A Great Way to End 2009!!

I can't believe another year has come to an end. I can't believe it is almost 2010!! Ten years ago I was down at Dixie College and loving every minute of it. Ten years ago Luke was in the Marines working in Japan. Ten years ago people were worrying about the Y2K bug.

2009 has been a great year. In fact, every year just gets better and better. The best part of 2009 has been watching Claire grow up. At this time last year, Claire was crawling all over the place and occasionally taking a few steps. Now she is running all over the place, climbing up everything she can, and she is full of attitude. She knows just what she wants and nothing will get in her way. We love her so much. Earlier this year we started the adoption process again and we are hoping that our little family will grow a little bit bigger in 2010.



Yesterday I knew we had a long day ahead of us. In an attempt to wear Claire out and get her to take an earlier nap, we went outside to shovel snow. I knew that the second I started shoveling the snow, she would want to help. We were only outside for about 30 minutes...but it worked. An hour later she was sound asleep. Three hours before her normal nap time.

Then later that day we got together with my mom and step-dad and all of my step-brothers and sisters and went ice-skating. We had so much fun!!


Then we were off to meet Claire's birthmom at Temple Square. I love being on Temple Square at Christmas Time. And it was really nice spending time with Melody. Of course, most of the time was spent watching Luke chase Claire around outside. But that was to be expected since Claire hates riding in a stroller and doesn't like being held.

Just a little Christmas update

We can we say....Christmas was great. We loved spending time with our family, eating good food, and especially watching Claire experience it all.

We made sugar cookies to deliver to our neighbors and friends....and to some random guy that thought we were crazy. I guess I should have looked up an address instead of just guessing which house. He didn't even act appreciative either.


Look at this happy, yet tired girl. We could of slept in Christmas morning but I was so excited for Claire to open her gifts that I woke her and Luke up early.


Luke was excited to try out the new lens that he gave me for my camera.


All of us together in our new Christmas pj's. Last year I made our Christmas pj's but this year I took the lazy way out and bought them.


Claire was so excited for Santa to come to the Christmas party and she loved watching all the cousins come up when their names were called to see what Santa had for them. Then Santa pulled a goody bag out of his bag and said "Is there a little girl here named Claire?", and Claire instantly screamed out "NOOOO" and hid her face from Santa. So Funny!!!


The wagon that Luke gave Claire for Christmas was a big hit.


We hope you all had a great Christmas

Feelin' Crafty

The past couple of months I have really been in a crafting mood so tonight I decided to post a few of the projects that I thought turned out alright. Too bad I'm not a perfectionist and they would have turned out better. Oh well....I am who I am!!!

I made this diaper cake for my cousin's baby shower. It was so much fun to make.


I bought this hat a few weeks ago and today decided to make a few fabric flowers so it wouldn't be so boring. Total cost for fabric... 20 cents plus enough left over to make several more flowers.

This idea I stole of off someone else's blog. I made it to go in Claire's "We hope one day we will make it all the way through sacrament meeting" quiet bag. Last week we ALMOST made it all the way through church and maybe with the addition of Mr. Potato Head, we will be able to do it this sunday.

Winter Coat

Last year my step-mom made Claire and Rilynn each a coat and matching hat and they turned out so cute. So earlier this year I asked her if she would make Claire another coat. All I can say is that Claire looks adorable in it...and we get so many compliments everytime Claire wears it to church. Thanks so much Holly.

The Best Time of the Year

I absolutely love Christmas and spending it with Luke and Claire makes it even more special. So here are some of the reasons why this is the best time of the year...especially this year.
1. Everytime Claire stands under the mistletoe, she will blow Luke or I a kiss.
2. Claire talks non-stop about Santa and gets so excited when she sees his picture...but totally freaks out if a "real" santa gets too close to her.
3. Seeing the lights on Temple Square.
4. Decorating the house to make it look all festive.
5. People are alot nicer this time of year...for the most part anyway.
6. Making Sugar Cookies!!! We love sugar cookies!
7. I love singing the Christmas hymns in church even though I can't sing.
8. We have fun doing Sub for Santa.
9. Luke normally takes me out on a really nice date right before Christmas and I am really looking forward to it this year.
10. Family parties
11. Celebrating the birth of Jesus. We are really trying to teach Claire the real meaning of Christmas and the importance of helping others that are in need.



