Lost and gone?

No, we are not lost and gone. My apologies to those who are checking up on this blog. We have been so busy with this home remodel that I have neglected this blog again. We are done with the house and moving in. We are so excited about moving in and more so...taking a break.

So Lazy...soooooo busy!

I really am not trying to neglect this website. I do have some fun pics to share...I just really have been consumed with our house remodel. We hope to only be another month out from move in time, but I find myself either always thinking about or working on the house. Just a quick recap of some of the fun things we have done.

We went to Lake Powell last week for the week on a R&R vacation. It was so great to get a break from it all. Kya loved playing in the sand

And the water...she actually fell asleep on the floaty for about a half hour. What a doll
We made sand castles...actually, we made a sand sculpture of a mermaid. It was really fun.
Sorry the pics are so small. I will try to post more pics a bit larger next time. Our summer has definitely flown by and before you know it...Christmas is here. I am so looking forward to Halloween. One of my favorite holidays...I love to dress up.
Well, sorry this post is so lame...but better something than nothing, right?

What a great weekend. Yesterday was the dedication for the Twin Falls Temple. So excited to have a temple just minutes up the road. We were given the awesome opportunity to be inside the temple for the dedication. My mom and dad and grandma and grandpa were in the Celestial Room with the Prophet and Pres. Eyring. Too cool. All of my sisters were in town, even C who flew in from Michigan. It was really great to be there with all my sisters and most brothers-in-law. Twin Falls Temple is a beautiful temple with gorgeous decor. I really love it and look forward to regular visits with my sweetie.

Waiting to go in the temple.

The whole gang. Six girls (husbands included), one brother in our hearts (EJ in Paris on his mission), Grandma and Grandpa M, mom and dad and one niece and one nephew. Great babysitters to watch the little ones play and sleep. Life doesn't get better than this.

Friday Night Family Night

We had a great Family Night this past weekend. We spent the weekend at Kya's birthmother's wedding and receptions. She was sealed in the Logan Temple and then had two different receptions.

The sealing was amazing. You could feel the spirit very strong. The sealer even mentioned how beautiful it is to see children who are adopted be sealed to their parents in the temple. He didn't know that we were the adoptive parents of the bride. I balled of course, and Carl even got a little teary-eyed.

I love the experiences we have had with adoption.

Here are a few pics of Kya and daddy at the reception. No pics of me of course...being the photographer and all.

I just love this picture. Kya loves her daddy.

Aside from the wedding festivities...we are still busy remodeling our house. Working on the siding and finishing the outside. I will soon be posting pics of the before and after of the outside of the house. Carl and I are having a blast working together and accomplishing such a big project together. It will be fun to finally move into the house and call it our own...First home and all.

Carl and I have really grown closer through-out this project and shared lots of laughs. Some laughs from jokes and having fun, others out of pure fatigue and late nights. I love Carl so much, he is a hard worker and so much fun to hang out with. But I do have to say, I am getting my hand just as dirty as him with this project, I love it.

Birthday, Fair, Family Reunion, Class Reunion and all sorts of fun!

Busy week, a lot of pictures and some fun times. Enjoy the slide shows and a little journaling.

Kya was definitely a 2 year old on her birthday. She had too much fun opening presents, wanted to open "more", and didn't really want to eat her cake or ice cream. We got her to dig into the cake, but that was all she wanted to do with it. We got her a pinata for her and her cousins. They loved that. Of course the boy cousins were a little concerned that it was a 'princess castle' and not a car or something.

We had a fun week and of course ate way too much food...you know that really good food that is so bad for you. This was my first Demolition Derby and it was so fun. We had Carl's mom's family reunion this week, the same week as the 'world famous' Grace, Id fair. Well, the blue station wagon is the car that all the Carl and his family grew up with and when it died the kids told Mom and Dad not to get rid of it because they wanted to watch it die at the Demo Derby. So they rigged it up, we all got to help paint and sign it and then Uncle C. drove it in the derby. We were the loudest section in the arena...the whole family...even Kya got into the chanting and clapping (once she realized she wasn't going to get hurt by the cars).

We won second place and that was so fun to watch them all get into the death of this car. Let me tell you...it will not die. They asked us to pull the car in the parade and Carl sat in it and revved it up throughout the parade, while some of the grandkids, Grandma and I sat in the back of the truck and threw candy. That was fun. The car had no water in it and they all thought for sure it would cease up....No sir-ry bob, that thing will not die (until the crusher gets it).

