Cody & Julianna

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Two-Part Birthday for Blake!

Blake loves farm animals right now! He takes requests to demonstrate his talent for imitating noises, "Blake, what does the cow say?" Without hesitation, he promptly moos with a huge smile on his face; so proud of himself! Hence, the inspiration for his birthday party with his friends. Once all of his friends arrived, he made a guest appearance, threw a tantrum (over a balloon) that didn't seem to stop for quite awhile. Clearly, he was exhausted since he had woken up at 5 a.m. for some unknown reason. So after 30 minutes of being at his party, Blake went down for a nap. He napped for four hours! I think he was teething a two year molar. Appropriate, right?
Well at that moment, Louie was happy to take over and show Blake's friends a good time at the party. This is part one of Blake's Birthday...

Well, if you are going to be a farmer, then you need to have a horse. We made our own hobby horses.

Well then you have to feed them!

As the horseys ate and ate, our farmers found surprises in the hay...

Cows! Pigs! and Horses! Oh my!

Afterwards, we sang "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and the piggies got out of the pig pen. All the farmers had to round them up! At this point, all the farmers were tired and went home for naps. We had a great time but missed Blake! A couple of hours later, Blake woke up much happier and ready to play with some farm stickers and eat his lunch!

What's not to love about a hot dog with cheese and BBQ sauce on a stick?!

Part-two of Blake's birthday played out a couple of days later once the molar had come in!

"Horsey, Horsey on our way..."

Looking for Horsey's friends.

And now all the hay needs to get sprinkled on the deck!

The piggies back in the pig pen; plus Blake and Louie.

One last ride on the Horsey.

It may have taken a week to pull off this two-part birthday party for Blake. But the most important part is that he loved it with his brother, Louie.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Blakie's Family Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday to you...

Make a wish...POOF!

I'm TWO!

"Nummy!"

Dig In!

This year Blake didn't hesitate! He joined in with the singing, anxious to blow out the candles and chowed down the top of his cupcake! At the age of two, he loves to make animal noises, burp on demand (how do they learn this?), and play with "sishies" (fishies), trains and airplanes. He's a little charmer and smiles at you when he's getting into mischief! Happy Birthday Blake! We love you!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Louie's Construction Birthday Party

Handy Manny, Bob the Builder and Dad...all represent fun with tools, trucks and tons of dirt. Any boy's dream! So we made this come to life for Louie's fourth birthday party. We invited 14 of his favorite friends and had a fabulous time (fourteen kids at a birthday party should be a whole other blog post). As the children arrived, they decorated their "hard hat" and "tool belt" with construction stickers to be prepared for their construction jobs.

Afterwards, we made dirt out of mud (chocolate pudding), fertilizer (whipped topping), rocks (crushed Oreos), and worms (gummy worms). They loved starting the party with something sweet!

Then we went to the "construction site" to finish a few jobs. We played red light, green light, build a tower using legos and a crane relay, and duck-duck-goose because it's Louie's favorite game. I think the kids just loved being outside and playing games together. WE had a fabulous time!

Duck...Duck...Duck...Duck...GOOSE!

RUN, LOUIE, RUN!

Barely made it!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY BIG BOY! We love you.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Texas Size Christmas

To think, we use to have food texture issues with this adorable toddler. Look at him now...sitting in the famous Cattleman's restaurant of the Fort Worth Stockyards holding a T-bone and ready to try out his new eye teeth. He could not be more delighted with himself.

Blake represented his Texas heritage well that night. He stayed on that bone for a good 20 minutes. I am not even sure how we separated the two of them.

Cattleman's restaurant is still a cowboy's steakhouse. We were the minority with plenty of cowboy hats around us.

Here's a photo of mom and dad awaiting their fine steak dinner. Matter of fact, dad was SURE his prime rib was better than any steak at the table!

We were only in Texas for few days. But here are a few of our favorite highlights...

Blake and Louie on a Texas Longhorn Bull. Blake was not sure this was the best idea.
But Louie loved it!

Blake truly did like riding his own little Shetland pony much better!

Aunt Laurie, Grandma Hoot (Hunter) and Louie walking down the Main Street of the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Riding the Christmas Choo-Choo around the stockyards.

Running around the church gym, playing choo-choo with Grandpa Hoot's walker, and flying Uncle Jeff's remote control helicopter.

Making muffins with Grandma Hoot.

With my siblings: Jeff, me, Kate, Blake and Becky.
It was a quick trip but packed in some quality time with my family in Texas. I don't think Louie will forget camping with Uncle Jeff in mom and dad's garage with a space heater. Louie was in awe with many questions as he watched Jeff put up the tent, blow up the air mattresses and set up the sleeping bags. At this point, sleeping on real bed wasn't the preferred option. Both Louie and Blake loved being spoiled by their aunts and uncles and playing with their Texas cousins. I think this will be a repeat trip... but only if Uncle Jeff will bring his tent!

