Simply Pin-spiring!

I've been meaning to do this blog post for a few months now, but we've been crazy busy so I'm just now getting around to it.  I have a total love affair going on with Pinterest!!  I've heard from several people that they just pin stuff and never make any of it and I'm just the opposite.  I make stuff ALL THE TIME from my pins.

This past Christmas, I made it a goal to make EVERY single gift.  It took me until Christmas Eve to finish, but I had a blast and I can honestly say that I had never felt so excited to see the reactions of the recipients.  Below are pics of the finished products and I also included the links to all of the tutorials I found on pinterest.

Superhero Fort Kit:

http://megandandymade.blogspot.com/2011/05/super-hero-fort-kit.html

 

Neighborhood Guess Who?

(for neighborhood white elephant party)

http://www.obseussed.com/2010/08/personalized-guess-who-game-family.html

 

Finger Painted LOVE Sign for Miss Amanda

(technically Luke made this so I can't take credit)

http://deborahgilbert42.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/capris-valentine-craft/

 

Subway Art for Daddy's Desk:

(this one was just an image on pinterest that I re-created & personalized in Word)

James' Co-worker Gifts:

http://twocuteblondies.blogspot.com/2009/12/merry-kissmas-chappy-new-year.html

Dry Erase Menu Board:

http://pocketsofhappiness.blogspot.com/2012/07/dry-erase-menu-board.html

The Teenager Friendly Gift - CASH:

(another image on pinterest that I re-created in Word)

 

Family Birthday Sign:

http://leahandkyleg.blogspot.ca/2013/01/family-birthdays-sign-diy.html

On-The-Go Lego Boxes:

http://www.finleyandoliver.com/2012/03/diy-lego-travel-box.html

Rosette Scarf:

http://watchmedaddy.blogspot.com/2011/12/felt-flower-scarf-tutorial.html

Candy Sleighs For The Kiddos:

http://justsaysew.blogspot.jp/2012/01/cookie-exchange-and-kelleigh-bread.html

Dry Erase Calendar:

http://lindycottagehill.blogspot.com/2011/01/dry-erase-calendar-wall-art.html

Vintage Inspired Pin Cushion w/ Vintage Bead Pins:

http://loulovesthis.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/monogram-pincushion-tutorial.html

Framed Holiday Subway Art:

http://eighteen25.blogspot.com/p/subway-art-collection.html

Vintage Inspired Bookmarks

(with a Vintage copy of "Persuasion" that I found online)

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/search?updated-max=2011-11-29T04:00:00-07:00&max-results=8

Personalized Yahtzee Game:

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/search?updated-max=2011-11-29T04:00:00-07:00&max-results=8

As you can tell, I've been crafting it up like crazy!  I hope you found some "pin-spiration" for your own projects.  Happy Crafting!!!

Snow Day!

Well, the weather finally decided to cooperate - it had just snowed, and it wasn't sub-zero temperatures anymore, so I finally ventured outside to play in the snow.  I have touched the snow before, and Mommy has even let me taste the snow from our deck, but I haven't actually gotten all bundled up to actually play in it.  So here I am getting all warm!  Hat - check!  Heavy coat - check!  Gloves - check! and Boots - check!  Time to play :)

It still was just a little bit cold (this is me doing my shiver):

Mommy threw a snowball at Daddy, so I wanted to try to throw one too!

I fell over - but that's okay.

I am definitely going to have to go back out again - it was so fun that I was kicking and screaming when Mommy and Daddy brought me back inside.

Pass It On!

For those of you who may have followed our previous adoption blog, you may remember reading about Pass-Along Cards.  We are firm believers that if we are proactive in getting the word out about our desire to adopt, a birth mom will find us (sooner rather than later).

 

Well we have ordered our first batch of pass-along cards for this next adventure - have a look see!

We have a large stack of them, so if you would like some, send us an e-mail and we will gladly get some to you!

If you don't know what to do with them, here are a few ideas:

• Leave them as a bookmark for a library book you are about to return
• Leave it with your tip at the restaurant
• Leave one on your hotel nightstand, or inside a drawer
• Send one with your utility bill payment
• Share it with someone who is considering placing a child for adoption
• Share it with someone else who is thinking of adopting (it gives them an idea of being more proactive in their adoption search)
• Etc.

As I mentioned above, we are very firm believers of pass-along cards - do you want to know why?  If it weren't for pass-along cards, we wouldn't have our little Lucas.