Today we got together with my brothers and sisters and made gingerbread houses. My mom spent days baking the houses for us to come decorate so we have her to thank for doing all the hard work. This is the first time that all the grandkids have been together at the same time so we had to take a picture.

Our cute little gingerbread house....or as Luke calls it, our "dream home". Apparently we have different dreams :) Ours is the middle one.

Luke came home early from work one day just as Claire and I were getting ready to put up the lights. Isn't he HOT!!

And of course, Claire has to help. She is the biggest helper no matter what I am doing...and then once she goes down for a nap I clean up the mess she created while "helping" me. I don't dare discourage her from helping because in a couple of years she actually will be a big help.

Our First Encounter with Santa this Year!!

So all day long I kept talking to Claire about Santa and was trying to get her excited to see him since our ward party was later that night and Santa usually stops by for a visit. Plus, I really wanted a pic of Claire with Santa but there is no way I am waiting in line for an hour and paying $20 at the mall....call me cheap if you want. The party was fun, the food was yummy, the entertainment was great, and Claire instantly freaked out when Luke placed her on Santa's lap. Maybe Santa will stop by our family Christmas party and things will go better. If not, there is always next year...Right??

I have heard that you can print your blog... Has anyone done it? Does anyone know how?

The Tree is Up

Several years ago I used to get really irritated when people would put up their Christmas trees before December....and if I saw a Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving I would go crazy. Then all that changed when I started working at the Church Office Building four years ago. The first Christmas tree was decorated the day after Halloween and I think once we even decorated a tree on Halloween. We had to start decorating trees that early in order to get them all decorated before December. Even though I love staying at home with Claire and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, I must admit that I really miss working this time of year and decorating Christmas trees all over Temple Square everyday for an entire month. So last night I got to thinking about what I would be doing if I was still working and it totally put me in the mood to put up my Christmas tree....FIVE days before Thanksgiving.

Our Little Balloon Girl

Tonight while eating ice cream sundaes after Young Women in Exellence, some of my Mia Maids decided to have a little bit of fun with Claire. First it was just a helium balloon tied around each pigtail......and before we left the church she had the rest of the helium balloons tied around her wrists. She absolutely loved it!! She has so much fun with the girls in my class and I love working with them. It has definately been my favorite church calling so far.

