Happy father's day...

to the best dad in the world! Russ really is the greatest dad ever, and we will let Caden tell you why. Here are some questions I (Kylee) asked him and his responses. This is a 3 year olds view on life:

*What do you like to do with Daddy?
-Play baseball and have fun and we like when Daddy's home. We build really big K'nex rollercoasters too.

*What does Daddy do with you?
-He loves me and he likes me

*What is Daddy's favorite food?
-What we ate today (chicken broccoli crepes)

*What is Daddy's favorite color?
-Blue

*What do you like best about Daddy?
-I love him. He does good things for me. I say 'Dad, let's play sports' and he answers me.

*What makes you laugh about Daddy?
-When I go to sleep he tries to give me a kiss and I put my hand up so he doesn't get me.
(Kylee's side note...Caden LOVES this bedtime routine and after Russ kisses him, he says 'you got me a tiny bit' and then he quickly says 'mas por favor' or 'more please' with a huge smile on his face....priceless!)

*What do I (Kylee) say about Dad?
-We're best friends. You (Kylee) read to me and Dad.

*What do we do when Daddy comes home?
-We give him a kiss
(Kylee's note...He forgot to mention that we instantly stop what we are doing to run to the door and sing "We're so glad when Daddy comes home" (in Spanish) and that Caden's eyes light up with joy when he hears the garage door open)

*What does Daddy do for work?
-He works for the house, the food and us

*What is Daddy good at?
-He is good at playing hockey because he gets scores and I don't. He is good at playing baseball because he gets scores and me too.

*What did we do for Father's Day?
-We gave him presents. The pictures and the book. I colored a tie for him. It was blue.
(Russ proudly wore this tie all day over his other tie. He got a lot of compliments on it)

*Why is Father's Day special?
-Because its for Dads and if its special we give him treats like we did today and Sunday is very special too.

*Why do you love Dad?
-Because he's special and He loves each other

"We love Daddy!"

Happy birthday to Daddy!

We got to celebrate Russ for a day! AKA: Love, Honey, Handsome, Dada

Looking great on our camping trip (above), great smile and awesome dimples while we sang to him (below)

I was up and waiting for Russ when he got back from running in the early morning with a happy birthday banner. Then, I made him a good breakfast while he got ready for work. We ended up going car shopping (long story) on his birthday, and Caden did a great job of telling everyone that it was Daddy's birthday. Then Russ was kind enough to watch Caden while I had a meeting for one of my callings. After my meeting, we went over to his parent's house for a great dinner and birthday cake. Caden and his cousins were VERY excited to sing happy birthday.We had family in town, so we had quite a lively group to sing happy birthday. Per tradition in Russ' family (and now our family), we sing happy birthday in 4 different languages. There are two english versions we sing....so it is a long and funny tradition. It is mostly funny because each time the songs get passed on, the accent gets worse!

Caden helped wrap one of his presents and he told me what to write. Very cute.

We are so blessed to have such a great, funny, kind, patient, loving, athletic, dedicated, wonderful, hard-working, fun, spiritual man in our family. Happy birthday Love! We love you!

Memorial Day Weekend of fun

For Memorial Day weekend, we went camping as a family in Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We drove there Thursday and got there in time to make tin foil dinners, explore a little and enjoy some s'mores over the fire. We tried to find a few geocaches, but we couldn't find them (we didn't know it wasn't a container we were looking for, but just the sign). Caden was pretty bummed. Caden was SO excited to go that he helped to pack the car, to be happy in the car for a few hours drive, and then he helped to unpack everything and get it all set up. Around 6:30, he said "I want to go to bed". This is VERY unusual for him, but he was just so excited to sleep in his cars tent that we put up inside our tent.


