Mother's Day

Seth made me the sweetest little calendar for Mother's Day. He colored the sky gray and said, "The sky is dark because it is raining hearts for Mother's Day!" I loved it! Every page of that calendar just exudes love and time spent in earnest concentration.

This boy melts my heart. You wouldn't believe how empathetic he is. (For instance, he has a girl in his class that was born with half a heart. This obviously causes a few physical challenges. He has taken her under his wing, and when I told him he wouldn't be in the same class as her next year, he started crying! He doesn't want to lose his friend.)

A boys' day together also means...

A GIRLS' DAY TOGETHER!

When the boys all left to go to the Payson Temple openhouse, that left S and I at home together. The first thing we did was nap in a big bed. She loves being cuddled, so we fell asleep quickly. About an hour later, I woke up to S pretending to sleep. She was trying so hard to be good, but she was wide awake. I sneaked over as quietly as possible and turned on Cinderella, her favorite Disney movie. I then sneaked ever-so-quietly and got back in bed. S was so adorable, pretending to be asleep but obviously awake and watching. She eventually watched without reservation, and before long, she was yelling at the TV.

"Watch out for the kitty!"
"Be nice to 'Rella!"
"They dancing!"
"Yay! You did it!"

This girl is so full of life. We ate dark chocolate covered raisins as we cheered on 'Rella, and we danced, and we played games. I loved our girl day, and I love our girl. :)

*Sorry for the lack of pictures, but we can't post her face yet, and there is no point to any pictures without her in them for this post.

Boys Only Trip to the Temple

Hey this is Jason.  So the boys and I got to have a special day today.  I took a half day off from work and we were able to go down to the new Payson LDS Temple.  Just me and the boys and it was a fun time.  If you don't know, LDS temples are special places in our religion where members of the LDS church who are living in accordance with the teachings of the church may go to perform special ordinances.  These are essentially very sacred promises made with the Lord.  After a temple is built and before it is dedicated as a Holy place, it is opened to the general public to walk through and see the inside. The boys loved it.

April? What's April?

So... April was crazy. Like, out of this world crazy. The last day of April Jason and I looked at each other and literally said things like, "Wait... what? How did it get to be the last day of April?!?" Let me explain (with some cute pictures thrown in for good measure!)

COURT
We had the permanency hearing for S's case through foster care. It was scheduled for a Wednesday. There was family from our side and from S's side who had driven in from out of state to be here for the court hearing because it is the biggest hearing in the foster care process (at least in this case for us).

Grandma and S talking about what's important: jewelry!
I am so glad she and grandpa came into town to support all of us.

Guys' game night

This is Jason.  So for the past several months, I have been hosting a guys only game night at our house.  We get 6-12 guys together and play board games until midnight or 1 am.  It's a super fun time and has been a blast to host.  It's always interesting to see what games everyone wants to play.  We don't get into anything as hardcore as Dungeons and Dragons, and we don't play anything as light as Apples to Apples.  We play good solid strategy games or bluffing games or really whatever we want.  It's a great evening to stuff yourself full of junk food and laugh a lot with some friends.  Good times right?