One Year!

My baby turned 1 today! Actually, in about an hour, he'll officially turn 1. One year ago, I witnessed the miracle of my baby coming into this world. It's something I'll never forget. Thank you so much, Johnny and Kaitlyn! Our year has been full of fun, learning, adventures and excitement. We couldn't be happier to have Drew in our famliy. We love you, Drew! Happy Birthday!

Merry Christmas!

Dan and I have been looking forward to today for a long time. I love that Drew is old enough (he turns 1 tomorrow!) to open presents and play with them for his first Christmas! I was giddy last night just thinking about him coming out of his room in the morning to his presents. And he didn't disappoint! He loves play kitchens, so we decided to get him a manly BBQ grill (I was the most excited for this gift), which he loves. He had a busy, busy day playing with new toys, running around, and hanging out with my brother and his family, who is out here visiting. I love that we get to have some family around for Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Am I Ready For This?

Bring it.

Halloween in Utah...Kinda

We decided to take a last minute trip to Utah a couple of weeks ago. We didn't decide until the day before because Drew had been sick, but he got better quickly so we drove out. Drew did so well on the drive. In Dan's words, "he was a champ!"

We drove out on Saturday (which is the day Utah celebrated Halloween) but got there much later than we planned. So we ended up dressing him up on Sunday for about 5 minutes so everyone could see his costume. I "made" a Mickey Mouse costume because he loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. :)


He had so much fun playing in Grandma's cupboards! Luckily there's one upstairs designated for toys.
Gavin is quite possibly the happiest baby I have ever seen! He loves people and will smile at anyone. He's thrilled when anyone's around that he can play with.

Steph was so nice to include Drew in her and Dallin's reading time. Even though Drew doesn't look like it in this picture, he loved it!

Drew LOVES dogs. He was beside himself at Steph's house playing with Abby. He followed her around and around their kitchen island, under the kitchen table, pretty much everywhere. :)

I haven't been great at taking pictures when I go to Utah lately. I used to take a million and this time I barely even pulled my camera out. At least I was able to get some fun moments!

Story Time

Drew has recently developed a love for this book. We've read it about ten times today, which is fine with me because I love it too! (Don't mind my voice...I sound kinda dumb.)

One Year Ago

One year ago, I had some family out to visit for a football game.

One year ago today, my mom and I went shopping.

One year ago today, while in TJMaxx, Dan and I got a call from Brent, our caseworker with LDSFS.

One year ago today, I had tears streaming down my face in the middle of the store as Brent told us that there was a couple that was considering us to adopt their baby.

One year ago today, Dan and I learned about Johnny and Kaitlyn.

One year ago today, our lives changed forever.

I saw the number on my cell phone and knew it was Brent.

I was in the middle of showing my mom a coat I wanted.

Brent said Dan was on the line too and I knew instantly that it was good news.

I remember everything so precisely.

I remember Brent's voice so clearly.

He told us about Johnny and Kaitlyn - about how there was a baby on the way, due December 24, 2009.

I remember wishing December was the next day.

I remember going into the changing room with my mom and crying as I told her.

I remember her saying "this is it."

My mom grabbed a pack of onesies to celebrate - yellow and green because we didn't know if it was a boy or girl.

I remember rushing out of TJMaxx so Dan and I could email Johnny and Kaitlyn.

And so started the whirlwind.

A whirlwind I relive in my mind all. the. time.

A whirlwind that I LOVED every second of.

This year has FLOWN by.

I love adoption.

I love Johnny and Kaitlyn.

I love that I can't even think about all of this without crying happy tears.

I can't believe Dan and I are so lucky to have Drew.

He is spunky,

he is happy,

he is smart,

he is our forever family.

Busy Day

Drew had a busy, busy day today.

He worked on his look.

He rearranged the bar stools.

He feng shuied the diapers.

He recycled an old magazine.

He read some books.
He pulled himself all the way up to his feet for the first time.

And he still managed to have fun with Daddy at the end of the day...

Isn't he the sweetest boy?

Male Bonding

Today was Fan Day at the Oregon Ducks' indoor training facility and I decided to take The Little Man with me for some good ol' male bonding. I didn't think it would be too crowded, but it felt like the whole town showed up. There were long lines for everything both inside and outside the building. That's okay, we love our Ducks!

Meeting The Duck. The Little Man was fascinated with him.

They gave The Little Man a duck of his own. He loves this thing!

We also got to meet head football coach Chip Kelly. He was kind enough to pose in a picture with us, but I had some stranger take it and it didn't turn out that good. Oh well. Then, The Little Man got the attention of some girls...

The ONLY reason he looks upset is because he thought there would be more cheerleaders to pose with him.

In summary: Drew high-fived the head coach and flirted with cheerleaders. It was a proud day for me.

Surprise Visit to Utah

Since Dan had to go out of town for 4 days, Drew and I decided to surprise my family in Utah. I love surprises. I'm not so sure Drew does. :) I thought it would be funny to put Drew on my parent's porch in his carseat by himself. So I did that and had my sister, Steph, call my mom and ask her to come outside to help her with some stuff. So my poor mother opens the door, sees Drew, screams out of excitement (which I knew she would do because she usually does), and poor little Drew just cried and cried (which I knew he would - am I horrible for wanting the surprise at everyone's expense??). Drew recovered quickly and absolutely loves my mom. :) I had Steph record the surprise:

We were able to see one of my best friends, Angie, and her mom and sister, which was so fun!
Someone in my family cough*mom*cough took my phone and took random pictures. (I love my family!)
Gavin, Drew, and Ranen are 4 months apart. Drew was born in December, Ranen in February, and Gavin in April. So I thought it'd be fun to get a picture of them together. Gavin and Ranen cooperated. Drew just tried grabbing the other babies (poor Gavin's bracing himself), tried standing up when my mom tried holding his hands down (sorry, Mom), and tried scooting away.

