Shawn & Ashley's Visit

Shawn & Ashley came to visit from Utah last week...we had SO much fun with them! They hadn't met Kylee yet, so we were so excited to introduce them to her! They brought the cutest little Halloween outfit for her to wear and the nicest card. Kylee loved them right from the beginning! They drove in on Wednesday night, so I kept Kylee awake so that they could see her...

The next day the boys went golfing and the girls went to the mall to get Kylee's ears pierced (see post below). That night we had Ashley's birthday dinner (happy belated bday Ashley!). Then we went to Bahama Bucks, since Ashley had never been before. My uncle owns it, so we were surprised that we had never taken her there! For some reason, Lincoln isn't in any of these pictures, but he was there...sorry Linc!
On Friday night we went to eat at The White Chocolate Grill in Scottsdale. If you haven't been there, you need to go! My family has been raving about it for the last year or so, and Ashley, Brad, Lincoln & I had never been, so my parents took all of us! I got the chicken crepes...they were delicious! I was a little sad though, because my stomach ended up hurting a lot after I ate them, so I probably can't have them again. Dessert was amazing! We got four different desserts to share. You should have seen all of us...we were all walking around the table taking bites and scarfing them down. They were Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

Shawn & Ashley...
Brad & Melissa...
Dad & Meg...
Me & Melissa...
Another picture of Brad... :)
Lincoln had to leave for work so Kylee & I hung out with my family the rest of the night. We all walked over to The Container Store after dinner...my dad is obsessed with it and told us that we all needed to go. :) Kylee was perfectly happy being held by Uncle Shawn...
At around 11pm we turned on Nacho Libre. I wish all of you had the privilege of watching this movie with my dad. It is seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen. My dad has probably seen this movie 10 times and I think he laughs harder every time he watches it. I spend most of my time laughing at my dad instead of at the movie. He gets laughing so hard that he starts coughing and wheezing...seriously, I've never seen anyone laugh as hard as he does.
I just had to include this last picture of Shawn & Kylee. He was so sweet with her. He will make such a great dad someday!
Thanks for coming to visit, Shawn & Ashley! Kylee misses you already! :)

Ear Piercing x's 2!

We took Kylee to get her ears pierced last week! I was so glad that Ashley was able to be here for it...she was the only one that had enough guts to watch and take pictures. My mom and Megan wandered off because they were too afraid to watch. :) My sister Megan decided to get her ears pierced that day too...so it turned into an aunt-niece ear piercing outing. It was so fun! Here's Meg with her cute new pierced ears...
Kylee was asleep when we got there...she wasn't too excited when she woke up! I may just be a mean mom because I wasn't worried about her at all. I did feel bad that it hurt her, but I knew that she would be fine...and she was. She cried really hard for about 3 minutes and then I gave her a bottle and she stopped. She was a little fussy for a day or two, but that was it.
See? This was a few minutes later. Doesn't she look adorable? Honestly, I just can't stand how cute & girly her earrings make her look! Good job Kylee for being brave!!! You made Mommy proud!
We went to a kiosk at Fiesta Mall called Piercing Pagoda to get her ears pierced. Thanks for the recommendation Maren...I thought they did a great job.

Branson's Bday Party

Lincoln, Kylee & I had a great time at our friend Branson's birthday party last week! He turned 2 years old...he is getting so big! Branson used to live next-door to us, but now his family lives in Queen Creek. I miss him & his family so much! I forgot to take a picture of Branson at his birthday party, so here is an old one that I have of the two of us from earlier this year. Happy Birthday Branson!!!
Here's Branson's sister, McKenzie, and I at the party. I miss this girl...she used to come over and hang out with me when I was sick. We would watch tv, make snacks, and read books. I love her!
Lincoln decided to use some red twisty ties to create this look. Don't be jealous girls...he's mine! :)
Branson's sister Savannah saw Lincoln and wanted to look just like him...
Lincoln & Savannah are good friends. I remember Lincoln always telling me..."There is just something about Savannah. I just love her."
Thanks for the fun time guys!!!

Phoenix Zoo

A few weeks ago Kylee and I went with our ward playgroup to the Phoenix Zoo. Kylee LOVES to be outside so I thought she would love this...but she was just hot and sweaty the whole time. She was still really good despite the heat and her being stuck in her stroller the whole time.
Here are two of my friends' little girls walking together...so cute!!!
This picture makes me laugh so hard. I am kind of obsessed with this little boy. His name is Nixon & he is SO cute and chubby. He fell asleep with his sandwich tucked under his arm, and I couldn't help but snap a few pictures!
Flamingo...
Orangutan...I love these guys and could sit and watch them for hours!
Elephant...
I saw Brakelle looking at this painting and realized it would make a really cute picture...and I was right! :)
I had my friend Kachelle snap a quick photo of us before we left the zoo. I had to document Kylee's first time being there!
I called my mom when I got home and said, "Mom, I got to go to playgroup today and bring my OWN baby!" I was so excited. That's something that I always planned on doing with Jackson but never was able to do. It's funny the things I appreciate doing with Kylee now, after knowing what I missed out on for so long.

Kylee, Kylee, Kylee

I thought I'd post another little update on Kylee. She is doing GREAT! She falls asleep around 8:30 every night, wakes up once to eat at about 5am and goes back to sleep until around 8am. How incredible is that? And let me just say, we had nothing to do with it...it is all her. She is also taking 3 naps a day. Don't worry...we know that we are INSANELY lucky to have such a good baby!!!