Family and Friends,
Almost three years ago we started the adoption process for the first time. It seemed like forever before we were approved to adopt through LDS Family Services and after we were approved, it took us about four months before being selected by a birth mother. During those four months, we were contacted through email by several birth mothers and were disappointed when we never heard from them again. So when we received an email from Melody, emailed her back, and then didn’t hear back from her, we weren’t too surprised. Then a week later I received a call at work from our case worker wanting to know why we never emailed Melody back. Melody was 6 months pregnant and had been looking at our adoption profile for awhile and wanted to get to know us better. She had been waiting for a response to her email all week but for some reason the email that we sent her the previous week never went through. By the end of the day we were emailing each other back and forth. We were trying so hard not to get our hopes up….but we were so excited!! The emails continued for the next two weeks and then we received a call from our case worker saying that we needed to come in to the office. She didn’t tell us why but we were pretty sure what was going on. We went in that evening and were given a package from Melody that contained a baby blanket, a little pink teddy bear, and a card asking us if we would raise her baby girl for her since she wanted more for her little girl than she was able to give her. Luke was so excited!! So was I, but more than anything I was just filled with peace. It was a peace that had been missing for years. We knew that this baby was meant to come to our home. We knew that this was the baby that we had been praying for.
Several weeks later we met Melody for the first time and the next month we got together again so her parents could meet us. We were extremely nervous during each visit….more nervous than we have ever been in our entire lives. We were afraid that after meeting us, she would think we were weird or something and change her mind. The next couple of months were spent getting ready for our baby. Two and a half months after getting that first email, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my phone beeping from a missed phone call and a voice message from Melody saying that Claire was on her way. Although Melody didn’t want us at the hospital when Claire was born, we had exchanged phone numbers so she could call us when she went into labor. The next day was the longest day of our lives as we waited for another phone call saying that Claire was born. Each time the phone would ring, we would get so excited and my heart would start beating really fast. Finally we changed the ring tone for Melody’s phone number so we could distinguish it from the other calls we were receiving. Melody called us that evening soon after Claire was born. Luke answered it since my hands were shaking so badly. Our baby girl had finally arrived. Two days later we were able to see our little angel for the first time. No words can describe how it felt when Melody laid Claire in my arms for the first time. We were so excited, filled with peace, overcome with joy, and scared to death. That was eighteen months ago. Claire has been the highlight of our lives since then. She can make us laugh so hard with the funny things she is constantly doing, make our hearts melt when she calls for her “mommy” and “daddy”, break our hearts when she gets hurt, and occasionally drive us crazy with her stubbornness. She is everything to us and we are so grateful that we are able to be her parents.
We have what is called an open adoption and during the last eighteen months we have exchanged emails and photos with Melody and have even got together for an occasion visit. We love and respect Claire’s birth mother so much. Through her selflessness we were able to finally start our family. She loved Claire so much that she was willing to set aside her own feelings and do what she felt was right for her baby even though it was a hard thing to do. She is the most courageous person that we know. Although we may not see her very much and in the future we will probably have even less contact with her, she will forever remain a part of our family.
Six months ago we again applied for adoption through LDS Family Services. We feel that there is another baby that is meant to be part of our family. We are asking you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and to please tell others about us. With your help we may be able to find the part of our family that we are missing. Our profile can be viewed at itsaboutlove.org and we are in the process of setting up another blog at lukeandtinaadoption.blogspot.com so that potential birthmothers can learn even more about us.
Thank you so much for your love and support.
Luke, Tina, and Claire.

One Year Ago....

One year ago our little sweetheart was sealed to us in the Salt Lake Temple. We can't believe how much she has changed since then.

Our Top Ten Favorite Things about Halloween 2009....in no particular order.

1. Making Claire’s costume and her wanting to put it on everyday.

2. Picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.

3. Carving pumpkins and seeing Claire’s expression when we turned off the lights

4. Tina getting the best costume award at the YW/YM Halloween party

5. Roasting pumpkin seeds

6. Eating homemade chili and cinnamon rolls.

7. Eating most of Claire’s Halloween candy after we put her to bed. Well, she isn’t supposed to eat it anyway!!

8. Claire getting excited to get so much candy. She would say “please” and “thank you” and then she would take extra candy.

9. Claire refusing to put her hand inside of a pumpkin because she said it was "dross"=gross….but hours earlier she had no problem sticking her hand in the toilet to grab a toy that fell in.

10. Now that Halloween is over I can change the music on our blog….. we thought the Halloween music was a good idea but we got sick of listening to it really fast.

Just another reason why we LOVE this girl so very much!!

After reading several blogs about picking out pumpkins at a pumpking patch, I decided that picking out pumpkins that way sounded much better than sorting through boxes and crates full of pumpkins at the grocery store or walmart. So tonight for Family Home Evening we headed down to the only pumpkin patch that we know of in town. Despite the fact that it started raining on us, we did have a good time and hope to do it again next year.

