Congrats to the Sorensen's

Well it looks like Linda (Jeff's sister) finally got her wish.  Anna was born on July 19th and she came out with brown hair, olive skin and is the spittin image of her pretty Mom.  Linda and Shane have 2 other daughters that are also adorable and look very much like their daddy Shane. They are both blond and blue eyed cuties.  Congrats to Linda and Shane and the girls, we love you!

     Wow, to look that good without make-up, how would it be???

                                       I think she looks a little like her Great Grandma Black :)

Elder and Sister Isom the Skypers

Jeff's Mom and Dad have been serving in the Vancouver, BC mission since November of 2009.  They stay in touch with us with Skype.  I could resist snapping a picture while we were talking to them a while back.  We are so grateful for the blessings we are receiving because of their service.  We'll see you in May of 2011!

What do we do we swim, swim, swim!

Jake, Maddy and Rich all had swimming lessons at the same swim school this summer.  Jake is still very afraid of keeping his head under watert for very long.  I was the same way until at least his age and I am still not real keen on it as an adult.  Jake had great fun and made friends as always. He loves the water and my hope is he will be able to swim like a fish!

Beautiful Backyard for a Pool!

Staycation No. 1 Boondocks vs. Lagoon??? Boondocks Wins!!!

Since our funds are super tight these days with paying for our adoption, we set aside a little money to go to do several fun things over the summer with Jake. We gave him the choice for us to either go to Boondocks or Lagoon. Jeff and I both had season passes to Lagoon as teenagers and well, to put it bluntly, Lagoon is not a shiny happy place for us. We would have gone for our boy, but we were needless to say thrilled he chose The Boondocks over Lagoon.


We made a day / evening of it. We had an early dinner there in the restaurant in the fun center and then we did anything Jake wanted to do. It was a fun night and I love that we always have so much fun together. Here are my favorite Pict's of the night.

Jake had NO mercy on the water boats. Just ask Jeff!

Calculating his next move.

I get rather competitive playing Guitar Hero. And I am not afraid to dance.  Jeff had to leave while Jake and I rocked out.  We embarrassed him!  Party Pooper.

Jake getting ready to put the pedal to the medal

Look at him go!  Wahoo!

My all time FAVORITE Arcade game Skee Ball.  Dropped the ball in the $10k hole quite a few times.

Anything is fun to do when I am with my two best guys!

The Papers are in Ghana

I realize this stack of 300 pages of paper means nothing to you, but it means the WORLD to us.  This is 3 months of blood (lots of paper cuts) sweat (Jeff's fingers do not fingerprint well) and tears (frustration, anger, anxiety,etc.)!!!! 

My head aches thinking of how to explain to you all the information that it in this stack of papers and the time and money it cost to put it together. I had to make 5 copies of 80 pages.  2 of those copies had to be notarized. One of the originals, and one that was a copy of the original document with a letter stating that it was an actual copy.  I FedEx'd this package last week to DC to a courier who took it to the Ghanaian Embassy.   I was told today the the Dossier (which is all this paperwork) has arrived in Ghana. YIPPEE! Now we have another issue and this is the worst for me;  We wait.  God must have known I needed this trial in patience so that I will be a stronger person.  Thanks to all of you who have been praying and continue to pray for us. We need your prayers, we feel your prayers, and we are grateful. Stay tuned.

The 4th of July Weekend Spectacular

I have decided that Independance Day should be changed to Independence Weekend.  Since the 4th of July was on Sunday, their were festivities in our area from Friday through Monday.  We certainly did not miss out on the action ourselves.

Since Jeff's parents are on an LDS mission, we spent the weekend with friends and had a party at my brother Rich's on Sunday.  Since he has a 1/2 acre lot we had a blast playing Wiffle Ball and tossing the ball around.  We roated marshmellows in his firepit and had some fantastic burgers and dogs by Master Grill Ricardo (Rich).

Here are some picts of the events.

Chew'in the fat with the Fam.  The girl on the far right annouced she was pregnant after almost 7 years of marriage and it's a GIRL.

The Piest de la Resistance! My homemade pies.  Banana Cream and Key Lime.  Yummo!
I love making pies!  I love they are so festive!

The Jake man up to bat.  He hit a good one.

What I LOVED about this day was that everyone played wiffle ball.  My Mom and Dad even got in the action which was so much fun and all the grandkids loved it.  My parent's have never been the type to sit on the sidelines, they just jump right in and I am so glad for that example.

BEAD MIS-HAP......What a world!

I brought my beads over to make earings for my niece Maddie who had recently pierced her ears and the container with the beads gaveway and spilled all over the floor.  So just like a bratty brother, Rich took pictures instead of helped.  Some things never change.  I still love the big booger anyway.

More Partying on the 5th

On the 5th we went to the Layton City Parade, The Burger Stop for some grub, and The kid's carnival.  Parents were very worn out; kid's not so much.

  

 The Parade

Ricardo's Family (Minus Kate) at the Burger Stop

Little Rich on the Climbing Wall

Jake and Little Rich boxing eachother with the BIG gloves

Endless Slides

How could a Carnival be complete without Face Painting?



That night we were all but partied out.  We lit the rest of the Fireworks and went to bed early.

Glow Man

Me and Lis, I love that girl! Forget the word "in-law"  she's my sister period!

Sammy LOVES the toy Lawnmower

Pretty Maddy in her new earrings.