It has been forever since I blogged . . . and it's not because there hasn't been anything to blog about. But life is just crazy. And, my computer hasn't been working very well for a few weeks (now it's completely broken, so I'm using a borrowed one but that's a blog for another day). So, anyway, just wanted to catch everyone up with all of the exciting news at our house -- sorry no pics, but I'll try to get some up once we get the whole computer dilemma worked out.
In early June we spent a long weekend at Nana and Papa's house in Oregon and it was FABULOUS!! Perfect, cool weather--the whole family was able to make it--horses, trampolines, and two mountains to play on--and, best of all, Nana and Papa and all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles to play with!
June 22nd we finalized Jeffrey's adoption, and it actually turned out to be a pretty cool experience. I'd been told by people not to expect too much, that it was really short and nothing really happened, but I thought it was awesome. We (our family, grandma and grandpa Coleman, and our bishop and his wife) all went into the court room, and the kids sat with us at the front, and the judge asked us questions about our willingness and ablility to care for Jeffrey. Then she pronounced that the court officially found that it was in Jeffrey's best interest to be adopted by our family and we all took turns signing the official adoption order. Then we got to go up by the judge's chair in front of the California state seal and take pictures with the judge. It was actually pretty cool!!
On July 9th we were sealed to Jeffrey in the Medford, OR temple and it was AWESOME. We had family and friends with us (unfortunately my mom was too ill to make the drive), but Dad and my brother and Jerry's parents and our bishop and his wife were there. Jeffrey was wearing the most adorable little white tux, and Jerry and I were in our white temple clothes, and we were able to kneel around the alter and be sealed to Jeffrey for Eternity. BEAUTIFUL. (I cried all the way through) I actually don't think there was a dry eye in the room . . . except the kids of course :-) I guess there's not much else to say about that--just . . . thank heaven for temples and for a worthy man with the authority to make Jeffrey a part of our family forever. YEAH!!!!
Other big news in our life is that we put an addition onto our house this month. My dad and Bryan (my little brother) and Bryan's neighbor, Beau, came down to help us build it--and build it we did! In less than 2 weeks (we figured it was about 9 actual days of working) we built a 12X16 foot addition onto the front of our house. It is a bedroom and two walk-in closets (since we had to build a hallway through the existing bedroom's closet). We worked mostly 12-16 hour days . . . we started about 6:30 am and stopped when it got dark. SUCH a CRAZY couple of weeks with mess and debris everywhere and holes in the house and 100 plus degree heat with no ac and SO MUCH DIRT and SO MUCH WORK. But SO worth it!! It turned out beautifully, and as soon as I get our computer up and running I'll try to post some pictures of it. No one recognizes our house anymore, because not only is it a completely different shape, but it is not longer brown and cream. We repainted it and it is now white with black trim and red accents (shutters, brick columns etc.) It looks really great! And we are LOVING the extra room. It is amazing the difference one more bedroom makes :-) Thank you Thank you Thank you Dad and Bryan (and Beau) for all the hard work!
Well, that's most of the news for this month. Only a few days until Nathan turns four and two days after that Lindsay turns 8 and gets baptized!!! So exciting!
It's been a busy summer at our house! :-)
Our hotel was right on the Gulf of Mexico. So we got lots of beach time!
This is the view from our balcony. 
After the airboat ride, we got to hold a baby alligator. (I don't mind telling you this was not one of my favorite parts of the adventure).
