Found this..

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”-Marianne Williamson

I found this quote from my friend Brooke. It really struck me and made me think. Hopefully it will do the same for you. Let me know what you think.

Walking

The quality on this video isn't the best, because it was taken on my phone, but it still shows it. Here is Bubba walking! He is getting better and better every day and is starting to try and figure out how to stand on his own. I will try to get better video, but for now this will have to do! Enjoy!

10 Months

I can NOT believe that Bubba is 10 months old. He is getting SO big! He is learning to walk, and will walk across a room if he puts his mind to it. He usually decides that crawling is faster, and will end up on his hands and knees. He tries to climb DOWN stairs, (which will make any mother have a heart attack!) and loves to play. He loves the movie Madigascar, and Finding Nemo. He loves to snuggle to go to sleep. He also tries to climb through things with his head, and everything STILL goes INTO his mouth! He has to taste all the different colors. He talks all the time, usually mumbles, but it is still talking. He enjoys playing peek-a-boo, and getting into everything he isn't supposed to! So this is Bubba at 10 months old. A box is quite entertaining...

Anywho, there you have it. Sorry I haven't been updating, I have been back and forth! Hopefully things will get more interesting so I can update more. Muhahahahaha

Job Interview

Sam has a job interview tomorrow in Bountiful. We are really crossing our fingers in hope that he gets it, because it will pay him more, and it will also be in his graduated field. So PLEASE keep us in your prayers and thoughts hoping everything goes well! Thanks!

Hay Ride for Christmas

This is from December 20th. This gets its own post, because there are a lot of pictures with it! Ok, I left off with Crystal leaving on the 19th of December. Chris came home from BootCamp for a couple of weeks! Yay!!! So we hung out on the 20th. Every year Layton City has these lights through the park, and they also have a hay ride that takes you through the lights! It was SO very fun, except for the COLD. Brrr....But it was fun. Wendy came down and spend the evening with us, and we just went out and had fun! So here are the pictures from it...

Here is the start of the lights..

Looking down the trailer, we have my mom who is barely visable, Kaleigh, Tab, DK, Chris (who you can't see) and Wendy.

Here is my mom (sorry, stupid flash blew it out) with Bubba, and Kaleigh off to the side.

Down the row from me is Curtis (who you can't really see), my Dad, Brandon (Jackie's boy) and Jackie.

Here they are again...smile! haha, I love catching people off gaurd...

Afterwards, we all went back to my parents and had hot chocolate, since it was so cold! So here are a couple of random shots from that.

Kaleigh (I don't even want to ask what went through her mind...)

Jackie and Chris (with Wendy in the background...)

Gorgeous Tab. She seriously is gorgeous, her smile is SO contagious! I love it!

And that is from our wonderful Hay Ride! Yay!! Next will hopefully be Christmas Eve and Christmas. Woo Hoo!! That will be a good one, let me tell ya! Have fun for now.

9 months

Yeah, this is a couple of weeks late, but due to Christmas, and New Years, and being sick before that, and the accident, I just haven't gotten around to it!

So, back on December 23rd, Bubba turned 9 month old. We had his 9 month appointment the other day, and here are his stats:

Weight: 25.8 lbs (90th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (75th percentile)

Developmentally, he crawls, and walks short distances. Still loves to walk along furniture. He knows how to open drawers and know where they are, so he will go right for them. He likes for us to "chase" him. If we start, he will start to crawl faster and giggle. He loves watching his cousins, and will just chase them around everywhere. He eats pretty much anything except for hard things now, and especially LOVES crackers, and his sippy cup. He tried avocados the other day, and loved them! He absolutely LOVES baths. If he sees the water start to run, he will do everything he can to get out of your arms and in to the water. And he will just sit and splash and play. He would stay in the water all day if he could.

He usually naps 2 times a day, and goes to bed about 11:00 and sleeps until 10:00am. Which is nice. He does not like socks, and will take them off of his feet faster than I can put them on. He also is starting to not like pants, and will try to pull those off too. He doesn't like it when you leave the room, and he has started to recognize where you put something. If you hide something behind your back, he will look for it, and try and get it from you. Here are some pictures!

He wanted an up close look at his dinner....

"Mom, PLEASE no more pictures!!"


So, this is Bubba at 9 months. I can't believe that he is almost a year old! We absolutely adore and love him, and don't know what we would do without him. We LOVE YOU BUBBA!

Crystal's Visit

This is like a month late, but I need to post a lot of things, so you might be getting a lot of posts from me the next few days.

Back in December, Crystal came to visit with us! We were so excited to get to spend some time with her again, and to have her see Bubba again. For those of you who don't know, Crystal is our birthmother. She is an AMAZING woman. It all started on Tuesday when we went to go pick her up from the airport. Sam didn't get home from work until 1/2 an hour later then he was supposed to, so we were about 1/2 hour late to the airport! We felt SOOO bad! So she was waiting for us, and we finally arrived.

