Colorado Springs, Again...

My sister-in-law just sent me these pictures that were taken with her camera while we were visiting my sister and her family in Colorado Springs.

Mom, Leisel (sister), Aliya (niece), Andrea (sister-in-law), Adelyn (niece), me

I know this picture is cheesy, but we found it so funny that the gas station we happened to find to fill the rental car would be called Tara Marts. I even thought of going in and asking for royalties for them using my name. HaHa.

Austin's Christmas Wish List

Austin was so excited last week when the Wal-Mart Kid's Holiday Book arrived. He spent several hours on Friday night searching the pages and circling all the items he wants for Christmas. He even circled items that he felt his cousin, Addy, would want for Christmas. He had so much fun. So, if you are wondering what Austin wants for Christmas here is his list. Warning: It is long, but then what can you expect from a kid? (The bold items are $10 or less)

1. Clone Trooper Voice Changer Helmet

2. The Force Action Lightsaber

3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars Video Game Nintendo DS

4. Star Wars Digital Camera Set

5. Star Wars T-shirt (long-sleeved, black and gray)

6. Transformers Universe Voyager Figure

7. Transformers Power Bots Bumblebee

8. Transformers Animated Deluxe Figure

9. Transformers Animated Rollout Command Optimus Prime

10. Mutt Williams Sound FX Sword (Indiana Jones)

11. Indiana Jones Sound Effects Whip

12. Indiana Jones Video Game Nintendo DS

13. Power Rangers Deluxe Megazord

14. Power Rangers Basic Figure (Red, Purple, Green)

15. Power Rangers Deluxe Vehicle Assortment

16. Ben Ten Alien Creature Chamber

17. Ben Ten Deluxe Omnitrix Watch (he has the older version)

18. Ben Ten 4-pack with Bonus DVD

19. Bakugan DEKA Starter Kit

20. Bakugan Travel Arena

21. Pokemon Electronic Pokeball

22. Pokemon Region Playset

23. Pokemon Basic Figure Multipack

24. Hot Wheels T-Rex Rampage Playset

25. Hot Wheels Volcano Shoot-out Playset

26. Matchbox Power Scouts Skull's Challenge Adventure System Playset

27. Tyco RC Turbo Street Wheelie Cycle Assortment

28. Flytech Bladestar

29. Wii Console

30. Wii Remote and Nunchuck

31. DeBlob Video Game Wii

32. Lego Batman Video Game Wii

33. Super Mario Sluggers Video Game Wii

34. Super Smash Bros. Brawl Video Game Wii

35. Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia Video Game DS

36. Spore Creatures Video Game DS

37. Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise Video Game DS

38. Playstation 3 System

39. Sonic Unleashed Video Game PS3

40. PSP 3000 Hardware

41. Ben Ten Alien Force PSP

42. My Sims Kingdom Video Game Wii

43. Sponge Bob Square Pants, Glob of Doom Video Game Wii

44. Guiness World Records Video Game Wii

45. Funkeys Dream State Singles Case

46. Funkeys Dream State Starter Kit

47. Eye Clops Night Vision Goggles

48. Eye Clops Bionicam

49. Digi-you Personal Video Cartoon Maker

50. Slime Super Slime

51. Shrek the Halls DVD Widescreen

52. Stars Wars:The Clone Wars Graphic Light-up Tee (short-sleeve, black)

53. Kids Bop CD (the one with Pocket Full of Sunshine)

I said that it was long, but at least it gives options. :)

Thankful For....

With this being the month of Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a great time to list all of the things I am most thankful for in my life. This idea came to me after attending my grandma Nielsen's church service last Sunday. The sister that taught the lesson in Relief Society expressed how often in our busy and hectic lives we forget to focus on the things that matter the most. In my life, all to often, I am boggled down with the day to day activities and lists of things that must be completed that I forget to focus on the things that are truly important. Today, I will focus on those things instead of putting them on the back burner as I so often do.

What I am truly thankful for:

1. My husband, Travis

2. My son, Austin

(He is truly a miracle.)

3. My extended family- parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews,

grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

(I am lucky to have three extended families.)

4. The restored gospel of Jesus Christ

5. My friends (I have some great ones.)

6. My health

7. Our home

8. My job

9. The right to worship and believe what I choose

10. The right to vote and have that vote make a difference

A Forever Family

Yesterday I attended the sealing of my cousin, Heather, to her husband, Brian, in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful experience. The spirit in the room was so strong. The sealing became even more special as Elizabeth was sealed to them.

Congratulations and thank you for inviting me to be a part of this wonderful occasion.

Happy Halloween!

Tonight we attend the ward Trunk-or-Treat just down the street. I believe that more kids came to Trick-or-Treat than in any of the years before. I thought for sure we would run out of candy before the night was over, but we did okay. Austin walked from car to car with his friends Hunter, Seth and Brea. They seemed to have a lot of fun together. Austin dressed up as a Pokemon Trainer. He tried to look like Ash from the television series. The biggest problem was that he kept dropping one of his Pokemon while he was Trick-or -Treating.

