China Families meeting their children

Everytime I see this video it brings me to tears...it brings me right back to our forever family day and the moment Taiya was placed in my arms. The joy...a moment that will never be forgotten. All of the emotions I was feeling that special day (Oct.30, 2005), just seem to spill out of me when I watch this...again and again. The music that goes with this, also adds just another special tenderness that touches me so dearly, as it so closely reflects my feelings and thoughts both now and at that very moment in time.

Does anyone have video of us receiving Taiya???? I so wish we had this, we were 3rd or 4th in our group to receive Taiya, but we had a video recording mishap.

Please let me know if any of you might have anything...even just a small piece of us receiving Taiya from part of your video footage?? Thanks Debbie

Horsey Ride Gone Bad

The kids are all smiles here...as they called me upstairs to take a photo.
The plan was for Matthew to hold onto Taiya, and Taiya to hold onto Daddy. You can guess what probably happens next.

Yep, Taiya fell over and down went Matthew holding onto her. Here she was being consoled by both Daddy and Matthew....she was not a happy camper. Oooops! Daddy.

Taiya's first time skating

Dad was darned if he wasn't going to get out each day while on the March Break with Taiya to do an activity. Eventhough she was coming down with a bad cold....skating they went (poor girl). Not to mention, her spring type jacket and pants...she probably froze while out there. You can tell she didn't seem too thrilled about the whole idea, but it looks like she did O.K.. Maybe next time she'll be in better spirits.

Itsy Bitsy Bikini

Last night the kids were being watched by Manuela. And Taiya wanted to help with Manuela's laundry, she found Manuela's bikini top and really wanted to put it on. Manuela managed to capture this moment and you can see how thrilled Taiya is by the big grin on her face.

Matthew's and Mommy's trip to Arizona 2007

This is Matthew after everything I describe below.

Matthew and I went for a 1 week trip to Arizona to visit my parents in Lake Havasu. The weather was hot, hot, hot, when we arrived...a balmy 102 degrees - just a bit of a shocker to the system, but I'm not complaining. This is the waterway that connects the lake area to downtown.

Excuse the number of photo's posted, but it was difficult narrowing down to only a few scenic pictures....it was all so very beautiful and we saw and did lots of neat stuff within a short time.

A scenic shot on our way down towards the famous London Bridge, where there are a few touristy shops.


The London Bridge

Matthew desperately wanted his picture with a cactus and because he loves flowers so much this seemed to be a great spot.

I didn't post the next picture, but it was beside a very tall cactus that we ventured not to far out into the desert for. After my dad took the picture of Matthew and I, Matthew ever so calmly said "Mommy there's a rattler", I really don't know what I was thinking, but didn't take him seriously until again he insisted "no really Mommy there's a rattler!" I looked in the direction he was pointing and my eyes focused in on a very large snake! It wasn't a rattler, but what I did see was a black and white banded snake that was moving towards me, that was only about 2-3 feet away from my shoes. I absouletly freaked!!!!!!!!!!! And quickly bolted down the hill with Matthew in my arms. I had a serge of adrenaline,.... I believe this is what they call "fight or flight"....it was a flight in my case. It was an experience I'll never forget! Although my dad didn't zoom us in for this shot, the snake still made it into the picture (as dad was trying to capture the scenary around us), the snake is hard to make out, but he is there though..... so we have proof to our story.

Parker Dam

On our way into the town of Parker (just pretty).

We went to a very small historical gold mining town called Oatman. It was neat, the town was only about 1 block in length with old southwestern style buildings from the beginning of the 1900's. Matthew was up on Papa's shoulders so he could get a better view of the "shoot out on the street".

Wandering freely amongst all the tourists downtown were donkeys that you could feed carrots and alph alpha sprouts too.

Grandma , Papa and Matthew (& the donkeys begging for food).

Some of the beautiful landscape as we were coming into Sedona.

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Downtown Sedona, the landscape surrounding us was gorgeous (a cloudy day doesn't really do it justice...the rocks varied in colors red-brown-grey-white).

Shopping in Sedona with Papa and Grandma.

The Great Grand Canyon - words and pictures don't describe the enormity and beauty of this natural wonder of the world.

Mommy and Matthew at Mather Point (Grand Canyon - West Entrance).

...more Grand Canyon shots

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We walked along the walkway viewing the sights. It was a bit nerve racking with a 4 year old though, because there were some very dangerous spots.

Outside one of the many Mexican restaurants that we ate at along our journeys.

Belated Birthday Playdate

present opening
running about and trying to hide from a picture

We finally had a belated birthday playdate for the two girls. We started with a gift exchange, had a little play, lunch and then some more play. The girls started off quitely as they really haven't had a play together in a while (Matthew made up for the lack of chatter in the beginning), but shortly after he left for skating, they played like typical 2 year olds...playing side by side and copying each others activities. In no time at all they both seemed to come into their own and were chasing each other around the house (giggling, screaming), and were having fun trying to dodge the camera. The girls both got tatoo's as you can see them proudly showing them above. We will have to do this again sometime soon. Thanks for the visit.