One of the highlights of the trip was being able to talk to Russ for a long time. We talked the whole drive there and then we stayed up late talking by the campfire. It was SO good to be able to talk about everything that is going on, our worries, our joys, our stresses, etc. We have such a great friendship and it was so wonderful to just be together away from all the distractions of life.
After breakfast on Friday, we went on a hike. This was the first hike that Caden walked on his own the whole way. He walked 1 mile! We were so proud of him and he kept saying "I am a really good hiker". There were also numbered posts that he was excited to look for that gave information about the area. We then watched a movie about how the Black Canyon came to be and Caden picked up a junior ranger kit. We filled it out that day and then took it back that night for his surprise: a junior ranger pin. He was so excited. We drove down to the river at the bottom of the canyon to do some mid-day fly fishing. Russ taught Caden how to fly fish with his rod, which was about 2 times as long as Caden. Russ was a great teacher and Caden had a ton of fun. I enjoyed the scenery! :)
We went back to the tent for some relaxing time. Both Russ and I took turns taking naps while the other one read books to Caden. Then we went on another hike, roasted hot dogs and went back to the river for more fly fishing. While Russ was fishing, Caden tried catching bugs to feed the fish with and finally caught one after 15 minutes....see the pure joy on his face!
The most funny thing is that right after he caught the bug, he was so excited that he slapped his other hand down on top of it and killed it. We were all laughing so hard! Then Caden went to play in the dirt and got filthy dirty...that is what camping is for, right? Russ and I enjoyed watching the deer on the other side of the river and just taking in the peace that nature brings.
Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast and packed up. We then drove to Curecanti (a national recreation area that was on the way home) and tried to find a geocache. Once again we were unsuccesful until we realized that there wasn't a hidden container. We just had to find the informational sign. Boring. We drove a little farther and stopped by the reservoir to eat a picnic lunch and to throw hundreds of rocks into the water. Caden loved doing big splashes, and Russ and I tried to get each other wet by throwing big rocks into the water. We also skipped rocks, and Russ had some pretty impressive throws!

On Sunday we enjoyed going to church and being clean! Russ went dirt biking on Monday with some friends and Caden and I went to the neighborhood pool that just opened. Monday night we had a family over for a BBQ. It was a very fun and full weekend. We couldn't have asked for more!

Adoption Kick-off Open House

We are SO excited to be approved for adoption that we wanted to share that joy with all of our friends, neighbors and ward members. We had an adoption kick-off open house last Saturday and had a great turn out. We loved being able to share our joy with others, and Caden loved having all his friends over for a party! We had a great turn out and a lot of fun.

Here are all our adoption magnets, pass-along cards and postcards on our new piano (thanks to craigslist). We love having a piano and hearing Caden and Russ play beautiful songs.

Of course you can't have a party without food....lots of food! :)
Caden helped me cook brownies at 6:30 AM, and like any good mom would do: I let him eat the batter. He was a very happy boy.
This is a weird picture, but we wanted to highlight Wapa and Mimi (Russ' parents) who helped us out so much by playing with the kids, restocking food and talking to people. We are so blessed to live close to them right now.

Happy birth mother's day!

We know this post is a day late, but we wanted to wish a happy birth mother's day to all of you amazing, strong, loving and selfless women out there! We are so grateful for the strength and courage you have to place your babies for adoption, and we hope that you are filled with peace and joy in your decision. We admire you and look up to you! We want you to know that you are an answer to many prayers offered by those that are so anxious to grow their family and are not able to. What a huge blessing that is! We hope you had time to relax and to be spoiled by those around you!

Approved!!

We are approved to adopt!! We signed the home study today and now our profile is live! We are SO excited! I had a hard time going to sleep last night because I was so excited. I woke up happy, thinking it was the perfect day. We are so excited because it is like victory from the last two and a half years of struggle, heart break, discouragement, etc. We did grow from our trials and learn very important lessons, not to mention that we have grown so close. However, we are very happy for this time of new excitement for the miracle of adoption. Click on the link on the right side to see our profile!

Celebrate good times!! We went to Red Robin to celebrate and had a rookie magic...life is good! :)

National Infertility Week

This past week was National Infertility Week. It has made us reflect back on our experiences with both fertility and infertility. Here is our story:

Before getting married, we felt strongly that we shouldn't wait to have children. We knew it was what the Lord wanted for us at that time. A few months later I was pregnant, and 9 months after that we gave birth to our beautiful son. Since both of us come from large families, we never thought we would have a reason to celebrate National Infertility Week.

When Caden turned 1, we decided to start trying for another child. We found out we were pregnant again and we were overjoyed! We were excited for Caden to be a big brother, excited to have another angel in our home and excited to experience the miracle of birth again. We weren't quite prepared for the miscarriage that happened a few weeks later. Nor were we prepared for the 4 other miscarriages that we would have, the countless doctor and specialist visits, nor the heart break of losing 5 children through miscarriages. It has been a very devastating process, and we have cried together. However, we have learned many things as well and we feel blessed to be where we are now - waiting for another miracle. Not the miracle of giving birth, but the miracle of adoption.

Through this whole 2 year process of struggling with infertility, we have grown SO close together. We have relied on each other for strength, for faith, for happiness. Our relationship is much stronger now than it has ever been. Also, we have tried for two years to know what the Lord wanted us to do. Now we know (without a doubt) that He wants us to adopt. We are AMAZED at the incredible birth parents that are so selfless and willing to give their baby more. We feel so blessed to be approved soon to adopt!!