March Madness

The girls love getting their finger and toe nails painted and showing them off to everyone.

Look at Jaymi fly.  Last year she could barely get a centimeter off the tramp and now she jumps like a big girl. 

March 21 - World Down Syndrome Day (3-21)

We like to celebrate WDSD with Ice Cream!

Miss Amazing Pageant  

Jaymi was able to participate in the Miss Amazing pageant in Logan and had such a great time.  It was such a fun experience.  She got to do some fun crafts and then got her hair and make-up done by a Salon that donated their time for the day.  Then we got to enjoy a talent show and for the main show Jaymi got to go out on stage and introduce herself.  It is such a great program for girls with special needs and was so touching to be a part of it.

The stylists from the salon loved working with Jaymi and all came back and asked if they could get a picture with her.

We were so lucky to go up to the pageant with our friend Taylor and her mom Emily.

The judges included professors from USU and even Miss Utah

Jaymi with her cute buddy that helped her throughout the day.

We had a wonderful get together with a couple of our dear friends from the neighborhood who have sadly moved away.  We miss seeing them regularly but are thankful for their friendship, because they are the type of friends that we will always keep in contact with.

When we all moved into the hood there was only one child between the three of us.  Things have changed quite a bit in the last 5 years :)

The daddy's. These guys have all finished up graduate degrees in the last couple years while the mom's kept from going crazy while they did...most days that is :)

Friends forever!

We have been getting good use out of our pass to the swimming pool this summer.  Its one of our favorite things to do with friends.

Cute Nelson kids

Jaymi loves her UTES! 

The girls in Wayne family had a shower for Emily and her new baby boy.  I assured everyone I could get us all in a picture without having someone take it for us.  Not too bad. 

Okay, I guess this looks a little better.

Bryn's little friend spent a few days with us and it was so cute watching them play together and learn from each other.

Gracelynn

Are you my mommy?

http://reecesrainbow.org/38652/gracelynn

I can't stop thinking about this sweet little face and praying that her family will find her.  She has waited far too long.  She looks so much like our little Jaymi.  Look at that mischievous little smile!  She already has $10,000 in her account.  That is HUGE!  Close to 1/3 of her adoption is covered.  Please help me spread the word about this precious little girl, we need to find her family!  She is in Eastern Europe.  Many families I know adopted from her country.

February 2014

We had lots of events and activities to keep us busy in February.  Never a dull moment here thats for sure, just the way we like it!

Utah Gymnastics meet with our friend Sarah.  We even got to visit our Jaymi's buddy Mia Cox and my friend Kecia.

Sheri Dew and Sister Wendy Nelson came and did a fireside in our stake and it was lovely.  Just what I needed to hear to help boost my spirit and be reminded of what is really important in life.

We got to attend the first birthday party of one of my best friend Amy's little guy.  The girls had a great time watching him eat his cake and open his presents.

One night while we were watching the Olympics we decided to break out my Russian souvenir coat.  It was a little big but the girls had to wear it too. 

Kaelyn had the best seat in the house.  Silly girl!

Jaymi's beautiful hair is getting so long.  Its fun trying out new hair styles and she loves showing them off to everyone.

The little girls and I get to hangout in Jaymi's classroom  for an hour or so every thursday.  Since Valentines was on Thursday we got to help with the party.  Bryn loves going to school with Jaymi and gets to do everything the kids do.  She loves it and does so well following directions.  I have decided to put her in preschool next year even though she misses the deadline to start school in two years.  She is going to go to the preschool Kaelyn has attended for the last two years and be a peer model for the children with special needs, but really its just pre-school and she will have a great time being the leader.  She is so excited!

After the party Jaymi had to get her first cavity filled but she was so brave and didn't even cry.  The ice cream I promised her after sure helped.  She will do anything for ice cream.  Like mother, like daughter.

These two love their dress-ups.

The top two are from Valentines 2013 at the airport when Jaymi came home from Russia.  The bottom two are Valentines 2014, one year later.  I love the picture of their first hug.

A theatre near our house showed The Little Mermaid for a few days so we took the girls to it.  They love going to the movie and chowing down on popcorn of course.

My friend taught me how to make homemade wheat bread and I've started making it on my own.  I grind the wheat in my blendtec.  It tastes great and is much healthier.  The girls love it too and even Wayne approves.

Enjoying the early spring sunshine with a front lawn picnic.

And swinging of course.

 

Jaymi helping me get things ready for her birthday party.

Jaymi is still loving her special needs gymnastics class every Wednesday.