(on our way to the airport)

This is how much we filled our car for on our way up. Haha

We took her to Temple Square and met with Sam's mom and brother. We walked around Temple Square in the FREEZING cold weather. They have really skimmed down on the lights this year. There weren't as many lights. Kind of sad, because it used to be GORGEOUS with lights. Now it is still pretty, but less lights. We then went out to eat at Burger King, and then headed out to my parents house. It was my brothers birthday so we had to make an appearance. This is where Crystal really started thinking we were weird. Have you ever heard of the HaHa game? Yeah, that's all I'm going to say about that. I was laughing so hard I ws crying! And Crystal was probably thinking "what have I gotten myself into?!" Lol, hopefully we didn't scare her too bad.

Sam's mom with Bubba at JS Building.

(back view of Crystal and Sam)

We then started on the long drive home. We made it home late and went to sleep. Woke up the next morning, to Mell being sicker than sick! So Wednesday we spent the day taking care of Mell's kids and taking care of her. Thursday, we thought we had better make her day a good one since it was her last one here. So we went shopping! Melanie, Crystal, Hunter and I all went to Orem and hit the malls. We finished all of our Christmas Shopping, and just hung out and had fun! We didn't get home until late, and we had to be up to the airport at 6:30 in the morning. So we would have to leave here about 5 in the morning. So we decided to pull an all nighter. That's right, I didn't go to sleep at all that night! Drove Crystal to the airport and took her in. It was sad to see her leave! And she barely made it home before they started canceling flights. Phew! Luckily she had it shceduled that early in the morning. I then headed out to my parents house and tried to sleep, but Bubba decided that he was ready to get up for the day! Akk! Luckily my wonderful family helped me so I could get a couple hours of sleep.

So that takes care of the week before Christmas. My next post will be the week OF Christmas. Hopefully I will get it up later today or tonight! Enjoy!

Poor Baby..

As you will see from this post, I have two babies. I got them both about the same time, and one was purchased so we could make it to pick up Bubba. That's right, my first baby is my car. First new car I have ever got! And this evening, it met another car. And yes I know car's are supposed to do this, but my car is a wuss. It snowed really bad here in Utah County, and it made the roads pretty bad. Well, Mell and I went to ladies night out tonight (first monday of every month we do this) and on our way home, we slid into another car. Well, 2 cars ahead of us a car spun a 360 and went and stopped by the cement barrier. The car behind that slowed and started fishtailing and going off to the side. Well, both cars moved in front of us. We tried to avoid it, but we couldn't. We pumped our brakes and it did nothing, we just slid right into the corner of a car. The following picture shows my car on the tow truck, front end all banged in. The car will not start, and my airbags didn't even go off!

All that it did to the car we hit, was break their tail light. Stupid car. Well, we have a ton more pictures that I will post once I get them. But for now, I might take some pain pills and go to bed, because I am becoming very sore! But there is my first update for the week. Trust me, I have like 8 other things to blog about!! Better get too it!

Yearly Update

So I didn't get my Christmas Cards out in time. This is the first year that I have actually created a card, I printed it out and everything, and they are all still sitting here. Haha, that's how good I am. So I am posting the card on here, and giving our update online. (The Goods and Bad's of technology) But don't worry, you will be receiving a card soon!

This year has been a good year for us. We started out the year full swing with LDS family services. We found out last December that we were chosen to become parents. So we spent the first 3 months of the year in anticipation of our biggest miracle. He was born March 23. He is the highlight of our lives, and is loved more than any other kid out there. He is 9 months old, and loves trying to learn how to walk. He crawls all over the place, and loves to get into everything. He can open drawers, and doors, climb up stairs, click his tongue, try to read books, and play with his toys, drink from straws, reach for whatever he wants, and growl. He tries to eat whatever we are eating, and loves to be a "big kid". He is loved by his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course his parents.

Sam graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Finance. We are SO excited that he is finished! We are currently in the job search to find something in his field. He loves his current job of working on a Boy's Ranch helping youth. He still enjoys playing sports, and computer games when he can, and playing with his nieces and nephews. He enjoys Home Teaching in our ward, and we are hoping to settle down soon so he can get a more permenant calling!

Tara loves being a mom. She loves taking care of Bubba and showing him off to everyone. She is also trying to get her photography business up and going, and LOVES taking pictures, and learning new things. She has had to learn many new things this year, and enjoys all of it. She was a Camp Director for her wards Young Women, and enjoyed going to camp with the girls, and Melanie. She then became the Sports Director for Young Women, and had a fun volleyball season. She still also loves to do her cross-stitch, and crochet whenever she gets the chance.

We have moved a couple of times this year, and have learned many things. Tara's grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. We hope to be able to have a wonderful 2009, and we are excited to see what it is going to bring us!! We hope your year finds you well, and happy!

Sam, Tara, and Bubba