Family pictures

We got family pictures taken in the fall. It was so beautiful outside. They turned out okay. It is hard to have all three kids looking and smiling!!!

This might be my favorite picture ever. I LOVE it! I sure love my kiddos!

 While we were in Utah for Thanksgiving, we got family pictures with our entire family and the photographer snapped a few of our individual families. I have some of the big bunch that I will post in another post.

 One of my favorite pictures of ALL time!!!! Love this one of Trevor and Daphne!

1/2 a Year!

Our little sweetie is 6 months old. Time flies! WOW- I really can't believe in 6 more months she will be one and really won't be a little baby anymore:(
I just don't think its fair that the baby stage only lasts a year!!!

Her smiles, laughs, dimples, and rolls are all to die for. She is such a cute little baby! She is sitting up now and she likes it! She has also been rolling for a while now. Most of the time she gets stuck on her stomach.
She LOVES to be held more than any baby I have everrrrrr seen. Like she will *sometimes* last 5 minutes before she is SCREAMING to be picked up, and you pick her up and she is as happy as can be. She is actually a really happy girl as long as she is being held and not in her car seat.

Oh the car seat...... Our whole family hates the time Daphne spends in her car seat. We have gotten Drake headphones and we turn off Laynie's cochlear implant and she just whines and screams pretty much the whole time! I can't wait to turn her forward facing- hopefully that will help!

She doesn't like to eat any rice cereal or baby food. She spits every last bite out. Hopefully she will catch on soon. At 6 months she didn't have any teeth, but it looks like any day now one will be popping through!

She LOVES her mom and dad and has started her stranger danger phase. It's actually kind of cute:)

She is so much fun. I love listening to her laugh and get excited when she is played with. She is such a joy to have in our family. We all love you soooooo much Daphne.

Laynie is a cheerleader

Laynie joined a special needs cheer squad. I am soooooo excited for her. She is LOVING it! She is doing pretty good. She gets a little hyper and jumps around a little too much, but she is starting to catch on to the dance a little bit. She is the youngest girl on the squad so part of the problem is her age. I love watching all the girls every week. I leave the gym with the biggest permanent smile. They will have a few competitions and they will also preform at a few high school bball games. I can't wait to watch my little star!

This is their opening stunt! Wahoo! Go Team Radiance! Laynie you're AWESOME!!!

School and bball

School pictures.... something about these blue backgrounds makes my kids look like they are so old. I love both of their school pictures so much!!!!!
Drake-Kindergarten

Laynie-Preschool

Nurse Holly texted me this one day. Laynie got to sit in a fire truck at school.

Laynie is SO proud when she comes home form school to show me her school work. She opens her backpack and just waits for me to make a BIG deal out of her art work and all her school papers. She loves it! She also has a book that her I pass back and forth with her interpreter. He gives me a daily report in it:)

I got to go eat a turkey feast with all the kindergarteners right before Thanksgiving! Drake was excited to have us come and he was excited to be able to eat in the cafeteria. He didn't eat anything and to be honest neither did I. School lunch isn't so yummy!

Drake is loving basketball. He has improved so much since the season began. At the beginning of the season he hadn't even picked up a basketball and now he is doing so well.

Loving his buddies as they sit out waiting for their turn to play again. It is hard to get good pictures during bball!

Our MEMORABLE Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was the most memorable and special we have ever had!
38 years ago my dad had a son while he was still in high school and the boy was given up for adoption. This summer my brother, Mike found his birth certificate and found our family. My dad, step mom, and little brother all went to meet him and his family in Alaska this summer very shortly after he reached out to us. My dad has been searching for years for him and Mike has also been searching. The state of Washington finally released his birth certificate this summer and he immediately contacted us. We couldn't be happier to have found him and we are especially happy that he wants to be a part of our family.
This Thanksgiving my dad got us all together for a big family reunion! We went to Utah and had the most incredible time!

Mike is a very awesome and successful man. He is an attorney and lives in Alaska. He was an only child and both of his parents are only children, so he grew up with not a lot of family. So I am sure he is a little overwhelmed by our big crew:) He has an amazing wife (Jolene) who is an author and she is just totally awesome! He also has 2 kids (Emma and Jack). They fit right in with all the cousins. Emma is the sweetest girl I have ever met, and Jack is great too. Drake thought he was pretty cool!!!
This post will have tons of pictures because I never want to forget how awesome this reunion was....

Here is me and my brother Mike...

We had a great Thanksgiving at Ross and Afton's house. It was super yummy and we all had a wonderful day!

Cute little thing all ready for Turkey Day!

ALL of my siblings... Matt, Breanne, Mike, Afton, and me

Our new sister-in-law Jolene. She is such a talented lady. She is a successful author and can sew awesome stuff:)

This is what Trevor looked like all week. Daphne was in somebody's arms every second of the whole week. It is hard when you don't have all of your baby stuff from your home. She loved it and is going through withdrawals now that we are home and she can't be held every second of the day!

Drake and his new cousin Jack playing the ipad

My Grandma Judy came from Washington and it was so neat to see her also. She hasn't aged a bit!

Eating Thanksgiving dinner with this little snoozer

Breanne and I

Daphne and aunt Jolene

We went to the dinosaur museum on Friday. Drake was petrified. haha I was so surprised because he is a big dare devil, but he said he didn't want to go and I thought he would like it once he saw what it was, but he held on to my hand the whole time and kept wanting to leave. Little stinker!

Laynie loved it though:)

We got to watch Santa's reindeer resting up for their big day. You can't see them in the picture though:)

Laynie and Grandpa Dan

Uncle Matt with Jaxon and Drake

Me and my happy little babe. We had professional pictures done on Friday also. I can't wait to see them!

Trevor and Daphne!!! She loves him!

All 10 grandkids

We went to Temple Square to see the lights. Oh my goodness.... it was so crowded. I have been there a lot of times, but I have never seen it like that. It is so beautiful there though!!!

Ross and Daphne

Then we went bowling and ate pizza at a fun little place! My mom, Leonard, and David came up on Saturday to meet Mike and his family and they partied with us too!

The kids just wanted to play games the whole time, so we just followed them around and helped them. They had a great time!

Drake and Uncle Mike on the ferris wheel at Scheels. That place is so cool!

A BIG thank you to my dad and step-mom Erin for setting up this weekend for us and providing us with such a great opportunity to meet our new brother and his family. We love you ALL and can't wait to all get together again!!!

Thanksgiving was such a perfect time to get together and meet for the first time. I am so grateful for my family and I love you all so, sooooooo much!