Birth Mom Photo a Day 30: My Hopes for the Future

Day 30: {My Hopes for the Future}

My hopes for the future...
I hope that I will continue to heal and feel gratitude and happiness for my adoption experience.
I hope that other birth moms will find strength and comfort in hearing my story of closed adoption and reunification.
I hope that birth moms continue to find a voice and don't have to feel ashamed or afraid of what others think.
I hope that I continue to meet new people in the adoption community so I can learn from them.
I hope that to attend more birth mom retreats and other adoption events where I know I will always find solidarity, strength and support.
I hope that I have opportunities to educate others about adoption.
I hope that my relationship with my birth daughter continues to develop and grow and we learn how to navigate the sometimes-complicated waters of post-reunion adoption.
I hope that one day she understands my heart.
I hope that all my children continue to learn about all sides of adoption and become advocates for open adoption one day.

 

January 2014: New Year, new cray cray.

New Year, new cray cray.

I took this picture because, as I recall, he was in this position, searching for the PERFECT pair of shoes for like 45 minutes.  I really wasn't sure if we would ever make it out of that store. The good news is that we did make it out.  The bad news is, I don't think he actually decided on any shoes in there.

We know how to party hard on New Years.  Games, Diet Coke and Max.  That's how we do. Happy New Year.

I love these pictures.  I took them when I was in a somewhat bad mood and I looked over to find my little Max dancing around on the chair, no music, just dancing because he was happy.  We all could learn some simple, yet profound, lessons from a 2 year old.

Grandma turned 89 this year.  She is an amazing soul.  I hope to be like her someday.  I'm not altogether sure I want to live to be 89 but if I am anything like her, I will be fine.

For the MLK weekend, Delaney joined us for a quick Vegas trip to get away.  She's a trooper to put up with us, and we are grateful for any time we get with this busy girl.

The kids love seeing their big sister.

January's Favorite Selfies & Random pics

SEP-TEM-BER!!!!

By September, football season is in full swing, preparations are happening for the last birthday of the year for the kids (whew) and we are trying to get in the swing of school and stuff.  This year, September also brought another addition to our family, Baby West, and some good times by the pool.  I absolutely love that the weather stays warm here for so long.  September is when the heat starts getting a little more bearable, and the combination of wind and shade can get a tiny bit chilly but I will take it.

Delaney joined us for the Desert Hills v Kanab game.  She wasnt really sure who to cheer for but it all turned out fair.  Freshman football has proven to be very different than little league in the sense that they really hold the athletes to a high standard and expect them to be responsible and dedicated in representing their sport and the school.  Braiden did a great job keeping up his grades and being a team player.
Braiden's family are his biggest fans.  The kids are still a little more interested in running around under the bleachers and raiding the snack stand than they are in the game but I think eventually they will come around.  Max has shown a particular interest in football. I am even getting pretty good at understanding football and rather enjoy it, even if I have to do time in the concessions stand a couple times during the season.  I especially love watching my son do something he really loves.  

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September 10th was Cameron's 6th birthday!  His party this year was kind of a last minute, thrown together thing since we just moved to a new place and really didn't have any friends to invite.  Luckily, however, Cameron isn't quite at the stage of caring what his party is as long as it consists of games, pizza and his family (wouldn't it be nice if it stayed that way forever?) so Pirate Island Pizza saved the day again!  Braiden invited a couple of his buddies, we had my mom and Ray and the rest of the family...wallah!  A perfect 6 year old party!

Ok, so I will be the first to admit that this looks scandalous, at best.  Don't be fooled, we are good girls. But...that's what I love about these ladies.  For my trip to Salt Lake in September the company paid for a hotel and you better believe we took FULL advantage of those accommodations and amenities.   The ladies came and joined me for an evening of food, fun and hot-tubbing.  I hope that we will forever be able to act like teenagers. It will be the only thing that keeps me young...and sane. 

Next up!  Baby West Joe Watson was born to Ben and Jenice on September 16th.  He was a whopping 6lbs 7oz and 18.5 inches long.  Just a widdle guy.  He has the cutest little chin.  Ben and Jenice's babies are very squishy..  I just love my little "Squishies".

We spent pretty-much every weekend at the park and the pool that we could.  All three of the little kids were able to really sharpen their swimming abilities, even Max.  He still requires floaties, but he isnt afraid to get in the pool and just kick around all by himself.  That could be a bad thing too but he is well on his way to becoming a little fishy. 

September's Favorite Selfies and Randoms

(I AM ALMOST CAUGHT UP!! WOOT!!)

A picture says a thousand words...for May 2013

The Best Mothers Day Present ever.  Apparently  I haven't been terribly secretive with my "wish".

April was beautiful

Delaney turned 18 on April 11th.  The highlight of April was a trip down to surprise her with her first meeting of her Birth-Dad.  

These first 'meetings' were a pretty cool experience.  The difference for him is that he had never even seen her when she was a baby...only in pictures.

We all spent the day together in Zion National Park along with Delaney's family, stopping at the sand dunes and for lunch on the way.  It was so beautiful there. 

Delaney posing for the camera. 

Kim hooked up Braiden and I with some sweet Kanab sweatshirts.

A couple weeks later, I got a last minute call that Delaney had a choir competition up near us so if we wanted to come see her, we were invited.  So I gathered up the troops and we headed over.  My mom and sisters met her for the first time.  We watched her sing, ate at McDonalds and hung out for a couple hours.

April's Favorite Randoms

I just love this picture.

March 2013...are we there yet?

I am perpetually 6 months behind on this blog thing but I must catch up, I must. 

March was a super busy month for us...actually March, April, May, June and the beginning of July were really crazy months...thus the reason why I cant seem to catch up.

March...here goes.

March 8th was my 10th Anniversary.  Since we first got married I have been blabbering about what we will do to celebrate that grand 10th anniversary...will it be a cruise, a visit to some tropical island, a European getaway?!?!?  No.  We decided to go to Springdale, UT...with the whole family.  Don't get me wrong...it was for a good reason.  Springdale was a little stop on the way to the lovely Kanab where Delaney lives.  Since I had met Delaney only a couple weeks before and then told Braiden about her, he was getting anxious to meet her so we just did it.
It was great! The cruise will have to wait till our 20th. 

Delaney's family was quite gracious once more and let us come hang out with the fam for the day and even spend the night there after staying a bit too late. The kids had a great time meeting their sister for the first time (even though they didn't quite yet understand the concept that she was actually their sister).

These are the first pictures that I have of all my kids together.  Delaney handled all this amazingly well. I cant even imagine what this is all like for her.

The following week in March was the first week of the year where it finally felt like Spring was coming.  We decided to take the kids to downtown SLC and walk the new City Creek Shopping Center and visit Temple Square. That was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time seeing that beautiful place.  This was actually the first time my kids had seen the SLC Tabernacle...for shame.

 

My mom treated us girls to a fun glass blowing class at Thanksgiving Point.  It was really cool...I mean...really hot, but really cool.





And of course, Easter. 

I wanted to give this picture extra special attention since, not only is it a great pic of me and my immediate family, but my brother-in-law insisted on making it so extra special with his little photo bomb.  Happy Easter, Ashton.

And we cant forget March's favorite randoms