We also went to Carl's 10 year class reunion. Because he grew up there and it is such a small town...I knew a few of his class members and I enjoyed seeing them too. Where at my 10 year class reunion (being only 1 year that I went to my alma-mater (sp), Carl didn't know anybody).

So, Fair, Family Reunion, Class Reunion, Demo Derby and Birthday party are now over...Whew! What a week.

Finally, an update.

So, finally I am updating this blog. With all that has been going on lately I haven't been consistent with updating or even "friday night date nights" for that matter. But we are still here and still praying for a sibling for Kya.

Honestly, its 3:00 am and I was lying in bed, unable to go to sleep after our sweet little Kya woke up screaming. I went in to calm her and put her back to bed. After holding her for a few minutes, I said, "Mommy is going to go back to bed", she replied with, "No, mommy hold Kya". So I did. After a few more minutes, I laid her down, turned on her music and went back to bed. Laying here thinking to myself, 'I need to update our blog', and I felt I needed to do it now. So here I am, at 3:00 am, journaling some more of our latest activities.

The last month or so has been a whirlwind of events. We made our move back to Idaho, bought a house, attended a few family reunions and gatherings, celebrated a holiday, in the process of remodeling our home, spending a lot of time with Grandmas, Grandpas and some cousins, and soon to celebrate Kya's 2nd Birthday, and her birthmother's wedding. Too much fun going on.

So I have included a few pictures of some of our fun times.

Here we are at a family reunion. Kya and I are in a race by ourselves to fill the bucket of water with a cup that has holes in the bottom.

Which she ended up playing in the water bucket anyway.

Then daddy raced Uncle J....
...pouring the water...

and won! Yeah daddy. Oh, we had to wear goggles and flippers. Mommy raced her cousin H., but daddy forgot to get pictures of that. Probably a good thing, I lost.

Among all this fun...I ran a race with some of my sisters, brothers-in-law, parents and some friends. It was a 180 miles, from Logan, UT to Park City, UT. Tough, but such an accomplishment. (me on the right in green)

Fourth of July fun. We love the fireworks and Kya loved the sparklers.

Not-so-Friday Night Family Night

Ok, I know its not Friday night but this weekend is going to be very busy and the dollar theater has Tuesday night Family night where movies are only $0.75. So cool! We went to "Horton Hears a Who". I love Dr. Suess.

Kya loved the popcorn the best. After a few bites, she decided that she wanted to hold the bucket. Too fun! The bucket is bigger than her, I think.
Loved that movie!

Seven Amazing Years!

This week's Friday Night was just Carl and me. We got a babysitter for the little one so Carl and I could spend our anniversary together alone. It was so fun. Now that it is finally warm and we had someone to watch Kya, we rode the motorcycle to dinner. Carl did his research and found a great little authentic Italian restaurant (I love Italian food). Gotta say, the food is still better in Italy, but the environment was so great. What a sweetie! Then we rode to the theater for a fun movie night. "Leatherheads", good movie. It was really great to spend the evening falling in love again and remembering that great day we were married.

When we got home, Kya was still awake (10:00) with the babysitter watching a movie herself..."Little Mermaid". How fun for her to get to stay up late and hang out with M. (babysitter). We love M!

This morning, since daddy wasn't gone fishing, and mommy didn't go running until later, we all slept in and hung out watching cartoons when Kya got up. Yummy breakfast followed! I made special chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Carl requested the chocolate chips (little too sweet for me), but yummy.

So, then I went to the gym to get in my workout, while Carl and Kya went to the park. Fun for them, huh!

Well, another great year has past, which only means we have another great year to look forward to.

Memorial Weekend Family getaway

We went camping for our weekend getaway, family night. It was fun to get away and be with just us. Kya loves the outdoors and being with daddy. I wasn't too fond of the wind, but it was fun anyway.

Friday Night Family Night

Tonight...well, this afternoon we took a bike ride around Garden of the Gods. Thank you to our good friends, A and K for letting us borrow their bike stroller, Kya was able to enjoy it too. It was beautiful, and a great workout. Up and down hills and all. Great day for a ride, sun was out, it was warm, but just enough cloud cover and wind to cool us off.

Kya loved our stop at the pond to see the ducks and throw rocks in the water.

Enthusiastic smile.

Check out our awesome matching white hats.
Daddy and Kya, two of a kind.
"My favorite part"

No Pics, sorry.

Last night we had a great Family Night. We went to the dollar theater to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks". We took Kya with us too. She really loved the theater experience, other than about 20 or so minutes of boredom, she did great. Sorry, no pictures of this family night, but it was a great one.

