Some good news and a 2nd Birthday..............

Good news this past Monday we got done with trial and parents rights were terminated.  We are moving ahead with adoption and are so excited. What a way to start of a birthday week for this guy! We also are going to change his name to Gabriel Lorenzo. New start, new name, is how we look at it!

Gabriel turned 2 today! He woke up and saw his balloons and went crazy! Every time anyone else had a birthday with balloons or cake that's all he kept talking about. So when he had his own balloons he was in heaven!

We just had family come a little celebration after Layne got home from work. He loved opening his presents. He is very vocal and talks a lot for a 2 year old. He described everything he did or got. He was so happy to get a water bottle of his very own, some pj's and some beanie boos!

This kid, along with Christian and Julia, loves Star Wars and got his very own blanket to sleep with. He was so happy to have everyone there at his party! He loves being around family.

We invited the Checkett's over to have cupcakes with us.......because he LOVES the Checkett's and knows each of them by name. So they had to come. Besides family, they are his favorite people! Besides balloons, cake, is where it is at, for Gabriel. He loves cake. At every birthday for family he asks where the cake is or says, "have cake?" So to see the cupcakes and hear us sing to him and know it was HIS birthday, he was so happy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIEL!!

THINGS ABOUT GABE:

* About his name: Layne and I both liked the name Gabriel when Christian was born so it was still at the top of our list. Layne really liked Lorenzo but I didn't like it for a 1st name. So that was decided and became his middle name. Layne likes it because he calls Gabriel "Zo" for a nickname. So Gabriel goes by Gabe and Zo too!

*He loves his fruit

* Funny Story: One day I had grapes in the fridge and he said, "want boobies." I paused and was like what? I asked him again what he wanted and he said the same thing. I had no idea what he wanted?? I made lunch pulled out the grapes and he kept saying it over and over. OOHHHH.......blueberries! He thought I had blueberries but they were grapes. So blueberries and grapes are called boobies. So now everyone tries to get him to say blueberries.

*Gabe is super friendly and will wave and say Hi to everyone. When we walk down the hall at church, or go to the store. He can everyone smile that is for sure.

*He sleeps through the night....without a nap with go to bed between 7-7:30 and get up between 7-7:30.....with a nap goes to bed at 8pm and gets up at 7-7:30am. Pretty good sleeper!

* Loves milk and always has to have his sippy cup with him. We don't do a sippy cup at night or nap but he has that thing with him everywhere!

*He sleeps with a monkey and its so cute. 

*Gabe is so polite. He is always saying "Thank you mama." Or if you ask him to go get something or do something "okay daddy."

Summer Happenings.............

June was a busy month and we crammed a lot in. Maybe we just wanted to get a lot done before it got really hot!

Christian was able to go to grandma camp for 2 days this year between the 16-18th of June and was super exited. He was there with his cousins Eli, Austin and Olivia. They played games, got to go see Finding Dory, got new pj's, play Disney bingo, play in the pool, dress up like pirates and go on a treasure hunt. The best part is wrestling with grandpa! He also got to sleep downstairs like a big slumber party. He enjoyed every minute of it and talked about it for weeks after wards!

Something we haven't done since they remodeled the new place is visit the new and improved Bean Museum, down on the BYU campus. It was pretty cool actually and the kids loved it. Lots of displays and lots of cool animals to see. We took our time in the nice cool building and enjoyed ourselves.

After wards, no trip to BYU would be complete without a trip to the bookstore and a trip to the creamery. We love going down to BYU and visiting and the kids a great time hanging out and getting to spend time together!

We took the kids to the park and they all brought their roller skates and had a blast. They had a great time and roller skated around the park for a long time. Christian started to practice in our basement awhile ago and has gotten pretty good in a short time. He did pretty good today keeping up with the big kids. Hopefully this wears them out for tonight! Here's the roller skating gang.........

 

We couldn't do summer without our annual summer water fight. It was a bit cold this year but we did it anyway. On your mark........get set.......GO.........

 My mom was taking most of the pictures. She got some great shots. The one above show Kristy getting shot right in the face with water.....priceless!

 The little one sitting with grandpa trying to get warmed up.

Family Reunion.......

My dad's brother, Uncle Robert, came to visit tonight. That's rare and I don't remember the last time I have even seen a member of my dad's family. My dad isn't one to talk much about his family and we weren't very close with them growing up. They lived in New York and Pennsylvania while we were growing up and we just never saw each other. I do remember getting a Christmas ornament from Aunt Nancy every year and actually we still do.

My cousin Susan and her husband also came with them and brought her 2 girls. And our girls had a blast with them. As the adults sat around and talked the girls played and played. They had a great time connecting and getting to know one another. It was interesting to hear Uncle Robert talk about my grandma. She had passed away when my dad was 12 and he says he doesn't remember much about her, or least doesn't like to talk about her much. Uncle Robert is the 2nd oldest and had lots to share with us. While telling stories my dad would share his input and shared what he recalled.

It was a fun evening to catch up after all these years and talk. It's nice to see the girls play and make new friends/cousins so easily too!

Foster Care Update...........

One miracle has already taken place for this little guy. Extended family was looking into getting him and working on background checks and we were just waiting to hear back about it but it was taking forever. So in the mean time back in May we had a special family fast that everything would work, according to Heavenly Father's will, if Luther could stay in our family and be safe and happy. So the caseworker came by later in the month for her monthly visit and said that they finally got things back but the family never followed up on any paperwork and things just kinda fell through. I just got a big smile on my face. A prayer was answered! The caseworker said she knew I would be happy to hear that.

 So it's been a waiting game with this little guy but we are still hopeful! Everybody asks us is it looking like adoption?? The caseworker says that's where it is headed.......but we just don't want to get our hopes up......we have heard to many horror stories. But his biological parents have both finally gone through their pre-trials after a few missteps because of lawyers and paperwork etc., etc. So we finally have a date for trial which will terminal the parents rights on June29th. Both lawyers are trying to get them to give up their rights before trial but we will see if that happens. Usually a trial means the state has enough solid evidence against the parents for their rights to be terminated and the caseworker keeps telling us that we shouldn't have anything to worry about. The judge has the final say. He could give the parents another chance, its happened before....so that's why you don't get your hopes to high. But good things have happened already and we keep holding on to hope and keep praying! Things have been falling into place so far so we just have to wait and see!

First Dip in the Pool........

Since its summer and the kids are always dying to be outside we bought this but with a little help. Luther has social security money that comes to him. We got a call from the caseworker and he had some saved up in an account and so we had to spend some on him and buy him whatever we thought he would need or enjoy. So one item was this nice big pool.

Luther actually didn't want to get in at first and was really scared but once he walked around the pool and touched the water and saw it was okay and he was safe he got the hang of it. Jane became his best friend for the day. She would help walk around the pool with him and just play with him. The kids had a blast and kept nice and cool!

Nature Hike.......

To start of summer break we set off on an adventure. Kasey knew of a little hike up behind the Draper Temple easy enough for all of us to do. So we started out early and went. It was mostly stairs for the first little while which was tough for the little ones but we got there eventually. It was pretty cool to see a waterfall at the end and be able to rest.

Christian and Caleb had a blast playing near the water trying to divert the water with rocks and sticks. And they could help themselves but go off and climb on all the rocks behind us. It was hard to not let them go off and play but it was loose, shale rock and not very safe to play on. The girls were content on trying to get close to the waterfall and take pictures and trying to stay dry!