One of Miss Amanda's friends was out on a date and they decided to have some ice cream.  The date recommended going to Cold Stone, but she wanted to try something new - some "Leather" place in Taylorsville.  After doing some searching on their smart phones, they ended up at Leatherby's where we had a stash of our cards at the cash register.  When they were leaving, she saw the cards and grabbed one, remembering that Miss Amanda was thinking of placing her baby for adoption.  She went home and checked out our blog and quickly called Miss Amanda to tell her that she was sure she had found THE adoptive couple from a "business card".  Miss Amanda was perplexed, and thought this business card concept was weird, until she saw our card.  She quickly checked our Its About Love profile and read all of our blog posts, and she, too, knew that we were meant to be the parents of her baby boy.  And the rest, as they say, is history....

Finally, you may have seen that many people are now searching for their birth parents via social media.  I am thankful that we have an open adoption with Miss Amanda so that Luke will always have that relationship.  As you may have also heard, some of the people, who have been looking for their birth families, have found them!  All because their search was shared by so many people (and news outlets)!  AWESOME!  If you don't feel comfortable passing out our pass-along cards, we hope that you will consider sharing our blog on your Facebook wall, or just writing a quick status update about us.  The more our information is out there, the more likely a birth mom will find us.  (For our protection, please don't use our last name).

We know that Lucas is going to make the BEST big brother and we can't wait to continue on this journey.  Thanks to all our family and friends for your support - you're the best!

18 Months and Loving It!

I had my 18 month doctor's appointment last week, so I thought I'd update you on my statistics:

 

I weigh 25.1 pounds - about the 60th percentile.

I am 32.75 inches tall - about the 50th percentile.

My head is 18.25 inches - about the 25th percentile.

 

I also realized it's been quite some time since I said what my favorite things are - so here are My Favorite Things part 2:

 

• My favorite food is blueberries (or any fruit, for that matter)
• My favorite clothes are fleece footy jammies - with as cold as it has been, it's so nice and comfy to sleep in these
• My favorite nickname is "Lukey" - this is what Uncle Chris calls me.  I love it when he comes over!
• My favorite TV show is Blue's Clues.  I even have the dances down, especially "Mail Time"
• My favorite movie is Dumbo - I love to pick out all the animals and make their sounds
• My favorite thing to hold is 2 sippy cups, at the same time - I can't ever decide what I want to drink so if I hold them both, I can trade off flavors
• My favorite past time is emptying the kitchen drawers - it drives Mommy crazy!
• My favorite day is Sunday - now that we have early church, I'm able to get my naps in, but also I get to go to nursery and play with my friends for 2 hours!
• My favorite time of the day is bath time - I love to play with my water instruments that I got for Christmas 

• My favorite song is "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" - but in reality, I love all songs.  Sometimes I make Mommy or Daddy turn on the iPod so that I can just dance!
• My favorite animal is a dinosaur - I love to growl
• My favorite toy is a play kitchen that I got from Aunt Jill and Aunt Janeen for Christmas - it took Daddy about 4 hours to put it together and I was so excited to play with it the next day!
• My favorite thing to say is "What's that?"  I am very inquisitive.
• My favorite story is "Tubby Time" - but I do like all books.
• My favorite game is tag - me and Mommy run around the kitchen island every single day playing this!
• My favorite dance is ...... GANGNAM STYLE (obviously)  Maybe one day I'll actually do it on camera.

Way Overdue!

I am so sorry!  This post is way overdue!  I've sort of been busy hiding in the pantry :)

This announcement is way overdue - we have known about it now for 1 month, so please excuse the delay in letting everyone know:

Now I am not a big brother yet - I am learning how to prepare to become one.  Mommy and Daddy want me to be able to have a little brother or sister close to my age, so we are APPROVED to adopt again!  If any of you know of anybody considering adoption, please let them know about our blog so that they can come learn about our family.  You can also let them know that we can be found on www.itsaboutlove.org.  Our profile number is 28300761 (https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/28300761/ourMessage.jsf).

 

Wish us luck!

What Happened to 2012?

Boy, oh boy, am I so far behind!  Where to even start?  Well, I'll just tell you about my holidays, how's that?

 

Before we celebrated Christmas, we decided to celebrate the Mayan "end of the world."  Miss Amanda and her family came over on December 20th and we ate homemade Cafe Rio pork salads, drank Mexican apple cider, and had Choco-tacos for dessert.  I gave a present to Miss Amanda, and she gave me two awesome presents - just see my excitement in the following pictures:

 

First, I got a giraffe measuring chart.