We finally got a decent one with Gavin and Drew smiling. I'm not sure Ranen was thrilled about the whole idea. :)
My dad took our family to Incredible Pizza, which was so fun. Drew got to ride in this car that goes around on a track and he loved playing with the steering wheel.

Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful visit!

Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

This past weekend, I went on the young men's Super Adventure to the southern Oregon coast while Ang and Drew headed for the mountains of Utah. Hence, the name of this blog post (which is also the name of a Journey song. You know the one with the chorus that goes, "Someday, love will find you..."). Yep, that one. I'm so DAN clever.
Anyway, I joined up with them for some camping, kayaking, football on the beach, and other male bonding stuff. It was a blast!
We were so close to the Redwoods in California. I have never seen them before and we didn't have permission to take the youth out of state, so we couldn't do that for an activity. So what did I do? I left them suckas behind and went anyway. I got up early Saturday morning (while everyone else was still fast asleep) and took another adult leader with me and headed for Cali. Even though we were down in the Redwoods for roughly an hour, I'm still amazed by what I was able to see. You can't really appreciate how old and majestic these trees are until you see them in person. I recommend every one to go see these lions of the tree family. I can't wait to take my family back down there and share the experience with them!
Anyway, here are some pics (taken with the camera on my BlackBerry) from my excursion.

This tree is so huge! And it's not even the biggest one.

Me standing alongside a fallen tree. I swear I didn't do it.

Mr. Ordway and I had a fun time.

I wonder if Chuck Norris had a hand in knocking this one down.

This tree is ready for it's close up.

The Smith River located in Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. The tall, dark and handsome trees on the right are Redwoods.

These things are so tall! In other words, not only are they big, but they are BIG.

As we were all headed back to Eugene, we stopped at a "secret beach" that Gavin showed us along Hwy 101. For some reason, this beach reminded me of The Goonies. Maybe it was the rocks, the beach, the youth running around, or the fact that it was filmed in Oregon.

"Goonies never say die!" (and neither do Redwood trees)

He's Mobile!

Drew's mobile! He's been rolling over for a few months now, but he's finally figured out how to get places by rolling over and over. He's fast too! As soon as we lay him down, he'll flip over and get goin'. Guess it's time to baby proof!

He loves the XBox. I'm not surprised. Knowing his Daddy and birthfather, that one's a given. :) He rolls up to the entertainment center and plays with it. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to push the buttons.


But he has figured out how to do this:


Which means it's time to get locks for the doors. We don't want any smashed fingers! (Sorry, Amelia!!) But him being mobile also means this:

Poor boy! This picture makes me so sad. I'm sure there will be more of this when he starts crawling, pulling himself up and trying to walk in the months to come. Sigh.

Trip to Florence...Oregon

'Sup my bloggas? It's been a while. Glad to be back. ...Okay, now on to the fun stuff.
Since we've been having some hot weather lately, the Mrs., the little man and I decided to head to the coast and cool off. Yep, Drew had a say in the decision making process. Here's the equation he came up with:

95 degree weather + no air conditioning = trip to the coast

I'm telling you, he's a freakin' genius. I think the Baby Einstein videos are rubbing off on him.
We headed straight west to Florence and went to the beach at the awesome Heceta Head Lighthouse. It was 60 degrees and cloudy on the beach and we had to wear our light jackets. How many places can you get weather like that in the summer? We loved it!
Afterward, we walked around old town and got ice cream at BJ's. If you remember the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks, you'll remember the teenage version of his character makes the life-changing wish at a Zoltar machine. I'm happy to say that BJ's has such a fortune telling machine. Did I make a wish at it? No way. I saw what it did to Josh Baskin.
Here are some pics from our fun trip:

Our family.

Nothin' but love for the little man.

This picture has a deeper meaning, I'm sure.

Playing in the sand for the first time. He loved it!

At old town in Florence.

KJ at the Zoltar machine. Be careful what you wish for.

Drew has a way with the ladies.

Owen has a way with the sand.

This will make a good blackmail picture when he's older.

The Latest

We've been pretty busy the last little while. Drew's getting so big and learning so many new things - it's been so much fun! We got Drew's 6 month pictures taken by Brenley and she was kind enough to snap a few family pictures as well. They turned out AMAZING!!

We started Drew on baby food when he turned 6 months. He's been doing really well and L O V E S it!!

With one exception. He HATES peas! We've only tried them twice so we'll give it a few more tries. He'll take two bites and then refuse to eat anything else after that except a bottle. :)

We had a fun 4th of July (well, 3rd of July). The boys were festive in their holiday gear.

We met with Johnny and Kaitlyn to celebrate Birthfather's Day (a little late because we were out of town) and Johnny's birthday. It was fun to see them again! I love this picture of Johnny holding Drew.

We had a BBQ that night with some friends and did some small fireworks, which Drew really liked. He'd wave his arms around and stare at them. :)

I love our little family! We're having the best time!!