The Haunted Barnyard

Today I woke up and decided that, after staying at home all week because we were sick, Claire and I needed to go do something fun. And since I absolutely love Halloween, we ended up at the Haunted Barnyard at Gardner Village. My mom, sister, and neice came along too.




She wasn't too sure about riding the pony but did stay on for a minute.




She loved petting the goats, lambs, pigs, and calf.




Steph, Rilynn, Me, and Claire




Claire went through the hay maze several times.




And she cheated a couple of times trying to get to the end.




???? I don't have a clue what she is doing here ??????

Seeing the Leaves Change Color

We started a tradition the year that we were married of driving up to the top of the Oquirrh Mountains to see the leaves change color. So on Saturday two weeks ago we hopped in the truck, stopped for drinks and something to eat at Subway to take with us, and were on our way. It was a beautiful drive and the road ends at the top of the mountain right above the Kennecott copper mine so if you look one direction you can see Tooele Valley and the other direction you look over the Salt Lake Valley and down into the Copper Pit. It was beautiful!!

A New Temple

Just a few weeks ago I was telling someone that I would love to go back to my mission and visit my dear friends and that I plan to do that when a temple is built there.....whenever that may be.
So I was just a little bit happy (okay, okay, I was totally shouting with joy) when I heard that they are planning on building a temple in Concepcion Chile. I can't believe that I came home six years ago!!! I love the people in Concepcion and can't wait to go back in a couple of years when the temple is dedicated. I guess I better start brushing up on my spanish.


Visiting an orphanage on P-day




Hna. Cariqueo and I standing in front of our casita....or more commonly referred to as the "doll house" since you had to be pretty short in order to enter without ducking your head. Hna. Cariqueo and I loved this place. And what is not to love....especially when, if situated a certain way in bed, you can look straight up and see the stars at night.

An Apple a Day

Did the birds eat our apples??







Did we happen to get a bad box of apples??








Here is the culprit….and caught in the act.


Apparently, apples are only good for one bite.

Let the Embarrasing Moments Begin

Embarrassing Moment #1
Last week while changing Claire’s wet diaper at a public restroom, a lady walks into one of the stalls and within moments she is stinking up the entire place. Claire instantly starts sniffing and loudly saying, “eew, stinky”, “eew, pooh pooh”, “dross mama” (dross = gross). And every time the lady made some sort of bodily function sound, Claire would loudly announce for all to hear “POOH, POOH!!” I was totally embarrassed…..but I bet that poor lady was mortified.

Embarrassing Moment #2
So ya know how when you need to check your little ones’ diaper to see if it is dirty, you just pull the diaper back a little bit and look down to see if it does indeed need to be changed and perhaps you will sniff their cute little bum. Well Claire has starting this new thing that is quite embarrassing but even more so when she does it to some stranger in a very public place……

We were recently attending a high school soccer game since one of my Mia Maids is on the team. Claire and I are sitting on the grass next to a bunch of other people and Ms. Social Bug Claire is just going around saying hi to the people near us when I notice that she is leaning down near this lady’s rear end and is pulling the lady’s pants back as far as she can and getting closer and closer so that she can look down her pants and smell to see if this lady needs her “diaper” changed. And of course, even though this lady doesn’t need her “diaper” changed, Claire starts saying “eew, pooh pooh” while looking down this lady’s rear end. I am sure my face was bright red!!! And we left the game soon after.

I didn’t realize how big of a slacker I was until I realized that our last post was three weeks ago. Man, time flies!!
Well we had a really fun weekend. A Friday night can’t get much better than a husband getting home from work early, taking Claire to the swimming pool for the 2nd time this week…..(and who would have thought that the swimming pool offers a Friday night-date night discount), chinese takeout, a stack of movies, diet pepsi, and a sleeping little munchkin in the other room.


Have any of you watched Chuck before? We hadn't until friday night when Luke rented the first season of it. Its not too bad of a show!!


And we also bought some Kookaburra licorice. Luke recently got me hooked on this stuff and now nothing else even compares.