Blessing day and photo shoot

Last month we were able to bless our sweet Anna at church.  We had lots of friends and family come to support us and we had a great day. 

Several days after the blessing I took Anna out to get some pictures of her in her blessing dress before she outgrew it.  My baby girl is absolutely beautiful and every day I feel so blessed to be her momma.

 My awesome cousins made these cute barefoot sandals and headband to go along with her 

blessing dress. 

Anna was tired and ready for bed by the time we started taking pictures.  No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get her to smile.  I finally recruited Crue to help get a smile out of her. I am not sure what I was expecting him to do but making faces was not it.  Anna wasn't amused but he sure had me and my step mom laughing.    

"Hurry Mom!  Take the picture." I guess he was determined to get her to smile.  I turned away for a sec and looked back when I heard my sweet Anna complaining.  I can't blame the poor girl. 

 Our precious Anna.  You bring so much happiness into our home.  We love you so much and are so grateful to be your family.  We knew our family was missing someone and that special someone was you. 

Six months

This little beauty of ours turned six months in June.  

 Six months is a big milestone for us.  At six months we are able to finalize the adoption, give her a name and a blessing at church, and have her sealed to our family in the temple.  We were all excited for her to turn six months old.

 Here we are with the judge that finalized the adoption.  It was a great day.  

I bribed the kids with m&m's to be extra good and for some reason Crue thought he would get the m&m's from the judge.  The judge didn't have the treat for Crue and our little guy didn't take the news so well...hence, the "I'm not going to smile for your picture or even show my face" thing that Crue has going on.   He takes treat time quite seriously.

Once we finalized we were off to celebrate at the same place we celebrated with the other adoptions.  Good ol' Denny's.  I'm not sure how this became a tradition (maybe because there are no other places open at 10:00) but we since we don't get to Denny's often  we were pretty excited. 

 Cheering that our sweet Anna is officially ours.

Flashback

It seems like not so long ago I walked into the kitchen to find a bunch of apples all lined up in a row with one bite taken out of each one.  The culprit was Claire when she two or three years old.  She loved apples and had snuck into the box of apples we had.

Fast forward three or four years....

This is what I saw when I walked into the kitchen recently.  A package of strawberries all lined up in a row with a few bites taken out of each one.  I instantly knew who the culprit was this time.  I just wish I had taken a picture of his red strawberry stained face and maybe a video of him telling me over and over that he didn't get into the strawberries. 

Summer fun

 Making the decision to sell our home and move last year was extremely tough and we really hoped and prayed that we would get into a great neighborhood.  Those prayers were answered and everyday I am grateful for the great neighbors we have.  At the beginning of summer we were the only house in the neighborhood that had grass.  One of our neighbors said that if we would provide the grass, she would provide the slide.  Sounded good to me!!    Pretty soon we had most of the neighborhood kids over.   It was so much fun.

Wheeler Farm

 I am so grateful that I am able to stay at home with our kids.  It really means the world to me.  My mom called up and asked if we wanted to meet her at Wheeler Farm for the day and since didn't have anything going on that day we were all on board. It has been years since we visited Wheeler Farm. 

Me and my sweet Anna hanging out in the shade while the kiddos played on the playground.

They had a really fun playground that wasn't there the last came we went. The kids loved it.

 Feeding the ducks was our favorite part.  We liked seeing how close we could get them to come us.

Crue's favorite part was to see how close they would come to us and then scare them and run after them.  Ha ha...he is such a little boy.

