Family Pictures by the Ocean

Oregon Family Reunion

The High&low lights of the Oregon trip

Highs
We love the beach! It was everyone's favorite part. Playing in the sand and in the waves. We also saw my brother's family and our friends from Albany. Picked blueberries, rode the carousel, played at parks, reunited with the hokie family, ate great food, shopped, loved hanging out, and saw the falls on the way home.
Lows
The first thing we did in Oregon on Saturday night was go to the Urgent Care with Luke to get stitches. He drove a little motorize car down a steep driveway and crashed. They decided to do dermabond instead. It was a quick visit, non-tramic for Luke, and we didn't have to go to the ER- Blessings!

The next day

At 1:00AM Tuesday morning Gabe started the flu strand that made it through half of the family. Thank goodness they had washing machines there.

We also found out that Clark really doesn't like long car rides.
These are the things that make the good times even better!

Blessing and Sealing

We are so lucky to have so much family support. The blessing was wonderful.

We were so happy to have Clark's birthdad there to witness the blessing. In the blessing Ben talked about the enormous amount of love Clark was born into, by his parents and birthparents. We are truly luck to have birthfamilies in our lives that love and pray for our children.

The Sealing was amazing. We were so privleged to have Clark's birthmom and grandma there. Clark smiled and giggled through the sealing. He is so precious and we are so grateful that he is part of our eternal family!

School and Corn

Luke's first day of school
Kindergarten
His favorite part is recess and the bus.
The first day he came home and said, "I was bored. We talked about colors and I already know my colors." Smartpants
He also doesn't understand why I have to walk him to the bus stop.
Sometimes he acts like he's way to cool for this little kid stuff.

He walked right on the bus with a serious, determined face, hiding all excitement and fear inside.

Gabe LOVED picking and husking the corn from our garden for dinner. He loves to work and get his hands dirty. We say it comes from his "Burley Blood" (Burley is the rural town where he was born).

A peek into our happy day

When I'm all caught up and have a moment to breath, I have a lot to say. Many amazing moments to share. This is a sneak peek at one of them. Clark's sealing to us at the temple.

Clark's Parents Forever!

We finalized Clark's adoption in court today!

Thank you to the judge, attorney, and caseworker!

We celebrated at lunch afterward.

Clark had Rice cereal with carrots and applesauce

The boys got shakes

It was a day of gratitude!

We feel so blessed to be a family!

favorite moments

My favorite moments this week:

Mr. Facemaker-he wouldn't stop.

Luke learned to play the theme to Indiana Jones, and he practices it all the time.

Yoga Baby- I caught Gabe doing my yoga workout this morning. So cute!

Clark turned 7 months! He had 3 of his 4 top teeth brake through over the weekend. He didn't sleep as well because of it. He has learned that a "whistling Pete" firecracker scream gets peoples attention, especially in church. He loves to watch his brothers run around. He loves feeding himself cheerios. He still cuddles and loves to be sung too.

He is the cutest, happy kids.

He now knows what he wants and cries if something is taken away. He is unwilling to be distracted with another toy.

I finished a project! A new temple dress for the sealing. Don't look to close. I had an allergic reaction today and my face is all red. My body is rebeling against me right now. I'll save that topic for another blog.