm and loved playing with it

We also stopped by Shaileen's grandparents grave because they were in the same cemetary. She brought some windmills for them! 

This is my grandparents grave (Dad's Parents) 

a fun photo of  my great grandparents graves. They wanted to be burried above ground.

After visiting the cemetary all of us went out to Bret and Hilarie's house and had some great food and smores outside in their backyard! We love getting together as a family! 

Shaileen was teaching DJ how to roast marshmallows, 

He really enjoyed them!

Baby Boys Bookshelves!

I have had this idea for a long time of putting bookshelves on the wall in our little guys room (no name still) but couldn't quite decide exactly what I wanted and how it would really look! I knew exactly where I wanted them to go and that I wanted three of them... But that is it. We decided at the last minute on the way home from work to go to Kurt's favorite store (IKEA)!! While we were meandering through the isles we came upon these cute white shelves and we both looked at each other and knew they were perfect!! We came straight home and put them up! Good thing I taught preschool because we had oodles of book to choose from to fill the shelves with! We also bought a light for the room as well.
I think it turned out great if I do say so myself. We are getting that much closer and we can't wait to meet this little guy. I just want to say how truly grateful we are for "J" and this amazing gift she is giving us!! Enjoy...

Sonogram

Today we had a great day so far. This morning we went to softball with Carlye and had a blast. Carlye hit a homerun, two triples and a single. I am enjoying coaching her team so much. Today we found out that she made allstars and I am going to help coach them. Shaileen was not as excited but she will put up with it. At 12:30 we met up at the park with J and had a BBQ. She was sweet enough to bring the sonograms. It is so neat being able to see him. We absolutely adore J and appreciate her kindness. Shaileen was also able to feel him kick. She said that he is going to be a soccer player! What a great day... tonight we are going to go up to the Utah Blaze game! woohoo

Telling Family

As we have written already, Mothers Day was one of the most special days of our lives. Being able to tell our parents that they are going to be grandparents again and for the first time is one special experience. For Shaileen's family we put together a little gift card that says you can redeem to become a grandma. We gave it to Calleen and Cindy because it was mothers day. I thought it was a pretty decent gift if I must say so myself. For my side of the family we packaged some boys baby clothes and had my Mom open it. We did it differently for them because we had already told my parents, so it was more for my siblings. 

  I was dumb and forgot to tape the reactions of my side of the family. 

His heartbeat

This afternoon was absolutely incredible! We had one amazing experience. J asked us to come to her doctors appointment. We are so thankful for her kindness and thoughtfulness to ask us to come. We adore her Shaileen at the last moment pulled out her phone and recorded the sound of his heartbeat! 

WE HAVE BEEN CHOSEN!

This past week has been one of the most amazing weeks of our lives. As you may have heard we were chosen by one amazing lady to be parents. We were initially not looking forward to this weekend with it being Mothers Day and having a failed placement recently. It was such a special experience to spend Mothers Day with Shaileen and to be able to tell our family that they were going to have another/first BOY come into the family. I decided after we had contact with her that I wanted to write down my feelings and how the story really went. So here it goes. (I have changed her name to "J" just for her privacy)

"About 1 week ago we decided to put Shaileen's wedding dress up for sale on KSL.Com classifieds. It was not doing us any good sitting in a closet in our basement collecting dust. We didn't think we would get a call anytime soon because we listed it really high because we were not in a hurry. On Cinco de Mayo in 2012 we were getting all dressed up in our fancy clothes to go to one of my good friends sealing/marriage in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and my phone started ringing and it was a phone number that I was not familiar with. I answered and a female on the other end asked if this was Kurt. I said it was and then she asked how to pronounce Shaileen's name. I was sure she was going to ask for Shaileen to ask her about specifics about the wedding dress. The next thing that came out of her mouth really surprised me. She said,"I am 6 months pregnant with a little boy." I thought to myself for a moment what the heck that had to do with a wedding dress. She then went on to tell us that someone that she knew gave her our pass-a-long card. She has been looking at our profile and really likes us and wants to possibly meet us in the near future. We then talked for about 15-20 minutes about some specifics about adoption. It is incredible how much her mind was made up that she was going to place her boy for adoption because she knows that is what is going to best for him. We are so excited to meet her and talk to her again hopefully in the near future. After the call we rushed to the temple to make it to the sealing of my friend. It was a little more special than usual sitting in the temple because I was not only contemplating our friends ceremony but I was thinking of the joy we are going to have as a family when it comes time to be sealed to our child for all eternity. The rest of the day we were sitting on cloud 9 thinking, hoping, praying, and thanking our Heavenly Father for answering our many many prayers that we gave and other close family and friends as well. "