 My mom, Caitlynn, Rilynn, Claire, Tina, Anna, and Crue

 My little Crue Buddy

Feeding the ducks

Pink Panthers

Claire decided to try playing softball this year.  I was a little bit worried for a while there.   She had a rough go of it.  Claire was so excited for her first practice and to meet her coach and we had been practicing outside for a few weeks beforehand.  And then at her very first practice she was trying to catch a ball and it ended up hitting her in the face.   I saw it happen and I kept expecting her to run over to me but she toughed it out.  Afterward she told me that she really wanted to cry because it hurt so bad but instead she just let her eyes water up for a minute.  However the damage was done and for the next month she refused to catch the ball unless it was a ground ball.  About the same time she was up at bat and the ball ended up hitting her so then she was also nervous about going to bat and she struck out at every game for several weeks.  Then one day she decided that striking out wasn't so fun and she was tired of being the catcher and she wasn't going to be scared anymore.  After that she hit the ball almost every time she was up to bat and she got to play a position other than catcher and best of all....Claire decided that playing softball was really fun. 

Crue made friends with this cute boy and they were practically inseparable at every game.  

 The first time she got to play something other than catcher.  She was pretty excited.

 

Claire loved it when she would get a bunch of family cheering her on.  The only rule was that we couldn't cheer for her until after she hit the ball.  Apparently cheering for her as she was up at bat made her nervous.  At this game she had quite the crew cheering her on...Aunt Steph, Rilynn, Grandma Jordan, Mom, Caitlynn, Anna, Dad, and Crue.  Grandma and Grandpa Holly made it to almost every game too.

  Claire lost her first tooth about an hour before her softball game.  She had been waiting months for that first tooth to fall out and the tooth to replace it had already come in but wasn't close enough to push this one out of the way.  She was so excited for the tooth to come out and she told all our neighbors and then told everyone at the softball game too.

 

 Some of her biggest fans.

 

Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Megan came out to watch a game too.  Claire was so excited to see them.

 

 Every time I see her visor I just smile.  At one of the games she decided she needed to write her name on it so it wouldn't get lost.  So she did just that....on top of the visor and last name spelled wrong.  I absolutely love it. 

  Good job Claire.  We had so much fun watching you learn and grow.  We loved coming to all your games and cheering you on. 

..Family, Festivities, and lots of Fireworks..

Our Independence Day was full of family, friends, festivities, and fireworks. It was a great day. We started the day off with the annual Ray Barrus 5K. Several months ago Claire decided she wanted to run the race this year so we signed her up for the kids one mile race. She was really dedicated and would talk me or Luke into going running with her so she could get ready. For several weeks before the race she would get up first thing in the morning and get ready to go running. All her hard work paid off and she took 3^rd place in her age division Although I just looked at the race results and that shows she took 2^nd place. Either way she did awesome and we are so proud of her. At the last minute Luke decided to race with Claire and to also do the 5K and Crue decided he wanted his daddy to push him in the jogging stroller. After the race we were off to watch the parade and my aunts and uncles homes. I must say it is very convenient having relatives live along the parade route. We got to watch the parade while hanging out with all the cousins. Then we were off to the park for some food and bounce houses, then a family party. Fit in a long nap after that and we were then ready for some fireworks. It really was a great day and we feel very blessed to live in this amazing country. Happy Birthday America!!

 

Claire all ready for her first race.  She was so worried that we were going to be late and she would miss it.  She was so excited.

 

Claire and her daddy.  Luke ended up not going in to work and Claire was pretty excited that he was going to run the race with her.

 

Me and my kiddos just waiting for the race to start.

And waiting some more.  They had so many people register late that the race got going late.  Claire and Luke are 5th and 6th from the right.

 

My sweet little Anna was a trooper through the whole thing.  We woke her up early than usual and she was just as good as could be.  She is the biggest sweetheart.

Claire with her 3rd place medal.  She has been showing it off to everyone.  

 

 

 

It took awhile to get the results from the race so we had no idea if Claire would place or not.  She patiently waited and her eyes just lit up when she heard them call her name.

 

My two boys running the 5K.

 

Claire and Anna waiting for the 5K to get over.

I am pretty sure that Claire has convinced this boy of mine that pictures are better if you are pulling a funny face.   

My niece Ashlyn waiting for the parade to start.

My and my man.

Claire's favorite part of the parade was the gymnasts that did backbends in the air.  Crue loved the high school bands.

Cousin Britt took Anna the second we got there so these two enjoyed the parade together.