Bob and Cassandra

It was a very difficult decision for Adam and me, but we finally picked the parents of our little girl.

As you already know, their names are Robert and Cassandra. We met them last Saturday and getting to know them, there was just something different about them. We felt really comfortable even though through the awkward parts where we'd look around and have one of the case workers help us think of something to talk about.

When I came out about my pregnancy a few posts back, I talk about the secret plan that I wanted to do for them. Adam and I went out and bought a few outfits and things to put in the package. My mom and I then put everything in tissue paper and I made a letter for them in the box with the title CONGRATULATIONS IT'S A GIRL! being the first thing they see when they open it. Luckily Father's Day is tomorrow, so I told the intern to tell the case worker that it was a Father's Day gift to them. I haven't received any emails from them, so they are either getting the gift today, or they fell for it! Either way, I am excited that they are getting it. All the pictures that I have up are what we put in the package for them.

Cami made this rag quilt for me since

I wouldn't have been able to

I absolutely love the giraffe!

Adam really liked the elephants on these

onesies so we got those she can have

I wanted to get Olivia some bows that she

could have so I just had to buy these

This was probably our favorite outfit

we got. I didn't like the sweater too much

at first, but it grew on me, so I went back for it.

My mom and I got this dress the day

we were sending the package off.

I also couldn't resist buying this one.

My mom taught me how to crochet blankets and helped me with the one I am giving them for when they leave the hospital. Cami had extra fabric for the rag quilt she made and is going to make me one that I can put up with a picture of Olivia so that I can always have that.

Right now I am not too sure if I want visitations, but if I ever did want to see her, they are willing to let me anytime. Adam will be able to visit and I allow that cause I just thought it was the right thing to do. Other than that, we are going to be getting pictures and email/letters from them, so I can't wait to keep a scrap book with everything in it!

VaLlEy Of ThE sUn *picture overload!*

This last weekend, my family went down to Arizona to attend my brother in laws graduation. He has been going to school to do Urology. He graduated from Midwestern University in Glendale Arizona. To my dads surprise, Sean asked him to hood him at the ceremony and I am sure that was a great experience for my dad and Sean. Pretty funny though, when they asked my dad when he graduated, they had the same hood from the time he graduated, so it was like going back in time for him!
After that, we just hung out around the pool, did a bit of shopping and went bowling. Seth brought his kittens over to the hotel so that Connor and Addie could see them before they left for Philadelphia. They were the cutest things in the world and my mom is going to let me have one, so I just have to wait for him to bring Kaze and the kitten up in a few weeks.

For a little more detail, while being there, I went shopping with the Henderson's, went to dinner at Dave and Busters with my parents, Siri, Sean and the kids, and stayed out by the pool most of the time being there. When we went to dinner, Addie and Connor wanted to do the trampoline bungee jump, and watching them react to how high they were going was just too dang funny. Addie got a little nervous with the last jump she did (the girl would pull the cable and she would launch in the air) and when Connor went, you could tell he was nervous, but stand ed it. The girl kept getting him higher and higher and just watching him was too funny. That was really all that went on down there, and it was tons of fun. We were down there for the heat wave too, and surprisingly, I did pretty well. The first day (after the graduation) we were outside for pictures, and being out standing in the heat made me start feeling sick, but other than that, I did pretty well being preggers.

Sean and dad waiting in line

Dad hooding Sean

The lazy river was our favorite

Waiting in line at Oregano's

Addie looks bored ha ha

Lola and Connor playing

Addie and Connor splashing each other

Playing with the kittens was my favorite

The one laying on my chest is mine

Entertainment in Nordstroms

Addie and her Papa dancing with the band

Sean's family thought it was funny I didn't

eat the crust and put it back in a circle

Cabin Fever!

This last weekend, Sean, Siri and I took the kids up to the Henderson Cabin for a few days. It was lots of fun, besides having to climb a mountain of stairs everyday. It was good to just relax, and go four wheeling. Sean and his dad took Siri and the kids oh the lake and I just stayed behind and went for a four wheeler ride. I was heading up where their old cabin was, and saw a moose up the hill a little bit. We saw deer and moose a lot while we were up there, and one night we got done hot tubing (it wasn't to hot, just warm pretty much) a moose and her calf could smell the water and came up behind their cabin. We were only up there for a few days, but it was good getting out of the house and take a small vacation in the mountains.

Moose and its calf behind the cabin

Moose I saw while four wheeling

Sean playing with the kids

We weren't technically 'hot' tubing. It was like taking a huge bath

We saw some deer one morning when we woke up

Ethan Stacy

On May 10, a 4-year-old, Ethan Stacy went missing from his home in Layton, UT. After searching the apartments all night, the parents had another interview and had told authorities where he might have been. On May 11, they found his body brutally beaten in the mountains by Powder Mountain. Soon after finding his body, they arrested his mother, Stephanie Sloop and stepfather, Nathan Sloop for the suspicion of his murder and were charged with aggravated homicide, felony child abuse, obstruction of justice and desecration of a corpse.

Just before he was sent to spend the summer with his mother, his father, Joe Stacy was fighting to never let her have visitation rights. "She is unstable" is what he tried telling the judge, but ended up having to share custody with Ethan. He would spend the school year at his fathers, and summers at his mothers. Just after being sent to his mothers, the 4-year-old boy started being abused by her and the boyfriend. One day after abusing the child, they locked him in his room and set off to get married. Then sometime after that, was beat to death and buried in the mountains. The stepfather tried beating his face with a hammer so that they were not able to identify him just before trying to get rid of the body. Right now they are only being accused of the murder, but have no doubt they did it. The stepfather does have a criminal record, but nothing on Stephanie.

