Sundance - Day 5

We were in for a late night tonight, so we took our time getting ready for the day. We strolled out of Sundance about 11:00. Our final destination was Tremonton to visit this aunt and three of her four children. We decided to make numerous stops along the way and hoped that T-Man would find some shut-eye in the comfort of his car-seat, but that didn't happen -- yikes! Our original intent was to stop at all the Utah temples from Sundance to Tremonton, but the weather was not our friend. It was rainy, cloudy, gloomy, and then eventually it turned to snowy.

We drove to Ogden and stopped at Subway for lunch. We thought we'd stop at The Treehouse Children's Museum to let T-Man run off some pent-up energy. Oddly enough, right across the street was this:

The Ogden Temple

At the museum, we couldn't pull T-Man away from this:

(The sound is terrible, but occasionally, you can hear him name a state)

He loves The United States of America puzzles, maps, etc. He can name all 50 states, point them out on the map, and can tell you 45+ of the state capitals. He continues to amaze us everyday. That boy comes from some amazing DNA!

More museum pictures:After the museum, we headed up to Tremonton. Of course, 15 minutes from my aunt's house T-Man fell asleep. We drove around for a few extra minutes, but it didn't help much. He woke up on the wrong side of the car seat and wasn't much like himself that night.

We had a most delicious dinner with my aunt, visited for the first time in about 10 + years and the kids got to play. T-Man was fascinated that there was another boy there with the same name as him, only he was 9 years old. He is still talking about "Big T-Man". "Big T-Man is 9, I am 3". We stayed for a couple of hours, but had to head back. We were in for an early morning with a photographer on Day - 6 at 9:00 in Provo.

to be continued . . .

Sundance - Day 4

A Day of Reminiscing

We started off visiting my college campus --

• Bought a few BYU items for T-Man
• Toured my "home-away-from-home" building - The Smith Family Living Center, which no longer exist. The new building is amazing!
• Drove past my old condominium on the south side of campus.

Next stop: Springville & Kelly's Grove

We hit "The Bell" in Springville to get T-Man a quesadilla with sour cream dip-dip (loves them!)

Next stop: another favorite of mine: Broo.kside Conveni.ence Store. I cannot recall how many times my grandmother and I would go through the drive though and get drinks (those were my straight cola days, no diet) "Back then" you could use coins to purchase them they were so cheap.

We drove around a bit looking for Kelly's Grove (unplanned). We didn't really know where we were going so it was more of a scenic drive through Mapleton.

We returned back the cabin to find that Housekeeping had put T-Man's bed together like this when they cleaned:

It didn't last long!

Sundance - Day 3

A nap the day before, a good night's rest, and a yummy
breakfast make for one happy three-year old!

On day three we ventured out to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
It was another very warm day, but beautiful blue skies.

Salt Lake LDS Temple

The reflection of the temple in the "Reflection Pond"

Not sure who he was praying for - himself having to deal with us taking so many pictures or
that his sunglasses would stay on top of his head.

The fountain outside of the Church Office Building

The Conference Center

Tracing the waterfall down The Conference Center

We dined at The Garden Restaurant
(he needed to put the crayon behind his ear while he ate - his need, not ours)

This is the view from the atrium outside the restaurant.

With full bellies, we felt as big as this:

(Elephants at the Hogle Zoo - our next stop)

My favorite -- the giraffes

T-Man's favorite -- the penguins jumping in the water

The riding of the carousel -- being the great photographer that I am, you can clearly see that he is riding the gray dolphin.

The Zoo train (we did ride the train around the zoo, it just took two hands to hang on to the toddler leaving no hands for the camera!)

We grabbed dinner on the road in hopes of getting back to Sundance at a reasonable hour


And a perfect ending to a perfect day. . .

END Day 3

To be continued....

Sundance - Day 2

After a most delicious brunch at The Fo.undry G.rill, we took Tyler to the park to work out some wiggles.

Apparently the park was too much for the boys ....

Like father, like son . . .

Send me back now! There is nothing like waking up to the sound of rivers and streams coming through the open cabin windows. Oh how I miss this view already!!


to be continued . . . .

Sundance - Day 1

What an incredible anniversary week at Sundance!! We had every season of weather within eight days. We had blistering heat the first three days, cooler/cloudy weather the next few days, and rain and snow our last two days. Variety is the spice of life!

This is the view outside of our cabin window on our first night at Sundance

T-Man was angelic on the plane. We were nervous since the flight was right during nap time that we might have had an uncooperative three year old on our hands. Not the case! We had been talking about airplane behavior the week before the trip so as we were boarding, he was reviewing all the rules. 1. We don't kick the chair in front of us. 2. We listen to the pilot and take our seat belt off only when he/she tells us to. 3. The flight attendant has the last word :)


Eric surprised us with a portable DVD player and I bought T-man the new Little Einsteins, never-before seen, DVD. He was caught dancing, head bobbing, and giggling at the video for the entire 2-1/2 hour flight. He was unbelievably well-behaved!