Another great friday family activity.

This week we went ice fishing. Kya was a trooper. Even though her hands were freezing, she wanted to stay longer and throw the rocks. She loves it when we catch fish, she wanted to kiss them all. And she did, when daddy held them close enough to her. She is a lover of animals.

Monday night we pulled out of the box "musical performance". Well, too early for concerts in the park, couldn't find any concerts local and the one thing I really wanted to go to, Disney on Ice "Finding Nemo", Kya's favorite, was way out of our price range for family night. So we had our own Disney on Ice. We found our own Nemos and even another little friend (crayfish). Another great family night.

Friday Night Family Night

One of my favorite family traditions is Friday Night Family/Date Night. Each Monday night after FHE, we chose an activity out of the

"Family Fun Box".

This week Kya picked out 'making cookies'.

We put on the music and rocked out while making cookies. Carl helped get the ingredients, I mixed it all up (one of my secret's: hand mixing). Kya counted the measurements, and entertained us.

Messy hands, Kya doesn't like to be messy very often, if ever.

Kisses from Daddy.

And of course when its all done....Carl enjoys the cookie dough.

We are now Paper Pregnant.

Carl and I consider our "paper" pregnancy to begin when we turn in our adoption application. Monday, March 17 we sent in our application to our agency and we are now on the road to baby #2. We are so excited to get started. The difference with most pregnancies and our "paper" pregnancy is we don't have a date to look forward to, we don't go to the doctor regularly for checkups, and we don't have food cravings....nevermind, I always have food cravings. This whole process is a rollercoaster of emotions and feelings, but always well worth it in the end. We look forward to hearing from you and your contacts. Please keep us in your prayers as you help us in our search for our next child. If you are a birthparent reading this, you are in our prayers, always.

Dear Friends,

Let us first express our love to all birthparents reading this. We have developed a respect and love for you far greater that words can describe. It is amazing to us how one can love a child so much, to allow the best life for them to be through adoption.

Paula’s life motto (if you will) is, “My greatest desire, became my greatest challenge, which ultimately is my greatest blessing.” Our lives have been blessed through adoption once before. We have learned so much from our experience; about unconditional love, pure charity and the value of an eternal family, extended family and community.

The purpose of this blog is to share with you our story, and our desire to adopt again. Our hope and prayer is that many of you reading this will pass on our story, so as to help us bring more children into our family. Read our story, view our pictures and pass it on. With Kya, many of you received a Christmas letter expressing our desire to become parents…this is our “Christmas Letter”. This letter comes as a bit of a challenge. Our prayer is that it is received in the spirit it is intended; to show our gratitude and wishes.

Carl and I have been married almost seven years now and we have grown in many ways through our lives together. The majority of our experiences being uplifting and joyful; while other trials, always ending as a blessing. We love to take trips together, play games, watch movies, camp, be outdoors and explore each other's crafty talents. Carl is extremely talented in sports and hunting, his true passion. Paula loves to decorate and capture memories for our family and others’ through her passion of photography. How can we sum up our lives in so few words...…guided, blessed, and one crazy ride.

In the words of another mother,
“ Being a mother is more than a phase in my life; for me, it's a never-ending mission, my calling here on earth. And when the time comes and I'm standing before my Heavenly Father, I just want Him to say to me, "Job well done."

Family is the most important thing to us and we both enjoy a great challenge. Although it would be unfair to claim our daughter as a challenge, she really is an angel; parenting is a challenge in and of itself. We are constantly learning how to be the best parents for our children and with that comes new knowledge everyday. What a joy it is to learn life’s greatest lessons from a child. Next to our Savior, our greatest teacher speaks gibberish. With near perfect annunciation, she teaches with each word she speaks.

What more can we say, than to ask that you share this blog with your family, your friends, collegues and aquaintences, that in turn they will share with their loved ones, and so on. In hopes that our birthparents will find us and fall in love with us, as we know we will with them. We ask for your thoughts and prayers as we begin a new adventure, that we feel will be as fun a ride as the last adventure.

“To live would be an awfully great adventure” -peter pan

This blog and its comments are protected and will only be published at the discretion of the authors (us). Please feel free to comment as you feel inspired, only we will see them. If you feel more comfortable emailing us, please do. Our adoption email is carl.paula@yahoo.com. We look forward to hearing from many of you and of course meeting many more.

With Love,

Carl and Paula and Kya