Bear Lake fun!

We just came back from a fun filled weekend at Bear Lake. We had our Reese family reunion there and had a great time! We had all our kids there on Saturday and what a riot! The family rented a boat with a water weanie and even Brinlei's mom took a spin. It was just so much fun to watch my kids letting loose with each other. Here's proof!






The summer is definitely winding down now. Jayson headed back to school this morning, Jordan started football and the kids are actually getting tired of going to the pool. Time to start thinking about getting everyone ready for school! I always hate it when the summer ends and I have to give up my kids to school again. Jordan will be a senior this year, so it's even more difficult to think this will be his last year before moving on with his life. Jaxon will be a sophomore, Brinlei will be at the intermediate school and Maleia will be in 1st grade. Jake still has one more year of preschool, thank goodness, and of course I'll have my hands full with little Janzyn. I just love having my family around me all day long and especially love having Jay so close. He's been so busy with everything though that I'm sure he's looking forward to the pool closing so he'll only have one full time job to deal with.

Before Jayson left I decided I wanted to take one last picture with all the kids. Can I just say I love my family! Each one brings a smile to my face and makes me want to be a better person. I don't know what I'd do without them!

Last, but not least

I have a ton of Janzyn pics that I haven't downloaded yet, but here's a taste of the little J-man!





It's hard to believe that he's a month old already. The days have flown by but it's hard to remember life without him. I fall more and more in love with him every day and feel so blessed to be his mama. I get a lot of questions about how he came to be a part of our family, which is usually followed by comments like "Are you crazy?" and "Why?" Most people just shake their heads. Janzyn has already blessed our family in so many ways and although I'm discovering how old I really am, I wouldn't trade him for anything. Not my freedom, carefree days or sleep filled nights. He's pure joy. There is nothing sweeter than holding a tiny baby and breathing in the scent of baby breath mixed with baby lotion, and feeling them snuggle up under your chin or the soft coo of contentment. Watching my kids, big and little, turn to mush around him is one of the most tender images imaginable. Am I nuts? Probably, but what a way to go!

The rat race!

Life has just been a rat race lately and I'm not sure if I'm in the lead or if I'm so far behind that everyone else is catching up to me! I've wanted to post about so many things but just simply haven't had the time. Jay is snuggling the little "J-man" as the kids call him, so I thought I'd take advantage of the free arm moment.

Last week I decided to take the little kids down to Cecy's apartment for a dip in her pool. (Her apartment complex has a nice, little pool.) What a riot! You'd never know they spend almost every day at a pool ten times the size. They had a blast and so did I in watching them. It was a fun afternoon and after the swimfest, we had a nice, little lunch and watched the Goofy Movie. When we finally left to head home, the kids were all so exhausted that they fell asleep before we even hit the freeway.








We also decided to take the kids on a little picnic on the 5th since Jay was so busy with the pool on the 4th to do anything with us. We went to a park just a couple of blocks away and had the requisite fried chicken lunch. The kids played on the playground for awhile and then we headed to the movies. Another fun day!

Game on!

Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together.
It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many
people leave a memory about you.


It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :)
If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog,
I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Happy 100th post!

I've finally hit the 100th post milestone! It's hard to believe I've had enough to say to merit 100 posts and hopefully this hasn't been a bore to everyone. It's my life, though. What else can I say?

Life has been full of excitement over the last month. So many new things happening and so little time! I can't believe how fast time has gone. Janzyn is 4 weeks old now and growing like a weed. He's still having a tough time sleeping at night, but I may have finally figured out why. The medical professionals will tell you that you are endangering the life of your infant by placing him on his belly to sleep. As a dutiful mother, I never even considered going against professional opinion and Janzyn has slept on his back throughout the first month of his life. Well....last night he was fussing and nothing I did would settle him down. I finally laid him on his belly and patted his little bum. He instantly fell asleep! Not only that, but he slept for FIVE hours straight! Ahhh, the bliss! When he woke up, he was fed, burped, changed and laid back down on his belly. Guess what?! He fell asleep again and slept for another five hours. Now, the problem is deciding if my sanity and his sleep is worth going against advise of medical professionals who know so much more than I do, or if I just fly in the face of danger and let him peacefully sleep on his belly? Hmmm, I'm going to have to think this one through before coming to a conclusion. In the mean time, Janzyn will be peacefully resting on his tummy!

Long time, no chat!

It's been a few days, ok more like a couple of weeks, since I posted anything. Life has been hectic and crazy to say the least! To start off, a dream of mine was realized on the 24th! Ever since the day Brinlei joined our family I've dreamed of the time when she and her mother could be reunited. Well, after a mad dash to the airport and a fair amount of pacing as we waited for her to find her way to the baggage claim, that dream was a reality. Brinlei was SO excited! We've been planning this for a couple of years now and finally had the funds to bring her and her youngest daughter for a visit. I was struck again by the similarities in B and her mom and it melted my heart to see B's youngest sister holding her hand as they walked down the hallway. Sissy doesn't look too much like Brin but she has the same smile, same dimples, same personality. We have enjoyed having them with us so much and feel blessed to share our beautiful daughter with her. I've had the chance to ask some pretty heavy questions about Brin's adoption and her life before she came to us. It's been priceless to hear all about her first years and I finally have answers to some deep questions that have been in my heart all these years. I'm not sure exactly how long they will be visiting but we're soaking up each and every moment.

On to the next bit of excitement~ We had planned months ago to take our extended, adopted family to Bear Lake with us for a little get away, so the following weekend we did just that. Another family joined us who had adopted a little marshmellow and it was a fun, packed house! It was just nice to spend some time away from the hubbub of home and relax somewhat. The best part was having all three of our birth moms with us! Most people just can't understand the relationship we have with our birth families, but it works for us and we can't imagine our lives without them in it. Anyway, we relaxed, ate ourselves sick, watched movies and played games. Before I knew it, it was time to pack up and head home. A fun little break that was over too soon!

We've had T-ball and softball games and practises ever since we got home and it's all I can do to keep up. Add on top of that the sleep deprivation and to be honest, I'm pretty wiped out. I love my life and maybe someday I'll be awake enough to really enjoy it!