New Addition

Hi everyone- Happy New Year... Well we have a new addition to the family- No... it's not our baby girl YET...
We got a dog.... We weren't planning on getting a dog so soon- we were actually talking about getting one next year, but he kind of just fell into our laps...
Our Best Friend, Bobby's Mom mentioned that her coworker had a dog that they had to give away this week... They were moving to Japan & wanted to find him a good home... LouAnn said he was such a sweetheart- so we aggreed to meet with him & go home to talk about it... We had mixed emotions- at the same time we're still mourning the loss of our Nina, but this dog (his name is Django) was so well mannered & so darn cute... he was an outdoor dog- but we're training him to be in an indoor dog... We decided we would take him & picked him up this morning... & straight to the groomer's he went... So far he's been great... Kind of the same temperment as Nina... Hopefully his first night with us will be great too, hopefully no accidents & we're hoping he won't keep us awake all night :-)
He'll be 3 years old in a couple weeks (so we think- his b-day is in January)...
He is half beagle & half golden labrador retreiver... (Ted & I giggle at the thought of that mix & who was the daddy & mommy :-) He's got the face of a lab & the body of a beagle- very cute... I'll try to get a picture of him up here...
since, he's starting a new life with us, we also decided to change his name... His new name is
Bailey :-)
We just thought Bailey fit him better with our family.... So if you here us call him Bailey a million times a day we're training him with his new name!
Love ya all & Happy New Year!

Park City, Utah

What an eventful week in Park City. We relaxed the first day & just romped around in the snow. It was 18 degrees & snowed the first 2 days. Grant enjoyed making snow angels. The next day we went to Gargoza Park to go tubing. That was really fun.. Grant also rode on mini snowmobile. We put Brett in an inner tube & pulled him around, but he wanted out...
We went down to Salt Lake City to do some shopping, it was warmer there around the 40's..
Grant took his first ski lesson all day... He really enjoyed himself & thank goodness he's pretty coordinated... I worked enough courage to do an all day snowboard lesson, I started to get the hang of it, but on the little practice lift- I twisted my knee... so instead of an all day snowboard lesson, mine was cut short to 2 hours. I had Ted continue his snowboard runs & wait for Grant's class to be over. I was snowmobiled & transferred to the base clinic... they did x-rays & luckily nothing is broken & my ACL isn't torn....I just pulled some ligaments & My knee is very very bruised & I'm on crutches... so I'm pretty done w/ the slopes :-) We're off to a train ride through the mountains of Provo- Grant should really enjoy that....
The weather has really warmed up- on the mountain it was in the 50's...
what a wonderful vacation even with a jacked up knee...
I will begin the paperwork for our dossier once home so we will keep you posted...

Jenn & Ted's Excellent Adventure

It's almost Christmas...
Adoption update... our homestudy has been completed & sent to INS for approval, now starts our next phase in this amazing journey to bring home our daughter... The Dossier is the next phase, more documents, but this time all must be notarized and complete pictures of our house will also be included. I will have 2 weeks off to work on these documents, my goal is to have all our documents in our dossier completed & turned in by mid January. That's my goal, hopefully I can keep myself organized enough to accomplish it.
Family update... We are so excited to get a little R&R with a ski trip to Park City, Utah. Grant is so excited to get on a snowboard & some skis as well. I will of course ski a little, sticking closely to the bunny slope & will hopefully stay on my skis more than my booty... I keep trying to be brave enough to try snowboarding, but we'll see...
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season & 2006 is sure to bring us all much happiness & good health...
I should have more on an update as I work on & complete my dossier... Thanks for your continued support & good thoughts..

December update

Hi all, well can you believe it's December! So we are almost complete with our Homestudy, everything has been turned in, our Social Worker just has to complete her report (which should be pretty soon), then we can start the next phase which is preparing our dossier (all the documentation that Kyrgyzstan will need). If we complete our dossier quickly, we can realistically receive a referral within a few months & travel soon after that. So with that- reality set in..
Ted & I really began to love the idea of having 4 kids (2 complete sets), but the idea definitely outweighed the reality. With that, we have decided to proceed with adopting 1 infant girl. She will definitely complete our family... We just realized that the bonding time with her & her brothers will be so valuable... Although we haven't completely ruled out having 4 kids... We did agree to just see what the next few years bring us... It may be in God's hands that we travel back to Kyrygzstan to adopt 1 more little girl... In 4 or 5 years, who knows- adopting a 2 or 3 year old then might be in store. We'll just have to see....
For now, we are content & blessed to have 2 beautiful healthy boys and soon a sister for them to love & protect... thank you for your thoughts & support, continue them please as we get closer to meeting & bringing home our daughter!

Thanksgiving 2005

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family & friends! We have so much to be thankful for this year!
We hope you all have a wonderful & safe holiday. Next year we could have 2 more reasons to be thankful :-)

Welcome loved ones

Hi loved ones! Well we are up & running... We've set up this website to not only keep you all posted on our adoption journey, but to keep you all posted on our boys as well..
Hopefully I can figure out how to put pictures soon enough..
so bookmark this sight as we will update it regularly especially as we get closer into finding out about our daughters & travelling to Kyrgyzstan to meet them!
Well- today is Brett's 1st birthday! We just can't believe he is ONE- walking, eating grown up food & such a joy.. He's got the cutest personality & loves his big brother! Grant is growing up too quickly-he is now 5 1/2 yrs. old & is in Kindergarten.. He loves it.. He also started playing pop warner flag football - he enjoyed it, but did fracture his collar bone & missed the last 3 games... he's all healed & is ready for next season..
We'll be off to Park City, Utah in December for a week of snow, skiing, & spending time w/ the in-laws :-)
Love you all & stay tuned for more of our excellent adventures :-)