Marriage Matters Camping Trip 2010

Every year we go camping with our Marriage Matters class from church. This was our 4th annual camping trip at Lake Lopez in Arroyo Grande, Ca. We had a blast! Above is our family picture from the trip and the group picture with everyone who attended this year. It is our biggest year yet.

Getting our camp site set up.

On Thursday we went to the waterpark that was located on the campgrounds. Aaden and Abbie had a great time. Gavin on the other hand was not to sure about the COLD water. All in all we had a wonderful time.

Thursday night we went into town and ate at Doc's Ice Cream. Then went to the park to let the kids play.

 We attempted fishing a couple times but just had no luck. Our last day of fishing it was so windy we couldn't have been successful even if we wanted too.

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Aaden & Abigail officially become OUR kids!

We thought the day would never come! Aaden and Abigail joined our family January 23, 2007 and 3 yrs, 1 mth, and 8 days later on March 3, 2010 at the Los Angeles Children's Court in Monterey Park Aaden and Abigail were finally adopted.

(top left) Jeremy and I getting sworn in. (top right) Jeremy and I signing the adoption papers.

(bottom left) After the judge offically announced them OUR kids (bottom right) Aaden & Abigail meeting the judge.
(top picture) Our family picture with the judge.
(bottom picture) Everyone who joined us for this special day.
Addison, Savanna, Sissy, Aunt Jessica, Uncle Brandon, Matt, Nana and Papa.
And where do we celebrate DISNEYLAND of course!
We went to lunch at In N Out and then headed to Disneyland for the rest of the day and had a wonderful time. We all wore We're celebrating pins so all the cast members were asking what we were celebrating and the kids were sooo excited to tell everyone that they had just been adopted.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was wonderful! We spent Christmas Eve at Jeremy'sparents house. It was very different this year as it was the first Christmas without their dad. Then we had a great Christmas morning at home with the kids.

Abigail (5), Aaden (6), Gavin (1), Devin (7)

and Jeffrey (3 mths)

After a nice morning at home we went to my parents house for Christmas dinner and to open gifts.
The picture above was our final clue to the gift we were all getting. My mom being the creative person she is thought all this up. Each person got a gift. I got an umbrella, the boys got kites, Jeremy got a clock, Alyssa got a large purse, Abbie got a carasol horse figurine and I dont remember what Brandon got. But between all thoseclues and the letters. We figured out that we were getting tickets to Mary Poppins.
It was a great show! We had a blast.

The best birthday present ever!

Being a foster parent defiently has it's challenges. But one of the best benefits is getting to take the kids to special places. Especially when they have never been there before. So when we got Devin and found out he had never been to Disneyland we said we wanna take him there. So in mid December we took Devin to Disneyland for his birthday. It was amazing and we had the best time.

All of us that went to Disneyland and celebrated with Devin. Ben, Elaina, Jeremy, myself, Brandon, Devin, Abbie and Aaden.

Everyone but Elaina and I going on the Teacups. Not my cup of tea.

Also Aaden and Devin. They really did become best friends.

The birthday boy!

Aaden and Abbie with Santa.

We really did have a fun time at Disneyland!

Gavin Turns One

This was a day we had been looking forward to for a long time. We have never been able to have a 1st birthday party before so we were excited.

This was the invitation I made for his party. He was actually in the tree in our backyard at the time. (Don't worry daddy was holding on to him).

I got this great I idea from my good friend Breanne. She took a selection of her favorite pictures of her son of the first year and put them in the cupcakes. I loved the idea so I stole the idea. So these were black and white pictures of Gavin of the 1st year of his life. They were a hit at the party everyone loved them.


Gavin loved opening presents. And he loved every single one of them.

I made him his own little monkey cake. He really wasn't sure what to think about the cake.

All in all his party was a complete success. We had a lotof family and friends that came. It was a great way to celebrate such a special day.

Catching up!

Well last time I posted was in August of 2009. So I am gonna try to do my best to get all caught up in a few blogs.

August has always been a difficult month for us. I remember when August came around we were praying that it would be a good month this year. Until the treaded phone call came on August 9th, it was Jeremy's mom calling him to tell him that his dad had passed away. It was not any easy time for our family. Just a little over a week later we had his memorial service. It was a very nice service.

That very next day August 16th we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We were able to head to Disneyland for the day and try to have as much possible after such a tough week.

It's been way to long!

I'm not sure if anyone really reads my blog and if they did it's been so long they sure don't now. Hahaha!!!

Well I need to get back on the bandwagon and start blogging again. If for nothing else but my own memories. I can't believe it's been over a year. And we have done and been thru so much. So over the next week or so, I am gonna try to update my blog with all the important things that have happened over the last year.