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas Morning, Park City, Utah 2012

Christmas morning is always a blur! Cody and I are adjusting to the fact that we are up earlier than usual, trying to get something substantial into our boys before they discover the candy in the stockings and getting a Diet Coke to wake up our brains to get in gear for Christmas! Louie was delighted to find the train, Koko, in his stocking from Santa! Blake loved his toy Dyson vacuum (just like Mommy's) and Elmo rock band.

I bought a new waffle iron for one of Cody's Christmas gifts this year. I found out his dad had a traditional Christmas morning breakfast of waffles and eggs when he was a child. So I decided to continue the tradition with our family. It was delish!

After opening presents, we went to Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Marcy's house for Christmas lunch. As we drove up the driveway, Blake announced, "Ganpa, Ganpa!"

Marcy buys a new ornament for each grandchild every year. It represents their current interests and has a spot for their picture. This year, Wayne got a surprise ornament of him on a yellow 4 wheeler; one of his favorite hobbies. I think he liked it.

Throughout the year, Marcy has talked about this robe from time to time. She found it at a spa and has described it as a huge hug. So we splurged on it and bought one for her. She still talks about it but now owns one!

Warming by the fire with Tiff.

He doesn't have much patience for this picture. He was delighted with this car carrier and wanted the plastic off immediately.

Back home again, Blake resumed his vacuuming...and couldn't be more pleased with himself.

We really tried to "do it all!" this Christmas. Despite 10 straight days of radiation in December for Grandpa Wayne, he seemed to find the energy to cut down Christmas trees in the mountains, go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert, frost Christmas Cookies, and go on the Polar Express. We will cherish those Christmas memories with him.

Welcome to our blog! What a change...we went from blogging about our travels to blogging about teething, taking first steps and talking about Elmo. Such a 180 degree turn and we love it! Louie and Blake are such a joy to us and can't imagine life without them.

Truly, we are thankful for adoption--for this is the way we will add to our family a third time. We are open to different nationalities, either gender and hope for an open adoption. We are comfortable going through a private attorney or an agency.

Please feel free to share our blog. Thank you in advance for mentioning our quest for adoption to your family and friends!

With Love,
Cody, Julianna, Louie, Blake and our dog, Murphy

About Me: Julianna

I was born in a small town in Tennessee. We lived there until I was in the fifth grade -- what a great place to grow up! In the nearby woods, we would play "house" by designing floor plans with sticks as our walls and a piles of leaves for furniture. As a child, I loved to play games, ride bikes and play barbies. With a family of six kids, often my dad would engage us in a game of hide and go seek to wear us out for bedtime. Or, my dad would play "wild music" on the piano and let us dance around to get our wiggles out for bed. Looking back, I think we must have been a high energy group of kids. This might be why we only could have "sweet cereal" on Saturdays. However, on Christmas morning, each child got their own box; which would be gone by the next day. My poor parents... 6 kids hopped up on sugar plus the Christmas chaos! Our family of 8 then moved to Ft. Worth, Texas. We happily adjusted to Texas BBQ Brisket and Blue Bell Ice Cream. We took advantage of our location and would visit my dad's parents in El Paso for vacations. My grandma made us feel like her greatest treasure. During high school I couldn't wait to DRIVE! After parallel parking an enormous green station wagon, I passed the driving test and had my license in hand. I was very social. My brother Jeff and I were very active in our church youth program. I participated in plays, church volleyball and basketball. I loved going to youth conferences and would sew new outfits. My sewing career was short lived...I'm too much of a perfectionist and would spend more time pulling out stitches rather than sewing them in. I left this talent to my mother and sisters. In high school, I helped to make homecoming floats, joined the pep squad and the German Club; which really was a party with the cutest guys at school. Ummm yeah, I think I have been boy crazy since I was 12. My crushes' names would end up in the doodling of my school notes. At age 12 I may have seen one too many soap operas when I stayed one summer in El Paso with my Aunt Barbara! College was creeping up and I needed money. Therefore, I've had a job ever since I was 15 working for a sandwich store, gelato ice cream store, Dunkin' Donuts (gained 10 pounds in my first month and saw the necessity to quit!) and as a receptionist my senior year for an attorney (work release program). After high school, I went to BYU and LOVED my independence. At age 21, I took an 18 month break from college to serve a mission in the Arizona Temple Visitor Center. By far, this experience was one of the highlights of my life--serving and loving the people of Mesa. Before graduating with my Bachelors in Education, I went to study abroad to Israel for four months. I learned about the Jewish and Muslim cultures, religions and histories... fascinating! I will always have a sincere respect for the rich history taken place on that soil. During my first three years of teaching first and second grade, I earned and graduated with a Masters in Education. I continued to teach in Utah for a few more years. I loved teaching but wanted to find new opportunities to stretch myself in the field. I moved to Washington, D.C. and began to work as a literacy trainer (of teachers) for a non-profit in Baltimore, Maryland. For four years, I had the wonderful opportunity to help improve children's education in inner city schools. My favorite memories were those of helping young children find and cultivate the love of reading. The success of learning to read increased their self worth and opened doors of opportunities in their future. I continued a similar position with George Washington University working with the DC public schools, teachers and students. I loved my time of living in D.C. Many opportunities helped me to appreciate and learn of our nation's history. I'm such a "hands-on learner." Knowing this about myself, I took advantage of my location and traveled to a few countries across the Atlantic Ocean to learn of their cultures and histories. D.C. will always be an important chapter of my life filled with wonderful friends --and of course, where I originally met Cody. In 2005, I returned to Utah and began teaching second grade. This is when I became reacquainted with Cody and our life together started its course.

