Preparing for the Holidays !!!

I absolutely love this time of year!!! And the fact that we get to celebrate it with our foster kids makes it that much more memorable. This year we even had the pleasure of having Travis, one of our old foster sons, come and help us decorate as well. It is so nice to be able to remain friends with our kids. We love each and every one of them and hope that we can create as many memories for them as they do for us.

Kyle pretends that he doesn't like to be photographed, so I have to be sneaky. He has been a joy to have in our home. We are excited to see what his future holds for him.


Travis had so much fun decorating the tree.
Because of his size, he got to decorate the top of the tree.

Miridyan had a blast getting into all of the ornaments and decorations.
She wanted to help everyone with everything.

Grandparents are the BEST !!!

With Christmas just around the corner, my parents are going crazy buying things for the girls. The only problem... my mom can't seem to wait until December 25th to give them things. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining one bit. These are all things that Miridyan needs, including pajamas, hats and gloves, Christmas books, toys, etc. Miridyan loves every bit of it. Thank you Gram and Gramps!!! We all love you... and your over-flowing heart!

I am thankful for...

There are a million things that I am thankful for in my life. My family, my children (foster kids included), my job, my health, etc. I really don't have much to complain about in life, as far as the major things go, that is. Lately there is something, rather someone, that I can't give enough thanks... my brother Kennon... aka Uncle Ken. Donny was out of town for three weeks, so on the days that I worked it was him who came over to watch Miridyan (minus the days that he sent his fiance over - thanks Maggie!!! ). Keep in mind that I have to be at work at 6 AM. There were even a few days when my sister needed him to watch Paityn as well. So... Ken would come to my house at 5:45 am, wait until Miridyan woke up, fed and dressed her, loaded her up in the car and drove over to my sister's house to watch both girls. There were times he was exhausted! Lucky for him the girls were exhausted at the same time.


Kennon, I can't thank you enough for being such an great brother and an even better uncle!
The girls are so blessed to have you in their lives.
Thank you again, and again, and again or all that you do.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Happy Birthday Morgan !!!

Happy Happy Birthday to YOU !!!

I am so blessed to have you for a sister. I know we didn't get along that great growing up, but times have changed... thankfully! You have been such a great friend to me and an amazing Aunt for Miridyan. We all love you very much !!!

Catching up !!!

Today Josh and Michele Mitchell had a little get together for some of our old dance friends. It was so fun to be able to see everyone again after so many years. I hope that this can be a frequent occurrence. Only next time, it would be nice to see others that were missing. Dancing was a huge part of my life for over 20 years so some of these people are like family to me.

In this picture we have Nicole, Brad, Robby, Myself, Mike, Patrick, Josh, and Michele
In this picture we have the above stated guys plus Adam (Nicole's husband), Chris, and Paul (Lindsey's husband)
And here is a picture of the girls: Me, Mindy (Patrick's wife), Michele, Nicole, Heather, Lindsey, and Jen (Mike's wife)

This was mine and Miridyan's first little road trip with just the two of us. She did amazing as far as the car ride went. What an angel. We tried to get as many visits in as possible. We stayed at my Grandma Perry's house which is always a treat. I love spending time with them. My cousin Tjaden has me addicted to Yahtzee now. I need to go out and purchase the game so I can practice up and whoop him next time I am up there. You better watch out Tjad !!! We were also able to spend some quality time at my grandma and grandpa Lukes' house. Miridyan adored them. She just kept pointing and smiling.
We love our grandparents !!!
Some others we got to see included Brandi and her kids, Ashleigh, Alex & Emily, Rick and Julie and their kids, and Nikki and Troy