During the last few months, almost all of my friends have had babies. I wish that hadn't been as hard for me as it was. Before we got Kylee, I just felt like my friends were passing me by, and I was starting to have less in common with them because I didn't have kids. I know I shouldn't have felt that way, but I did.

Little did I know that I would end up having a baby the exact same age as most of my friends'! To me, this is just another little miracle. My good friend Erica (who I grew up with and who lives in our complex) had a little boy (Patrick) the SAME DAY as Kylee! I remember going to Erica's house to tell her about the adoption when all of it was happening, and when we realized we would have babies that were born on the same day, we just couldn't believe it!

We put Kylee & Patrick next to each other one day, and they ended up holding hands...how cute is that?! :)
Kylee is such a happy baby!
I didn't realize these bows are such a hazard! I learned very quickly not to leave Kylee alone too long when she has a headband on!
My brother Aaron came to visit over Conference weekend and met Kylee for the first time...
She loves her Uncle Aaron!
I know this is bad, but Kylee LOVES watching tv! Lincoln had her on his lap the other night and was watching something and Kylee was totally into it. :)
I love this picture...
We love having Kylee in our family. She is always making us smile!

Daisy Thinks She's A Baby

Daisy has totally been acting like a baby since we got Kylee! She likes to sit in Kylee's Boppy and relax on Kylee's changing pad. It is hilarious.
Kylee is starting to touch the dogs and look at them...I can tell she is trying to figure out what they are. Really though, the dogs are adapting well to having her here. They run upstairs to her door when she wakes up from her naps and are getting to be protective of her.
When I was little I had a dog that totally took care of me. She walked me to the bus stop every day and was there waiting for me when I came home from school. I loved it!

More Pics from Snowflake

I posted about the baby shower I had in Snowflake last month, but forgot to post the rest of our pictures from the trip. One of the days, Lincoln offered to watch Kylee while I walked to Ed's (the grocery store) with my two nephews and my niece.
We had so much fun...I am in love with these kids! I really wish I lived closer to them. Here's Claire with her little shopping cart. She was hilarious!
All of the kids had their own money to spend. I helped them each figure out what they could get with their money...which involved a lot of taking something, then putting it back and trading for something else. I remember when I was that age and the biggest decision I had to make was what kind of candy bar to buy. Those were the days! :) The kids had such good manners, especially Jayten. He bought a sucker for me since I'd forgotten my money, and let the cashier keep his change. He's so sweet.
Claire had a few extra coins so she rode the car outside...Jarod couldn't help but join in on the fun! On the walk home, I told the kids that we would have to come back someday when Kylee was old enough to come with us. I said, "Well, Jayten will be a teenager by then, so he'll probably be too old to want to walk with us." He said, "I might be old, but I'll NEVER be too old for Ed's!"
Before we left town, Linc & I took Kylee to see her brother's grave. It was so neat to be there with her. I can't wait to tell Kylee all about Jackson and who he is and where he is now. I'm so thankful for our two kids. We are incredibly blessed.

Gratitude

For the past few weeks, I've been focusing on having a better attitude and being more grateful for what I have. I was getting way too caught up in the stressful parts of the adoption process and wasn't focusing nearly as much as I should have, on what a miracle this whole adoption is. I prayed for help to not complain and to see things more clearly...and for the past two weeks the Spirit has quietly pointed things out to me that I had forgotten or had neglected to notice. Multiple times a day I am gently reminded what a great life I live. Too many times I get caught up in the fact that I still have one week a month when I'm in a lot of pain...instead of realizing that the other three weeks are good and even during my bad week I don't end up on painkillers or in the emergency room like I used to. Sometimes I think about how sad I am that Jackson isn't here to interact with Kylee...and then I realize that she has an older brother to keep watch over her throughout her life & that the three of us have someone to work towards seeing and being with forever. Once in awhile I feel sorry for myself that my husband works all weekend, every weekend...and then I remember that having a hardworking husband is one of the greatest blessings that I could ever be given.

Our lesson in Relief Society today was on families. We talked about marriage and my thoughts were directed toward the fact that Lincoln has taken care of me through years of pain and sickness. He hasn't used that against me a single time. I know that if it were me, I would say something about how hard it is to have a spouse who is sick all the time...but he never does. Now that we don't have to deal with those problems very much anymore, looking back, we are both so grateful that he handled things that way. It helped our marriage and helped me in my personal life more than he will ever know. I don't think that I could ever repay him for that. Another part of our lesson was on our relationships with our siblings. I commented on how Melissa always prayed that I would have a baby...and she ended up being the one who found Kylee's birth parents for us. I know that Heavenly Father used her as His tool because she was willing and prayerful and I am forever grateful to her for that. I also thought about how close Lincoln & I are to all of our siblings on both sides. I've never seen a family like the one that we have. We talk about it a lot...and wonder why ALL of our siblings and their spouses get along extremely well and genuinely love to spend time together. I know that that is SO, SO rare, and I am SO thankful that we've been blessed with such a great foundation and support system.

If anyone reads this and is having a really hard time...I am proof that things can get better. I would have never been able to imagine my life turning around the way that it has. I had many times when my life seemed to be going NOWHERE and NOTHING seemed to be working out AT ALL. I felt like nobody understood and I honestly thought it might be that way forever. HEAVENLY FATHER HAS PLANNED MY LIFE MORE PERFECTLY THAN I COULD EVER HAVE PLANNED IT. He knows what I need, He wants me to be happy, and He will do everything He can to make that happen, if I do my part. I KNOW THIS. Just don't give up.

Love Them!!!

Here are more pictures from Kylee's photo shoot. We cannot get enough of her!!!










Jana is a great photographer & very reasonably priced...check out her website for more info.