On Saturday afternoon we met with J. We were sooooo nervous/excited to meet her. We hit it off real fast and ended up talking for over 3 hours while we enjoyed some great food at Red Robin. We have such a respect for J and cant wait for our relationship to grow even more.

Today we are getting off work 2 hours early to go to the hospital with J. It is her 28 week checkup. We are so excited to hear his heartbeat and be there to experience that. I don't believe many adoptive parents get that opportunity and when she asked us if we would like to go with her we were first shocked, but then very excited and thankful.

As you know we will certainly keep you updated on the process of this adoption. We thank you all very much for your continued support. You have no idea what that means to us to know that people really care. 

Shaileen & Kurt

Bees Game

Its the time of year for Salt Lake Bees game fun. I will just let the pictures do the talking today!

Help Support Birth Mothers

As I am sure everyone knows because we are ALWAYS talking about it, we are in the process of adoption. Through this process we have grown a great love for all birth mothers and their selflessness. From taking the classes to get fully approved for adoption we spoke to panels of birth mothers. The one thing that we learned from that is that THEY DO NOT WANT TO BE FORGOTTEN. That is why I am asking you to go support this great charity this coming Saturday (Birth Mother Day). There is this great nonprofit orginization called Birth Mother Basket(BMB). It is run by a birthmother that placed her child a long time ago and knows of the grieving that takes place there after. She wants them to know that they are not just forgotten. This Saturday from 11-2 pm go up to the Blue Lemon which is located at 11073 N Alpine Hwy, Highland UT and have some lunch. There are going to be great people there and 20% of your lunch will go towards a great cause. Even if you dont go please at least keep birth mothers in your prayers especially that day ,and even more :). If someone would like to go with us give us a call or text us. We never complain about having company.

When you go make sure you print out this ad and take it with you so the funds go to BMB...

If you would like you can see their blog here...

http://birthmotherbaskets.blogspot.com/2012/03/bmb-blue-lemonn-birth-mothers-day.html

THANKS AS ALWAYS!

William and Brianna's Wedding

Yesterday was my good friends wedding. We had a blast and are so excited for them. The day started out great by going to their sealing at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. We never had the opportunity of going to that temple before and we excited to go for the first time. It did not dissapoint. The sealing room was the most beautiful that I had ever seen. With Shaileen and I going through the adoption process we felt the spirit just a little more that day as it was a very special day for us knowing that one day we will have the same opportunity being sealed to our children just as if they were born directly into the covenant. At the dinner Brianna (bride) said something really special that really hit me. She said something to the effect of people kept coming up to her and asking if they felt any different. She had to say no because nothing did feel different. She was saying how great it felt to feel that this was a very natural progression in life that she didn't need to feel different. That probably did not make sense but it really hit me and I thought that I would share because maybe someone else was supposed to hear it too. That night was a blast at the reception seeing people that I have not seen for years. Again, we wish the best for William and Brianna.

on our way to the temple

we wish we knew how to get beautiful tulips like these in our yard

William getting a little frisky at the temple :)

at the reception

we had some fun messing with their car

Brianna got William real good and there was cake all over his face... the worst I have ever seen