When Mason Gets Hungry!

This is how Mason lets us know he is hungry. He climbs up into the booster seat, fastens himself in, and folds his arms for the blessing. He insists on saying a prayer each time he eats... like 10 times a day! Love this boy of ours!

To the pregnant woman without options

I came across this article this morning www.scissortailsilk.com/2014/06/20/to-the-pregnant-woman-without-options/Such a beautiful post! We are eternally grateful for our birth mom and the choice that she made to bring our Mason into this world. Adoption is truly a gift... the greatest gift!

Our Park

Today is a cold, wet rainy day! We are snuggled up inside and the boys are missing playing outside. On a normal summery day, Mason and Riley love to play at our neighborhood park! It is nice to have such a fun park so close to our house (it even has a splash pad!). Here are a few pictures of them at the park!

Father's Day!

Yesterday was Father's Day 2014! We celebrated by going to church in the morning and then to a family BBQ up Provo Canyon last night! Andrew celebrated by taking an afternoon nap in-between. :) Our boys and I are so grateful that we have Andrew! He is the best Daddy that our boys could ask for. He works so hard to provide for our financial, emotional, and physical needs and we appreciate everything he does for our little family! We love you, Andrew! Here are a few pics I snapped yesterday morning before church!

This week in pictures!

This week was so fun! We were lucky to have our niece Gracee stay with us all week! Our boys adore her!!! She is so happy and laid back... we love to have her around! This past week we spent a day at the pool, played with some fun animals, had a backyard sleepover with some cousins, went to Genola Days and loaded up on candy at the parade, and went to 2 different bbqs (one was at our church and the other was with family for Father's Day)! My favorite thing we did this week is go to a place called Wild Wonders (www.wildwondersedu.com) in the town next to ours. The owner Sarah gave us a private tour and let the kiddies play with a skunk, red fox, baby chinchilla, desert tortoise, ginormus rabbit (it weighs 30 lbs), baby hedhog, some ferrets, a mini pig, and a ring-tailed cat. She also let them feed a raccoon! We loved learning about the animals! Here are a few photos from our fun backyard sleepover! Our nephews Christopher and Tyler joined us that night! We did some stargazing, played games, ate delicious treats, and laughed like crazy! Genola Days Parade! We especially loved the cold Otter Pops they threw from some of the floats! We had a super fun week!!!

Elton Family Reunion 2011

I was just going through some old family videos with my niece Gracee and my nephew Christopher when we came across these gems!!!  This fun, impromptu dance party happened after the talent show at our Elton Family Reunion 2011! We love having a big, fun family!!!  

Dancing!

Our family LOVES to dance!!!  We have dance parties almost nightly at our house.  Every once in a while, I sneakily record Andrew dancing with Mason and Riley.  I cherish these precious moments with my boys!!!

Playgroups

Our boys attend several playgroups! One thing I love about Utah is that there are so many different playgroups for our boys to make friends! This last week we were able to make to make it to 2 different playgroups.

The first one we went to is Transracial Adoption in Utah County playgroup. I love this group! The kids are all different ages and I really appreciate that all the older kids are so kind to our boys. Mason and Riley loved chasing after the older boys at the park!

On Friday we went to the Vineyard Playgroup! Vineyard playgroup is a bunch of moms and kids from our old neighborhood (we moved about 6 months ago). We love to get together with this bunch of friends! This time we went up to one of our friend's properties in Woodland Hills. It was so beautiful and peaceful up in the woods! The boys enjoyed playing in the pond, swinging on the swing-set, and Riley especially enjoyed eating dirt! :)

The "Aquaphor Incident of 2014"

Our Mason can be a little crafty! A few days ago, while I was on the phone in our office with my sister planning our upcoming family reunion... Mason: 1. Climbed up onto the tv dresser, got the remote, and turned on Nick Jr. 2. Took the baby wipes out of the baby wipe case one by one and strewn them all around the house. 3. Twisted the brand new BIG tub of Aquaphor open and covered his brother from head to toe. 4. Smeared the rest of the container of Aquaphor all over the carpet, walls, toys, couches, remote, fireplace, shoes, etc. Bye bye new throw pillows. Mason and Riley normally play really well together and I don't worry about them (if I am in another room) unless I can't hear them. They were laughing HYSTERICALLY the entire time. Now I know why. :)

Movie Night with Cousins!!!

One of the really fun things about Andrew being the youngest of 8 kids is that our kids have about 30 cousins to love on them! Mason and Riley adore their cousins and we are so grateful to live close to some of them! We often have sleepovers and movie nights like this one!