a sweet baby girl

We have been blessed with the sweetest baby girl through the miracle of adoption.  

We are so grateful for her birthmother who selflessly placed her in our arms.  

We feel so blessed by a loving Heavenly Father who always has a perfect plan.  

Our little girl was meant to come to our family when she did.  

She was meant to come through adoption.  

She has blessed so many lives already.  

We love her so much and are so grateful for the miracle of adoption! 

Addie and Scott!

Addie and Scott are some of our dear family members.  

We love them and we are so excited that they are now officially approved to adopt!  Yay!  

We know they will make wonderful parents!  We can't wait for them to find their dear little one!  

You can see their It's About Love profile here.  

And their adoption blog here.  

Enjoy getting to know a great couple! 

a beautiful plan

Heavenly Father has the most beautiful plan for us.  For our family, for each of us.  

I don't know what it is yet but I know it is beautiful and perfect and amazing.  

"He knows your sacrifices and your sorrows.  He hears your prayers.  His peace and rest will be yours as you continue to wait upon Him in faith.  Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine."

Elder Robert D. Hales

Where We've Been: Beach Week

My (Emily) family goes to the same beach house at the same beach every single summer.  It is wonderful and this year was no exception!  We were only sad that my sister, brother, and new sister-in-law couldn't join us. 

At the beginning of August we had a very fun beach week at the Outer Banks!  

Here are the highlights:  

*spending time with my parents and brother

*watching Carly chase the crabs!  Don't worry, we didn't let her get too close.  

*eating some delicious shrimp 

*boogie boarding in the waves!  

*seeing dolphins from the shore every single day 

*reading and Olympics watching 

*driving my brother's Jeep Wrangler out onto the beach - you have to have 4 wheel drive to get to some of the northern most towns.  

*ice cream and lots of food!  

Soaking up summer

Over here we are busy soaking up the last bits of summer.  And we are loving it.  

We are hiking,

biking,

croquet playing,

Olympic watching,

watermelon eating,

dog walking, 

firefly sighting,
blackberry picking,
fort building,
Harry Potter with neighbors partying,
board game playing,
library movies renting,

and beach going.  

I love summer and I am grateful we have a few more weeks to enjoy being together, spending time with family, and visiting with friends!  

Happy Summer!

Family Reunion

Every other summer Richard's family has a big family reunion.  

This is our second time being able to attend and we had a great time!  

Richard's dad has 8 other brothers and sisters and so the reunion is always full of fun people, fun times, and good food!  This year was no exception.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed through Sunday evening.  The reunion was held at the National Harbor in Washington D.C.  It is a really fun place with lots of fun shops and good places to eat, right on the Potomac River.  

On Friday evening we had a big family dinner at a really nice restaurant to celebrate Richard's grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary.  50 years!  We had a really nice dinner with great food to celebrate!  

On Saturday we basically had the day to do whatever we wanted as a family.  Richard's dad and I participated in a family run on Saturday morning and it was nice to meet with and chat with some Richard's aunts and cousins.  Later that day Richard and I introduced his parents to the Eastern Market - one of our favorite places in D.C.!  We had fun doing some shopping and eating crepes!  Yum!  

On Sunday we had a really amazing family sacrament meeting together.  Richard's grandpa got permission to hold our own sacrament meeting and it was really wonderful to have church with our family members.  We had a musical testimony meeting and the Spirit was very strong.  It was so wonderful to be there with Richard's family.  I loved being able to get to know more of Richard's aunts, uncles, and cousins.  

At the Eastern Market in D.C.

Yummmmmy crepes! 

Richard with his parents - eating gelato! 

National Harbor

A few family photos! 

 We had a great family reunion weekend!  It was so nice to spend time with family!

Just for kicks and giggles...

Have you seen these little pregnancy questionnaires that some fill out on a regular basis?  I was thinking that it would give me a little laugh to do one of my own. 

How far along:  11 months, 2 weeks.  A little overdue, wouldn't you say? 

Total weight gain/loss: probably a few pounds gained...I may have eaten a whole box of Cosmic brownies...but I did also go running this week so I'd call it all about even.  

Maternity clothes: Well I did buy a maxi dress at Ross that could possibly be passed as a maternity dress...but it is so super cute and comfortable. 

Sleep:  like a baby.  Except I would love a new mattress. 

Best moment this week: one that is coming - an awesome date night on Saturday to celebrate Richard being done, DONE!, with his first full time clinical.  Now the summer can really start! 

Movement:  my stomach may have gurgled this morning...

Food cravings:  always chocolate.  Always.  I had some cramps yesterday and needed comfort food.  I came back with milk duds, cosmic brownies, and ice cream bars.  Oh and some strawberries and asparagus to balance it all out. 

Gender:  GIRL!  BOY!  TWINS!  WE WILL BE SO HAPPY WITH EITHER! 

What I miss:  our baby.  Hopefully he or she is coming so soon! 

What I'm looking forward to:  The day our sweet birthmomma contacts us and tells us she wants to place her baby with us!  The day when our baby is placed in our arms!  The day we get to bring our baby home!  The day we get to be sealed to our baby!  The day we get to play and kiss and hug our baby! 

Milestones:  We have to have our home study updated next week....not so sure that is a milestone though...
Realization of the Week:  I'm going back to work in a few short weeks.  I really thought THIS would be the year I would be home with the cutest little baby ever.  But alas I am heading back to work.  I guess I will just have to made do playing with/teaching the cutest kindergarteners ever!  I have slowly started to work on some kindergarten things for this year and it has been fun to think of some new ideas!  They are my babies for now and I hope they are getting excited for a fun year in kindergarten!