About Me: Cody

I was born and spent the majority of my childhood in Bountiful, Utah, a suburb of Salt Lake City. I was a fairly social kid and spent more time than a normal 5 year old visiting all the senior citizens in my neighborhood who had nicknamed me “Windy”. Apparently, I talked a lot. I was just there for the Iced Oatmeal Cookies sitting on their kitchen counter. So I would talk and talk until I could close the deal and walk away with my Iced Oatmeal cookies. I think they knew what my intentions were and would milk me in their boredom. Just give me the cookie! The steep hills of Bountiful provided the perfect childhood existence. Steep hills for sledding and skiing in the winter and the twisty streets made great neighborhood night games and Olympics in the summer. Life really is simple as a kid and maybe it is best to enjoy the first portion of your life in a relative blissful ignorance. Mom and I followed Dad to Juneau, Alaska for my 9th grade year, as part of Dad's work in developing mining operations. After a year of playing football on a rocky dirt field with a team of female line(wo)men, I was glad to move home and be a part of Bountiful High School's first back to back high school football championship. I really had great friends and was active in choir, madrigals, student government and sports. I bought my first car when I was 15 ½ (it supposedly sat in the garage for the next few months while I waited to turn 16) with my own money. I worked at Farmers Insurance at nights and mowed lawns in the summers. This was my first experience in just how expensive life was going to be. Either that, or I had high expectations of myself and what I wanted to accomplish, but I did learn early on that you'll get out what you put into something. My parents, to their credit, really stressed work work work. This undoubtedly helped me day in and day out when serving an LDS Church mission to Alabama. It drove me nuts to see the lack of work ethic some of the other missionaries had. Spending two years performing community service and other church activities was probably the most difficult but most worthwhile challenge in my life to that point. But, the best part is that none of it is for yourself. Service is a great thing to learn at 19 years of age. Following my mission I attended the University of Utah and received a degree in Business Management (Finance) while working full time and was active in student government, Sigma Chi Fraternity and participated as a moderator for a weekly radio and TV show called Coffee and Politics. During my senior year, I received an internship in Washington DC, which completely changed the direction I thought I was headed. I loved the energy and great minds I met and worked with in Washington. Following graduation I worked in New York City for an internet start up that eventually closed its doors following the events of Sept. 11. I jumped at the chance to move to Washington DC and began working for U.S. Senator John Ensign shortly after. I spent four years working on healthcare and financial industry policy before heading to Las Vegas to do some campaign work. In August of 2005, Mom and I took my Grandma and Grandpa Meyer to visit the sites of Washington DC. The whole time I lived there, I really hoped it would work out that they could come and visit and could show them around. We had a great time and on our last day I took them to a favorite Saturday morning market and breakfast joint called Eastern Market. As fate now has it, I ran into a mutual good friend, Jill Chappell, who told me Julianna was moving to Salt Lake. I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning...

OUR STORY
A couple of years ago in D.C., I had taken Julianna out a few times. We got to know each other over Mexican food at three different locations. However, at the end of our third date, instead of inviting me in, she gave me a luke warm side hug at the door. I understand girls have this need to be pursued but an awkward hug doesn't really lend itself to an “oh baby baby” hot pursuit! Please. So, three years later, our story picks up again when I ran into Jill at Eastern Market. She wasting no time reacquainting us, called Julianna and handed me the phone. Julianna asked me if I could take a precious duffle bag of shoes she didn't have room for on the plane. These were essential items needed for her first week of work in Utah. With lack of time in heading to the airport, she met me in front of the Smithsonian on the Washington Mall for the handoff. The day she arrived in Salt Lake, she called to get her shoes. I was in Houston at the time and promised her bag of shoes at the end of the week in exchange for a dinner of steak fajitas. I think in her mind this meant two things: the comforts of Mexican food and a reason to buy new shoes until her own arrived safely. After our date of steak fajitas, it all went quickly from there.