An Adventure in Lake Powell

Oh man!   We've had a fun and meaningful week.

This little trip got planned when we were lovingly invited to Evie's birth mom's wedding celebration.  We felt so grateful to have been invited and soon found out it was scheduled to be at Lake Powell.  So, Beau asked for the time off work and when the weekend of the anticipated wedding celebration came, we packed up the car and headed down to be with Evie's birth family.

We were excited, but a little nervous.  We had met Evie's birth mom's immediate family and her grandma, but that's all.  This would be the first time that we would meet the extended birth family and we weren't exactly sure how it was going to go.  To our delight, it went better than we could have ever dreamed.  We met aunts, uncles, great aunts, a great uncle, a great grandmother, cousins, and more!  Every single one of them made us feel loved beyond words.  They have a tremendous amount of love for our little Evie and it makes me and Beau so happy to see our baby girl loved by so many!  And, they were not just gracious and kind towards Evie, but also to me and to Beau.  They love all three of us to pieces and we felt their extreme love and kindness more than we would have ever imagined!  It was such an amazing experience and we were SO grateful that we were invited to the celebration and that we took the time to go.  You guys!  Open adoption can be SO amazing!  There is so much love to go around and this experience was such a blessing in our lives.  A big THANK YOU to Evie's birth family for making us ALL feel so loved.  We appreciate and love you beyond words!

Here we are at the marina as we waited for the festivities to begin.
Evie's birth mom married a military man, so they had flags out as
part of the decoration.  It was really pretty.

As luck would have it, my family planned to come down to Lake Powell the following day to play on the lake.  So, we decided to stay a few extra days to soak in some Lake Powell fun.  

Since the next day was Sunday, we decided to lay low and wait for my family to show up.  While we waited, we took a little Sunday drive to visit one of my dear friends.  She lives just over an hour from the marina, and she was so nice to have us over to her home for Sunday dinner.  We've been friends for almost 20 years.  She is SUPER awesome and a treasured friend of mine.  I'm so happy that we've stayed close.  And, as life would have it, we both have adopted children.

Amy & Me.  Love her!

The next two days were filled with fun on the lake.  We water skied, went on tube rides, enjoyed the boat, played in the water, and soaked in plenty of sun.  We even ran into Evie's birth family on the lake (what are the odds!?)! I LOVE Lake Powell and it looks like our little Evie doll does too.  Her favorite things to do were to simply ride in the boat, hold the flag up for the skiers, swim in the water, and ride on the tube.  Here are some pictures of our adventures.  

Evie's Birth Grandmother and Birth Great Grandmother.
Love these two!

Beau is one hot water skier!

Beau & Evie.

My Mom & Dad.

My brother's family.  They were tons of fun to play with
while we were at the lake!

Beau, Evie, Me.  Evie loved riding on the tube and we loved riding with her!

Evie LOVED watching us
water ski.

Me out on the water.
Water skiing in Lake Powell is my favorite!

Me and my Evie Doll.

We're taking a break on the beach.  Evie needed a little nap.
I still love it when she falls asleep in my arms. 

Beau LOVED having water fights with the kids.
They all loved it too!

So much fun to be had!  We're so happy we had this little vacation.  It was not only a blast, but it was also so very special!  YAY for vacation, YAY for friends, YAY for families, and YAY for open adoption! 

10 Years of Love

Beau and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary!  We figured that since we were celebrating 10 years, we should do something greater than just a nice dinner date.

We planned a fun over-night trip to the Sundance Resort.  We started with dinner at the resort and then we headed up to the theater for the Bluebird Concert series.  We LOVE this concert series.  They had three songwriters up on stage.  These songwriters mostly write country music songs and they perform the songs they've written.  Most of the songs they perform are very well-known songs that they've written for famous artists.  This particular night we heard a lot of Tim Magraw, Little Big Town, Kenny Rogers, and more.  It was WAY fun and entertaining.

We opted to sit in the general admission lawn seating.  This allows for more cuddling.  :)

This was our view of the stage.  

The scenery is seriously like none other.  The views of the mountains and the pine trees coupled with the feeling of that crisp, summer mountain air . . . . the best!  What makes it even better is being with the one you love!

We then stayed overnight in one of the snuggly cabins on the resort.  The cabin was woodsy and comfy.

The cabin had a mini kitchen and I took stuff up there with us to make a yummy breakfast.  We had an egg, ham, and hash brown casserole, banana muffins, and fruit.  The chocolate-covered strawberries were for dessert.  Yes!  It's totally legal to have dessert at breakfast when it's your anniversary.  :)

Once we had finished our breakfast, we packed up, headed out, and found our baby girl.  We miss her terribly when we're away (which is why we rarely leave her), but we had such a great time together as a couple.

We love growing "old" together.  While we're nowhere near old at this point, we love heading that direction with each other.  We hope to be great examples to our kids on what a good marriage can be like.  I feel so lucky to have this man by my side and I love taking time to celebrate our love!

Margie the Mini Never Looked So Good

We got a new horse for Evie.  Not just any old horse, but a mini horse.  A full on mini horse!  Her name is Margie.  Technically, she is on loan to us.  One of our good friends bought the horse, but doesn't intend to use her for 1-2 years and asked if Evie might want to play with her during that timeframe.  Um . . . Yes!  She is such a fun addition to our barn!

Is she not the cutest?
Evie calls her Margery.
For some reason, she can't say
plain old Margie.  It's cute as can be!