After we landed, we got the rental car, which from here on out shall be known as the "green-car" -- It was a teal colored Chevrolet SUV sort. We arrived at Sundance to a very tiny cabin. Eric took care of us, though, and got us a "Mountain Suite" with a kitchen, family room, master bedroom, washer/dryer for the rest of the vacation. It was heavenly and the same price as the tiny room, I might add (way to go, Eric)!!

T-Man's "room"

Kitchen

Bedroom

Vanity

Front Entrance

Bathroom (more details about the toilet later)

T-Man's Bed (complete with "sleepy-bear" and "blue-blankie")

Closet/Vanity Area

to be continued . . . . .

My Favorite Word

I love the word HOPE. It feels so powerful to me. In the darkest of hours, if I can reach deep down inside of me and find hope, I can get through anything. The YEARS that we waited for a child were the darkest years. I pray those will have been the most difficult years I have to endure in this life. I cannot put into words the invisible pain I experienced that no one else could see, but yet was all I could feel day after day; longing, wanting, aching, empty. HOPE was all that pulled me through them. HOPE that tomorrow would be better. HOPE that I could get through one more hour of the day. HOPE that our children would find their way home with the help of loving birth mothers wanting to give their children everything they could.



We are holding on to HOPE again; wanting to grow our family, wanting for T-Man to have a sibling.

"Remember that while you are seeking you are also being sought… you will be found. You will be led. You will enter in. Look for that. Expect it. Expect to come to revelations of the Lord. Expect shells to break in their season. Expect boats to ride as the tide comes in. This is HOPE, to desire and to expect."~Oswald W.S. McCall

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY!

I CANNOT believe it has been three years since our adoption miracle was born! I know it is so cliche and every parent says that, but it's just remarkable to have experienced such a miracle and then to watch him grow every day!

excerpt from our annual birthday letter we write to T-Man:

"T-Man, we've been so enamored watching you learn and experience the world, that we haven't even seen the calendar pages turn. You have brought more joy into our lives than words could ever describe. We are so blessed in every way possible. Your fun personality makes us laugh and your spirit is larger than life."

It is also on this day that our thoughts go to T-Man's birth mother "V". We have such gratitude and love for her and her family. We give thanks to them for what they had to go through to bring us all of this happiness. It was on this day three years ago that two parents were born (clueless ones, that's for sure!) and again, it was because of "V" that this was even made possible. Parenthood has changed us so much. Thank you "V" for giving T-Man life and for giving us the life that we have dreamed of.

You're such an incredible woman!

This will have to do ...

I have tried and tried to upload videos to our blog, but to no avail. They are too large. No matter how tiny the video, uploads will time-out and will never complete. T-Man LOVES this song; he has it memorized. We sing it daily and multiple times. After a church meeting last Tuesday, we even created a numbers song together that uses the same melody. We have now played this video at least 12 times. The videos of T-Man in my humble opinion are soooo much cuter, but this will have to do until I can become less technology-ignorant.

For those who are unfamiliar with these men: The First Presidency & The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

THANKS!

Thanks to M. at Plaid with Polka Dots for my first ever blog award!

So here are the rules: Accept the award; post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his/her blog link. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

*I'm new to blogging, but I'm excited to select the 15 bloggers that keep me up way too late reading each night! Names and links to follow tomorrow when Ray is up (T-man's name for the sun) and Luna (his name for the moon) has gone to bed :)

We Play with Our Food

We encourage playing with your food at our house.

T-Man's Word in Cheez-it Scrabble Crackers:
Pronounced: "wuh-ove" and yes, he spelled it and put it together himself. He's AMAZING! Other words he can spell: Mississippi, stop, bump (these construction signs are all over our town!), his first, middle, and last name, tree, water, go, on, off, yes, no, mom, dad, hat (and all words that rhyme with it). I feel we're going to be in big trouble when this little boy gets into school. He's going to be the trouble maker because he'll be so bored. Daddy is teaching him how to add and all about quantum-mechanics. Did I even spell that right? I'll have to go ask T-Man :)

Mommy's word:
Trying to stay positive as we continue to hope for a second adoption miracle! Sometimes the waiting can just eat away at you. We are so looking forward to our 10-year anniversary trip to Sundance, Utah WITH T-Man (his first airplane ride) at the end of September. Life is good! Pictures will certainly be shared early October.