First Airplane Ride

Austin took his first airplane ride last Friday from Salt Lake City to Denver.

We went to Colorado Springs to attend my niece's baptism over the weekend.
It is not very often that we get to spend time with my sister and her family because they do live so far away. We had a great time just being with each other. I got to play the Wii for the first time on Saturday. My brother-in-law and I had boxed each other. The next day my muscles hurt! Sunday afternoon all the adults took turns competing against each other in various sports. It was alot of fun! This is a picture of all of the neices and nephews on my side of the family and two kids from my brother-in-laws side. They all got along well and had a fabulous time flying paper airplanes from the second level of the house into the living room below. That's what you do when you come to the Clayton's house. :)

Good Friends

What would we do without great friends? Life would sure be boring. We are so grateful for our friends the Griffeths. A week ago we took a hike into the mountains above Franklin to take their family picture. These are just a few pictures I took of the kids and the creek where we stopped to take some pictures. We had so much fun spending time together.

GOAL!!!!!

Austin scored his first ever soccer goal during a game this morning. It was awesome and unbelievable all at the same time! I knew his team had scored a gaol, but I was recording the game on the video camera and couldn't see what had happened through the small screen. Coach Snapp came over and asked, "Did Austin score that goal?" Ausitn's body language was enough to tell me that he had been the one to score the goal.

These pictures were taken last Saturday at the coldest game I have ever sat through. It rained, snowed and everything in between. Can you believe Austin didn't want to wear the long pants, long-sleeved shirt, or the ear warmers to begin with. Two minutes into warm ups he was begging to add the additional clothing. It was so cold.

Go Eagles! 5-2-0 Record with one more game to go.

Austin and the girls

I may be prejudice, but I think that I have some really cute nieces. These two belong to my brother. I got to spend some time with them last weekend when I traveled to Idaho Falls for my post op.

Fall Colors

My friend, Stephanie, has told me that I haven't posted for to long. She's right and I am trying to make a serious change. Life has been so busy as of late. This picture of the leaves was taken a couple weekends ago in the mountains above Cub River. We took a Sunday drive so I could get some fresh air after having my surgery. It felt good to be out and the colors were beautiful. Cameras never do the true colors justice or maybe I should say the photographer (me) never does the colors justice.

Happy 9th Birthday, Austin!

Austin celebrated his birthday at the end of last month. One of the things he wanted to do was go to Build-A-Bear Workshop for a Triceratops. The workshop did not have that particular dinosaur, so Austin decided to build an elephant instead. He named his elephant "Al". Please excuse the not so great photos. They were taken with Travis' cell phone because I forgot the camera. Silly mommy!

Birthday Dinner

My mom and Austin are both celebrating their birthdays this month. Austin turned nine today and my mom will be 30 tomorrow (at least that's what she claims). Last night we went to Robintino's in Murray to celebrate. Overall, we were disappointed in the food but the company was great! We haven't seen Grandma in awhile so it was great to spend some time with her.

Making Room

Travis and I have been talking about finishing the basement of our home for awhile. Now that we have been approved for domestic adoption, talking has turned into doing. We decided to hire the work out mainly because my "build it" father doesn't live close enough to work evenings and weekends on my basement and neither Travis nor I have the know how. Our contractor is a good friend of ours, and we are excited to have him do the work for us. He was able to frame three bedrooms, a storage room, a linen closet, and the hallway in one workday by himself. It was amazing to watch it all happen so fast. Great work, Clint. We can't wait to see the finished project, and we are excited to have the extra room for guests and to explore our talents and hobbies. Having the extra bedroom upstairs open for a baby is the best part though!

Adoption Approval

We received our letter of approval for domestic adoption from LDS Family Services a little over a week ago. I have been waiting until our adoption profile was available on the Internet to write this post. We are so excited and are hoping that through our friends, family, and acquaintances, we will be able to find a child (or two) to welcome into our family. I know our nieces and nephews would be excited to have another cousin and I can't even begin to describe how happy the aunts, uncles and grandparents would be as well. We have an awesome family support system. We couldn't ask for anything more. If you wish to view our adoption profile, I have included a link to the right.

To Debbi: Thanks for your comment. It was great to hear from you. I tried to contact you through facebook and my space, but I am not a registered user. :)

Catching on to the "blog" thing.

This is so new, so please bear with me. I decided to start this blog not only because my sister and sister-in-law both have one, but because Travis and I are trying to adopt through LDS Family Services. I was told this was a great way to update my adoption profile without actually making changes to my profile. Does that make sense? Probably not, but that's okay. The review committee meets today, so keep your fingers crossed that we get approved to continue our adoption process. I will post what happens when it happens.