And I also got my very own overstuffed chair, complete with an ottoman!

She definitely spoiled me - it was so fun to see her and her family!

Since the end of the world didn't happen on the 21st, we decided to celebrate Christmas.  On Christmas Eve, Santa took a break from visiting houses all over the world to make a quick stop at Grandma & Pompa's house.  I was so excited to see him and say "oh oh" to him.

Matching pajama time!

Mommy and Daddy thought that I wouldn't be excited to wake up Christmas morning, but guess what?  I woke up at the same time everybody else did!  So I got to sit on the stairs with my cousins until it was okay for us to go out and see what Santa brought us.

My stocking was so stuffed with lots of fun presents...

But I was so excited when I pulled out my own candy cane full of Reese's Pieces!

Christmas sure was fun, and I was very spoiled, of course.

Daddy got to spend the Christmas break at home - we spent a lot of time cleaning up and rearranging things, but we'll talk about that later.

Then it was time for New Year's Eve - Daddy and Mommy's families came over for small snacks and to play games.  I didn't get to stay up until midnight though :(  This is the picture right before bedtime.

And this is the picture of all of Daddy's family that came to the party.

Time certainly flies by, and its a new year with a lot of new things for me to learn this year.  I thought of a few things that are my resolutions:

1 - say more words
2 - help clean up toys
3 - be even more adorable than I already am (this will be hard for me)

HAPPY 2013!

What Does a Monkey Say?

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few weeks.  The Christmas elves have been working hard to prepare for Santa's trip around the world.

 

In the meantime, Lucas has been learning animal sounds (which is pretty awesome because he may be getting a See n Say from the big guy in red).  He can "mow" like a cat, "oof" like a dog, touch his underarm and say "oo oo" for a monkey, put his hand up to his nose and make an elephant sound, and finally he can growl for a bear, a dragon, and a dinosaur.  In the spirit of the season, he can also say "ho ho" for Santa.

 

We subscribe to Entertainment Weekly, and the below picture is the cover for last week's magazine.  Guess what sound Lucas did when he saw it?

 

GRRRRR!

Eat (Turkey), Drink (Milk), and Be Merry (Christmas)

Guess I need to get caught up on what happened the last few weeks!  Thanksgiving was a lot of fun - we went to Aunt Janeen's clubhouse for dinner and Uncle Andy was helping me to dance Gangnam Style (which I really have become great at - hopefully Mommy and Daddy will catch a picture of it). 

After dinner, Mommy and Daddy went and saw Skyfall and I played with Uncle Andy - just kicked back and watched some cartoons.  Turkey sure can make you sleepy, huh?

After the movie, we went to Grandma and Pompa's for turkey sandwiches and leftover pie.  But we couldn't stay long because Daddy was going to go "Psycho Shopping".  It's not right to say Black Friday shopping when the stores didn't open up on Friday, right?

Daddy met up with Aunt Nettie and Uncle Andy to go to Walmart.  It's a good thing they took Uncle Andy's car because they wouldn't have been able to fit the loot anywhere else - and they were barely able to fit that.  It's a good thing that Uncle Andy is so skinny so that he was able to drive squished in the backseat while Daddy drove his car (with the emergency brake on)!

Daddy did the majority of his "Black Friday" shopping online, and so he got everything that he wanted.  He figured that he got about $750 of products for only $250!

You might remember a picture of me last Christmas in this chair - Grandpa J fixed it up and gave it to me.  I love getting in it to watch TV and rock in it.  Here I am eating my breakfast of Lucky Charms and milk on Saturday morning!

On Saturday, we also set up my Christmas tree.  Normally Mommy and Daddy decorate a big tree in the family room, but since this is where I normally hang out, they decided the big tree wouldn't be good to put up this year, so they put up a small Christmas tree - just for me!  They got out some fun ornaments that I could help put on the tree.

Mommy helped me to decorate it!

Here is the finished product!  Needless to say, it didn't stay this way long...I decided that I wanted to keep decorating and undecorating it, and I kept pulling it over on top of me, so Mommy took off all the decorations.  It's still pretty though.

Mommy also decorated a tree for the Festival of Trees again this year with Grandma on Monday.

Then we went on Thursday night to see all of the trees - it was a lot of fun!

Today we went to see my Special Angel's grave and put up a wreath. 

It has been a lot of fun this past week, and we are excited to start a very merry Christmas season!

