Keep reading... I saved the best for last!

Craft Night

Last week Annette and I had our weekly craft night. I use the term weekly very loosely - this is the goal but sometimes life gets in the way. We had the best time ever and it was just what we both needed. Annette spent most of the time at the sewing machine, while I was up to my elbows in apples. I whipped up homemade applesauce (yum) and apple crisp (aka apples brown betty:).

Annette made a Charlie Brown quilt top start to finish - too cute!  She also made an ottoman cover for her friend's glider - it fit like a glove!

We ate this hot out of the oven with vanilla bean ice cream.

A couple of weeks ago while filling out endless adoption paperwork I was putting Annette down as a reference and the document asked how long we knew each other. I thought about it and realized - 16 YEARS!! I called her and said... "Do you realize we've known each other for 16 YEARS?" I love love love this girl and she is an amazing friend to me. I don't tell her enough. I love her kids and her wonderful husband (not in a weird way). I just hung up the phone with her and her last words were "Happy Thanksgiving! Be thankful."
Annette - I am thankful for you!
 

Look What I Can Do!

Annette got Jaycie this cute little shoe to practice on. After a quick lesson, she got it!

WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

Well not technically. Elliot and I have had the most incredible experience over the last month of getting to know a wonderful birth mom in Utah. It doesn't do the story justice to tell it over a blog post, but I can't help myself (feel free to call me to get the full scoop)! It has been a series of small miracles that led us to this AMAZING woman and we have no doubt in our minds that it was meant to be. Elliot and I got the chance to fly to Utah this last weekend to meet her. She is due the beginning of January with a precious baby BOY! Here is me trying to document every second of this momentous trip and Elliot wondering "Why?"

We made the flight on one of those little planes!

Here is a pic of us after dinner, after her telling us that she chose us to place her baby with, and after lots and lots of happy tears! She gave us a beautiful DVD of the baby's last ultrasound set to music. There are no words to describe that moment!

The next day we got to spend more time with her before getting back on the plane. We even got to meet her Mom. We had an amazing time getting to know them better and talking about our lives coming together in such an exciting way! We are blessed!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jaycie won a plate of cookies at the Turkey Trot at her school. Gotta love that hat!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Haircut's really wear me out!

The before shot...

As soon as we got home she laid her backpack on the couch and crashed within seconds! This was a record falling asleep time. No time to take shoes off. Limbs dangling and all!

Once she woke up I snapped a quick "after" shot. I love the new do!

Halloween's over, I know..

At the pumpkin patch. We got a Dad, a Mom, and a Jaycie sized pumpkin

Top right – my creation. This picture really doesn’t do it justice! The bottom two were a team effort by Elliot and J, hence the similar round bug-eyes. I wish we could say that the top left was real, but it’s just our plug-in.

Seven years & counting!

Today is our anniverary. Jaycie was invited to spend the night at my parents last night so we could enjoy an evening out. Elliot bought flowers (which I always appreciate) and we went out to eat at the fabulous "North" for a delicious three course meal. Every year we like to reminisce about favorite memories, hard times, best vacations, different phases of our daughter's life and much more. It always reminds us of where we started, how far we've come and what we want for our future. I feel lucky to be in love with my best friend - here's to seven more!

This is a big one!

Meet Whitney Kathleen! My sister Abby had a beautiful baby girl on September 10th. I got to be there for the entire birth and it was incredible. When she is older I'm going to embarrass her in front of her boyfriends with things like "Hey, I remember when you were covered in vermix!" She is such a sweet little girl and I loved her the second I heard the word pregnant! This is her typical facial expression - it resembles a look of paranoia, but I love it. Thanks Ab and Adan (bowling nickname) for letting me be a part of your miraculous day.

My Grandpa passed away on the 16th of last month. It was a difficult time for me and for all of my family. He was an amazing man and I will miss him! His 84th birthday would have been on the 29th of September. He called it the good month and said that all the greats were born in September - i.e. ME and HIM! For his birthday my entire family went on a riverboat around Saguaro Lake. Here is a shot of my Dad with Jaycie.

We got him a cake and even sang Happy Birthday. He would have loved it!

McKay, Steph and Brekin lookin' wind blown!

Abby and Mya with a little bit of Adam (eye) and Zach (teeth).

My Mom, Dad and Papa

Zach, Shayne and Shayne's bow! So cute.

We went bowling while family was in town.

Another day we went to Pump It Up - always guaranteed fun! Here are Kennedi and Jaxson ready for a stand-off!

On Tuesday night me and Steph fulfilled a dream by attending the So You Think You Can Dance Tour at the jobing.com arena. They performed favorite dances from throughout the season and some really great new ones too! AMAZING!!!!! Steph and I plan to recreate some of the performances in our spare time... stay tuned! According to her - I'm Joshua (left) and she'll be Katee (right)!

Baby Shayne

Last Thursday Zach's wife Andrea had their beautiful baby girl Shayne. Jaycie hadn't had a chance to see her yet so I picked her up from school and we headed over for a visit. I think she likes her!

1st Day of School - Waaah!

Jaycie is lovin' school! Every day she has so many fun stories to tell and every night we lay in bed while I tell her what I did that day. She is suddenly intrigued with my day-time life since she is no longer a part of it. I know she's going to have a great year and make lots of fun new memories!

