A Roller Coaster Ride..

On Sat., April 15, Hilary and Adam hugged the kids and said goodbye as they left for an extended trip to Ethiopia to meet with a judge and finalize the adoption of Adam Jacob (formerly Dureti).  Steve drove them to SL where they stayed overnight at our place.  Steve then dropped them off at the airport early Easter morning and then headed to CV for church.

After church, the kids and I prepared for an egg dying artistic bonanza.  It wasn't only Jameson who was interested in the activity.  In fact, everyone voted for me to cook additional eggs.  Their creative juices were flowing.

After grandpa's afternoon nap, we hid the eggs and some other benign snacks for the kids to do their search.  Everyone got into the act and eagerly found 99% of the goodies.  It was so nice not to have rain or snow for a few hours so it turned into a rather pleasant activity.

Searching for the eggs and contraband was the incentive for our family home evening plan the next evening.  We decided to do a yard cleanup and pick up any garbage, etc. that had been buried beneath the snow for months.

Cleaning up the winter junk turned up a few good items too.  Many things were returned to neighbor kids.

Jameson is signed up for spring soccer so he had a practice at the neighborhood park.  We were lucky to have a break in the rain.  During the week, both Britton and Jameson played soccer games in the rain.  We stood under umbrellas and "enjoyed" the shivering experience.

The kids were pretty diligent to practice their piano and do their homework.  Every morning, I got Jameson up to the computer for his Upstart reading program.  He does really well with it.  I was pleased.  If we had time, he was allowed to play some games for a few minutes.

Eveyone was excited when we finally got to see Hilary, Adam and AJ on FaceTime.  It was awesome.  AJ is so cute and I was so happy to finally spread the word about our new grandson.  We were definitely at the top of the ride on this day.

I allowed Jameson to pick out a stuffed animal toy to give to AJ.  He picked out this blue bunny.  He definitely took very good care of it for AJ.

In addition to her regular dance classes Jenna's ballroom group danced at the rest home one evening.  Steve took Jenna across town while I was doing something else.  It must have been important as I love dance performances.

Steve also drove to Morgan one afternoon for Britton's soccer game in the rain.

The kids seemed to enjoy the food I prepared throughout the week.  Jameson and Jenna loved the homemade macaroni and cheese.

Jameson fell asleep one night inside of his tent.  It turned out to be more fun to play in than sleep in, however.

Jameson especially loved the potato and ham soup and french bread I made with leftovers from Sunday dinner.  The Easter ham was a hit with the kids.  The soup was nice because it was such a cold, rainy week.

Another thing this family loves is watermelon.  This was the first one of the season but it wasn't too bad.  Sometimes the early ones are pretty flavorless.

Jenna and Britton practiced for their duet in Sacrament Mtg which they played on the 23rd.  They did an absolutely beautiful job.  It was wonderful.

Jameson took this photo of grandma

Britton doing homework on the computer.

One evening the sunset was indescribably beautiful!  I loved Hilary's kitchen window and the amazing views!

In between running kids around, Steve did a lot of work on the renovation of our rental house in CV.  Britton too had an opportunity to assist with the work and make some extra money.

Jameson and the neighbor boy, Johnny, play on our patio riding the rocking horses.

He loved building forts, etc. so here is another of his hiding places.

Here is Jameson playing in a soccer game in between the rain storms.

I bribed Jameson to be good the second Sunday in church.  On Monday, we went to Seagull book and picked out a smaller webkins stuffed animal.  He slept with it and carried it a lot the first few days.

We were busy for a couple of days getting ready for Adam's parents to arrive on Wednesday.  We were anticipating that Hilary and Adam would stay until the passport was available and then bring home AJ with them.  It was so heartbreaking to find at that due to Ethiopian government MOWA issues, they were going to have to leave AJ at the orphanage and return without him.  We have all prayed long and hard and continue to do so for little AJ.  I can't imagine how difficult it was for Hilary and Adam to return without him.  I found peace by attending the temple and know that Heavenly Father is aware of him and his needs.  We are trusting in God's timetable.  This experience has been an extremely emotional roller coaster.

Steve and I worked hard finishing up things on the rental house.  Digging out the weeds from this sandbox in 80 degree temperatures was one of our least favorite chores.  We finished up just in time for our first showing.  We cancelled Saturday's open house because we had a good offer on the first day.  Monday morning they withdrew so it went back active on the market.  By the end of Tuesday, we had 4 more offers so it is back under contract.  We are hoping this one sticks.

Steve flew in this private plane to Grand Junction, CO to do some training.  It sure saved him a lot of driving.  Below is the Century hangar with their 4 planes.  Wow!  I think the business exists to allow their hobby.

The next Saturday, May 6, we joined Hilary's family at the Eccles theatre for the dance performance of Jenna's ballroom team.  Jenna did a wonderful job.  It was very well done and organized as group after group was in place immediately and ready to roll.

Jameson loves his Ethiopian shirt that his parents brought him from their trip.

Jameson loves his ice cream and usually manages to get a fair amount on his face.