I don't understand how anyone could do such a horrible thing to a young child. Even just the abuse part to it also. My only guess why it did happen was because she did not want the father to be happy and did it out of spite and she is just completely mentally ill. Now I know that everyone wants them to have the death penalty and they deserve to die, but in my personal opinion, I do not agree. Where do we have the right to decide who dies and who lives? I think that being miserable in prison, and probably for her an insane asylum or something is good enough. I know it is horrible for any abuse or death of a child. I don't want to think that I am being heartless towards Ethan and don't agree with everyone else, but something that we need to remember is to learn to still love and forgive. It's terrible that he had such a gruesome death, but he is in such a better and happier place, away from the abuse and turmoil he had to live through. Stephanie and Nathan are going to be living in damnation for eternity after they die that I think they should have to live through the misery here on earth. Joe (the father) will have such wonderful blessings because of the heartache he is facing. I know it is such a hard thing to lose a child, but Ethan will always be with his father until he dies to be with him again. I am not sure what the fathers religious beliefs are, but from what I believe with my faith, I know that when he learns to forgive this tragic situation, and continues to love and follow the words of the Savior, he will truly be blessed and be happy for eternity.

"Enduring to the end is a process filling every minute of our life, every hour, every day, from sunrise to sunrise. It is accomplished through personal discipline following the commandments of God." - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

My prayers are with the father, and I know that he will get such love and blessings having to deal with the agony and heartbreak he has faced and that he will face.

"We can lay down our lives for those we love not by physically dying for them but rather by living for them--giving of our time; always being present in their lives; serving them; being courteous, affectionate, and showing true love for those of our family and to all men--as the Savior taught." - Elder Claudio R. M. Costa

bees...raccoons...what next?

So for the last month and a half or so, Brandi has been sitting at the fireplace trying to get whatever has been in there. The previous summer, we had a swarm of bees, so I only figured there were more and the guy didn't them all. Well, one day, I wanted to tease Brandi, so I started tapping on the window of the fireplace making her whine and try to get in there, and when I stopped for a minute, I started hearing this wierd sound. I told my parents that I just had this feeling the sound was raccoons. After a few days, you could really start hearing the sound much louder at night or even sometimes in the day. The sound wasn't coming from the actual fireplace itself, but from in the chimney.

After having to hear this sound, I really started thinking that the sound must be babies. My mom said that they were bats cause at night when you could hear them, it would sound like they were going up the chimney. I just knew in my heart that it had to be babies of some sort. So a few days after thinking either bats or raccoons, I got on the computer and pulled up bat sounds and raccoon sound. And just as I thought, I clicked on 'distressed raccoon', and it sounded like the sound. Then, clicked on 'raccoon kits', and that was the sound that we have been hearing. Baby raccoons! I called up my mom immediately and told her it was for sure babies. A couple days after we have told my brother about it, he and his family came up on Sunday and got up on the roof to look down and wonder if we could see anything.

When we shined the light down the chimney, we saw the biggest mommy raccoon! It was HUGE and she was just staring up at us from the base of the chimney. After Spencer, Ryan and I saw it, we told them it was for sure and then everyone had to get on the roof to see the mommy and her babies. My mom, who wanted to kill them and get rid of them, after seeing them, heart just dropped and couldn't believe it. We started looking for places that would get rid of them, but everywhere we called were asking for $1,200 or even more. It was ridiculous! She ended up calling Mario (our guy that cleans our yard) to see if he knew of anyone that got rid of them. He told her that they would come up and get them out for her.

Last Tuesday, they came up to look how everything was and think of a plan to get them out. When I came out to watch what they were doing, I heard this banging sound from the bottom of the chimney and the babies were so loud and my first thought was he was going to kill them. I started to panic and just begged my mom not to let them kill them and get them out another way, and she just told me to go in her room so I can't hear anything. I would much rather push them off the roof then having them kill these babies and mommy. Luckily, they weren't going to! They just ended up opening the flue, and the second he did that, the mother ran up the chimney and disappeard and pulled out six babies! They were the CUTEST things I've seen! They were putting them in a tarp, but I went to get a box with a towel so that they could be warm from the wind and be more comfortable. I couldn't resist but hold them and just comfort them. After I had gone to work, my brother and his kids came up to see them and made a big box home for them to see if the mommy would come back for the babies. Unfortuneatly, it was the night we had that big storm, so we hoped she would try to get them. The next morning, Cami came up and my mom told her that they babies were taken. When she went out to look for herself, she moved a blanket and there were two babies left. They were small, so we think that the mother thought they wouldn't survive and left them. But little did she know, I went with Cami to Petsmart to get them milk and everything they would need. They haven't eaten in twenty four hours and trying to feed them was just so hard. They wouldn't eat and would just cry. I am a total wuss when it comes to baby animals and I just felt hopeless when I couldn't help them. But we called a lady that takes care, raises and teaches raccoons to hunt and she ended up taking them. I am just glad that they did not end up dying. I would have felt like I failed ha ha. But really. Now, I want a cute puppy after being with the little babies.

And if you don't think these things are not cute, then something is wrong with you.