What November Means

I'm giving Luke another night off.  I absolutely love November - it means two things:  Thanksgiving and National Adoption Month.  As I was thinking about what to write on the blog this week, I started thinking how everybody is posting on Facebook things they are thankful for.  Since today is the 15th, the following are 15 things that I am thankful for (in no particular order).

1.  I am absolutely in love with Heather.  She is the best wife anybody could ever have, and she is my best friend.  Heather is also a great mommy - she has so much fun and cares so much for little Luke.  I am so glad that she is finally living her dream of being a mom.  I can't believe that we've known each other almost 10 years - don't we look so young in our engagement picture??!!

2.  I love every second of every day being a daddy.  Luke is the light of my life.  He has such a personality, and it is so fun to watch him learn new things every day.  Lately he is starting to learn that doggies say "oof", and kitties say "mow".

3.  I am so grateful for Amanda - she has given Heather and I the best present we could ever hope for.  We are also so excited to have an open relationship with her, and love to watch her excel in life.  She is definitely a superstar!

4.  I love my family - although this picture is extremely outdated.  I have such a great support system, and sisters who are always willing to help out with Lucas when Heather and I need a babysitter.  I am also grateful that I had such a loving, hard working mom.  She truly is an inspiration and I miss her A LOT!

5.  I also love Heather's family.  I love hanging out with them, and they make me feel like one of their own.

6.  I am grateful for our little Lilly.  We got her for our first anniversary, so she is now 7 1/2 years old.  She really is the sweetest thing to Heather and I - she loves to cuddle with us, and she loves to play tag with me.  She still is wary about Luke, but I think she'll come around.  He sure wants to play tag with her!

7.  I am grateful for temples where Heather and I were married and sealed for time and eternity, and then we were able to go with Lucas and have our family sealed together.
8.  I am grateful for faith in God, and for a church that helps me feel closer to Him.
9.  I am grateful for great friends.  I have been blessed with many over the years - at Hillcrest with many friends from the choir circle, to Utah State with roommates and institute friends, and to the many friends we have made in our wards.  Thanks so much for your friendship!
10.  I am grateful for the education I have received.  I have had many great teachers who helped me along the way - Mrs. Kofford, Mrs. Halloran, Mrs. Byerline, Mr. Spencer, and Mr. Bentley.  These teachers through elementary through high school were the ones who believed in me, and taught me who to be who I am today.  I am also grateful for the time I spent at Utah State - no other college would have been right for me.  And I'm grateful that I chose to continue my education to get my MBA from Western Governor's University.
11.  I am grateful for a job that challenges me daily, and has helped me grow in my career.  I almost feel as though I accomplished my college dream of becoming the CFO for a Fortune 500 international company.  Although the company is not in the Fortune 500, I am the Vice President of Finance and Operations for an international company.
12.  I am so blessed to live in such a beautiful home, in a great neighborhood.  I am also grateful for the first home that Heather and I lived in.
13.  I am grateful for my health and my family's health.  I can certainly do better with taking care of myself, but I hardly am ever sick (knock on wood).
14.  I am grateful for mine and Heather's talents.  I love that Heather is so creative - she does amazing work in crafts and interior design and I am so proud of her accomplishments.  I also love music, and I highly miss that I am no longer involved in choirs.  Choir was my life for 10 years (7th grade through all of college) - I truly am a choir geek, and miss it.  I wish I wasn't so scared of singing solos so I could audition for things like Hale Center Theater!
15.  Last of all, I am truly blessed to live in the United States of America.  This nation is truly the land of promise, and we have such great freedoms.  This country definitely has some issues that need to be fixed, and all we can do is pray that our elected leaders may feel guided by the God of this land to help us be a prosperous nation.

Thanks for indulging me on the things that I am thankful for.  As a hymn teaches that when we experience challenges or are discouraged, we simply need to count our blessings to realize that we truly are blessed.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING (next week)!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope that everyone had a very safe and happy Halloween!  This year, I dressed up as a one-eyed monster!

On Tuesday night, we went to Grandma and Pompa's house to eat some yummy soup and decorate pumpkins.

I think trick-or-treating was so much fun, especially when I was given the chance to pick my candy.  Let's just say I was indecisive and wanted to take as much as I could :)

After trick-or-treating, we went to Boondocks where Leatherby's was having an employee party.  I had fun playing Dance Dance Revolution.

But it was much more fun with my costume off, and dancing with Addison!

Mommy and Daddy didn't dress up for Halloween this year, but went as Laundry to the neighborhood Halloween party!