Evie and Margie are virtually the same height.  No kidding!  It's the cutest thing to see Evie leading her around the backyard.  She loves to lead her around, brush her hair, and even ride her.  She's still a little hesitant to just jump on and ride (she needs a little coaxing), but she is totally in LOVE with "Margery."  

We even got the chance to share her with Evie's cousin, Carter, this week and they rode double.  They were both wearing smiles from ear-to-ear!

Beau and I loved helping these kiddos ride Margie.
It was so much fun to see the smiles on their faces!

Here are a few fun pictures of Evie playing with Margie for the first couple of times.  Seriously!  So, so, soooo fun!  We are all going to love this horse to death while we have her.  

We Celebrate the Land of the Free

I love Independence Day!  I love celebrating the land I live in, the freedoms we all enjoy, and beauty that surrounds us.  God bless all those men and women who have serve and continue to serve us and our country by defending our freedoms.  God bless their families too.

We started off the day with a family brunch.

Daddy and Evie walking up to Grandma and Grandpa's House.

Several of the family members enjoying some good eats.

Beau makes the BEST Ebelskivers (Danish pancakes) around!

After brunch, I took Evie swimming with the other side of the family.  It's a 4th of July tradition!

We both love the water and the sun.

Later that night we went to a neighborhood BBQ.  Evie got to play on a big swing set with other kids and she loved it!

When the booms and pops of the fireworks started, Evie was not a fan.
She still hates loud noises and the fireworks were just scary.
She jumped right in my lap, clung tight, and covered her ears.

Nothing says the 4th of July better than this, right?
We love our ice cream around here!

We hope you all had a great time celebrating our great country.   It is such a privilege to live in America and we count all of our lucky stars to be living here today.

From the cutest 4th of July toddler ever . . . . 

God Bless America!

13.1 Miles Blissful Miles

I ran me another Half Marathon and it was down one of my most favorite canyons.  That alone, usually calls for bliss.  However, this year called for more bliss.  In addition to running with some of my favorite running buddies, my brother joined me for his very first half!  This is utterly amazing and special, folks!

Here we are running in the canyon.
I am in bright orange, Tyler is next to me in black.

Why you might ask?  Well, this cool dude took a serious turn towards a healthy lifestyle and over the last year or so, he has dropped nearly 200 pounds and he can run like the wind!  He eats incredibly healthy, watches portion sizes like a hawk, and he exercises like a champion.  

With his permission, he has allowed me to share his Before-After photo.  A.Maze.Ing!  Need I say more?  So, needless to say, this Half Marathon was indeed a blissful one for more than one reason.

True to form, this half marathon started bright and early.  Race time was at 6am, and we loaded the busses at 4:30am to be taken to the drop-off point in the canyon.  It was still dark when we got there.  

Me and Ty at the starting line.  Seriously . . . the scenery was beautiful!

Race day is always soooo much more fun when I’m in good company.  

Me, Becca, and Jen
I love these girlies sooo much!

I ran with my brother throughout the entire race.  We ran the whole way and only stopped at a few of the aid stations for water.  Here we are at mile 9-ish.  We had some family members come to cheer us on.  While they only saw us for a minute, seeing their faces and hearing their cheers was a nice re-charge for us!  

After crossing the finish line, I was so excited to see two of my most greatest supporters!  My hubby has given up so many Saturday mornings so that I can get my long runs in.  Trust me; this is a huge sacrifice for him. 

And, my little angel has often times spent more time in the jogging stroller than she would ever care for.  They are both troopers and I’m lucky to have their support!

Seriously!  I had such a great time.  One of my most memorable 13.1 miles ever.  We’re all committing to do it again next year.  Come join us!  We would love to have you.  You have a year to get ready.  No excuses!

A Daddy and a Daddy's Girl

Father's Day came and it's always fun to honor Beau.  He is seriously the best daddy in the whole wide world.  The way he loves our little Evie is beyond words.  He lives to come home to her after work, will give up what he loves most to spend time with her, and adores the heck out of her.

The feeling is mutual as Evie loves her daddy.  Her face lights up when she hears the door open as he comes home from work, she can't wait to go out and feed the horses with her daddy, and playing with daddy in any capacity is soooo much fun.  Without getting too sentimental and mushy, tears well in my eyes at the the thought of Evie not growing up with a daddy.  The way she loves spending time with her dad is priceless and does so much for her emotionally.  Adoption . . . what a blessing!  I'm so grateful that these two have each other.

Evie helped daddy open his gifts.  He got a new BBQ set (as he's the BBQ master around here), some new pants, new sunglasses, and an exercise foam roller.  Oh . . . and balloons of course.

And, true to form of being an awesome daddy, he was sure to read several stories to Evie at bedtime.

I love watching Beau be a dad.  He is amazing and I'm so lucky that he's my husband and the father of my children.  He rocks and watching him be a daddy makes me love him more than I already do.

Boating Fun

Along with family members, we also have some friends who have a boat. These fun friends invited us for an afternoon on the lake.  This was our first day on the lake this summer.  We seriously had soooo much fun!

Evie loved being on the boat . . . and, so did we!

Daddy took Evie for her first ride on a tube.
She liked it for the first 30 seconds and then
cried to get off.

Evie begged to get in the water and swim so I gladly jumped in with her.
She insisted on taking the noodle with us so she could "kick" while we
were in the water. The waves in the water took her a little off guard
(not quite the same as the swimming pool) so she
 didn't end up swimming all that long.