Bid for Bachelors

Last night we had our Bid for Bachelors event for the Liver Foundation. There were five of us girls (Steph, Tina, Deanna, Heather and Me) and we had a blast! Here's a pic of Tina, Me and Steph before heading in. The evening started with a silent auction and appetizers while everyone mingled with the soon to be auctioned bachelors. We got to sit in the VIP section - front row to the action. I spoke to start things off and then the bidding began. There were 23 bachelors and they did such a great job of preparing awesome date packages. These guys really put themselves out there and gave it their all on the catwalk. We laughed, danced and cheered the night away while raising a lot of $ for a great cause!

Go Cardinals!

Elliot took Jaycie to the pre-season game Cardinals vs Saints. He bought her a hat and matching shirt and she was soo stoked. They had a great time together. His report was that she loved all of the food and the people! Football? That is yet to be determined.

Summertime... and the Livin's Easy

Jaycie and I had a date last weekend and it was so fun! We had a picnic (indoors, of course), went to see The American Girl movie (I highly recommend it), then we were off to paint pottery at As You Wish. Here is the unicorn that she painted. An interesting interpretation don't you think?

I was pretty impressed with my cookie jar. Jaycie said now we just need to make some cookies! I asked my sister Brielle where she thought I bought it. She had no idea it was a handcrafted, one of a kind piece by Molly! Does anyone have these colors??? I love it, but it doesn't really match my kitchen. Cookie jar up for grabs!

We are dog sitting for my friends tiny teacup chihuahua "Jibby." He has been sooo much fun for us and we are going to miss him when he goes home!

I love this - Elliot threw on my hot pink flip flops to take Jaycie across the street to the field.

The view from our front yard

Swim day with Jaymie and Porter - our favorite visitors!

Porter was the funniest swimmer - he would just fall in on purpose and smile underwater until one of us snatched him up!

This is classic Porter. We love you guys!

Elliot took Jaycie to see the movie "Space Chimps" and she got this mask with her ticket. She wore it all day and I thought it looked very life-like (and kind of creepy).

Don't you dare smile...

Jaycie is awesome at keeping a straight face when I'm really trying to get her to smile. No matter what I do that kid just stares at me with this "you've gotta be kidding" look. I love it! But as soon as we trade places she does so something silly that I just can't resist smiling.

ABRA CADABRA!

Jaycie enjoys doing magic tricks around the house. If I didn't see all of the steps that happen in the middle of the trick, it could be very believable! This is one of her favorites: First, she takes three boxes (clear boxes, mind you) and she puts Rocky in one of them. He is an excellent assistant as he doesn't make a single peep during the performance. She then closes the box and (even though I watched the entire thing) has me guess which box the dog is in. Being a good sport and all I usually guess the right one on the second or third try. Any trick is always followed by a very dramatic - ABRA CADABRA!

Lake Powell

Me wake boarding

Man down!

Elliot wake boarding

Jaycie the navigator

Hollywood!

Me, Jaycie, my mom, Danielle, Brekin and Kennedi took my little sister Brielle to LA as a graduation present this week. We left on Wednesday and Bri had absolutely no idea where we were going, who was coming and how we were getting there. We made her think we were driving, but ended up at the airport where she discovered our destination. Once we arrived in LA we took the shuttle to rent a car and who walks in after us but our favorite El Paso-ans! Since Danielle's girls knew nothing about the trip either it was the greatest screaming fest Advantage Car Rental had ever seen!

We had an awesome hotel on Hollywood Blvd and we walked almost everywhere because we were right in the center of the action. We got to see lots of interesting things and even more interesting people. The highlight and purpose of the trip was to see the Broadway show "Wicked" - my new favorite for sure!  What a wonderful trip with some wonderful ladies!

Flavors of Phoenix

Last night was the annual Flavors of Phoenix fundraiser at the Westin Kierland hotel for The American Liver Foundation. Most of my family was there (sorry Ash and Bri) and we had such an awesome time. Each table had their own chef who planned the entire menu and prepared the food right in front of us. All of the tables were decorated differently and they were exquisite! There was a silent auction and hors d'oeuvres for the first hour, then we were all seated in the Grand Ballroom. They started the program and I was asked to speak again this year to help raise money for research grants. After that we enjoyed five courses of amazing food thanks to Chef Rick Dupere of the Ritz Carlton. It was really neat having my family there to support me and I hope that they all had as much fun as I did.

Paper airplanes

The other day Elliot taught Jaycie how to make a paper airplane. Let me preface this story by telling you that Jaycie always wakes up before we do. She's pretty independent and finds ways to entertain herself until we get up. This particular morning as I walked past her room to start a load of laundry I did a double take and this is what I saw - about 40 paper airplanes crafted by Jaycie! It felt like some kind of Sci-fi film and I thought it was so funny. When I asked her what she thought we should do with all of them she said that she wanted to give them to all of her friends. They are in a plastic bag at our house so if you stop by soon, you're gettin' one!

Dinner at Yard House

We got the news on Friday that we are officially certified to adopt! We started the process right before Christmas and after mounds and mounds of paperwork, fingerprints and interviews we are done. We went to the Yard House to celebrate and had a great night... that is until Jaycie threw up alllll of her mac 'n cheese - Gross!