Our 2009 Family Vacation

Well, we returned all safe and sound. We did have lots of fun but did A LOT of traveling. So needless to say it was REALLY good to be home.

So we started our trip on July 24 staying at my parents in Blackfoot, ID over night well it wasn't really overnight because we got there at 4am MST (it is an 8 hour drive from us to them), then we left at 11am for Utah. We stayed in Parowan, UT for a few days then actually unexpectedly ended up staying at Daniel's grandparents cabin in the cedar mountains. While we were in Utah we went to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City and saw a play "The Comedy of Errors". That was loads of fun.

While we were in Cedar City we ventured up to Cedar Breaks. This is always an amazing

view no matter how many times I have seen it.

This is the four of us outside the Warby cabin up in Cedar Mountains. This cabin is beautiful with amazing views but a little too big for just two adults and two kids.

This is the four of us outside the Parowan house in Parowan, UT. This is the house that Daniel's grandma lived in and her father built when she was little. The home is over 100 years old and has just been kept up through the years for family to stay. It gets used quite often. It is a fun place to stay. There are lots of old pictures and Nick knacks.

Then on Wednesday we headed back to my parents house for the remainder of our vacation. We stopped at Thanksgiving Point walked through the Children's Discovery Garden where Daniel and Natalie climbed through a bear hole.

When we came in this way at Thanksgiving Point the water was not on. When we came out it was and Natalie was so excited. We couldn't get her to leave. She LOVES water.

This is Charlie (Megan's little boy) and Corbin. They are only a few weeks apart. They had a lot of fun together.

Then on Friday we went to Pocatello and visited the Aquatic center and Ross Park Zoo (I think Idaho Falls zoo is better). The aquatic center was a lot of fun. The kids didn't want to get out. One of the few good things at the zoo was a sand pit where you could dig for fossils. Natalie LOVED that as she loves dirt.

Then we went to a local park had lunch and let the kids play.

Corbin even had fun outside. He is swinging with Grandma.

Welcome Home Corbin XOXO

Well, it is official. Corbin is now legally ours. Everything was a success. Now comes the process of changing everything over. Like Social Security card, doctors, etc. So the day went down like this: Our adoption hearing started at about 11:35am and within 1the adoption was final. We had a few friends, my parents, and some of the people from the department of health & welfare that helped us get to this point. We took Riley and Natalie with us so we included them in the picture.

After the adoption hearing we went out to Tomato Street (a special thanks to my parents as they paid our portion of the bill), came home and had the open house. For the open house I ordered a cake with a monster truck because Corbin loves cars, trucks, etc. and had them write "welcome home Corbin". We wore Corbin out that he fell asleep while we ate lunch. Just to name a few of the gifts Corbin got (I was not expecting any gifts) My grandma Hjelm gave us some beautiful handmade blankets for the 2 kids and a fleece blanket for Riley (which he loves), Daniel's Allocation team from work sent a cute flower arrangement in an old fire truck, and his old team gave us a sweet, sweet card with this poem: (I have read this before and absolutely love it. It is so fitting for this day).

"Before you were conceived I wanted you!

Before you were born I loved you!

Before you were here an hour I would die for you!

This is the Miracle of Life!"

By: Maureen Hawkins

We owe a special thank you to Angel (for creating a very cute card), Amy, Denise, Brad, James, and Rich for the wonderful card and the entire Allocation Team for the fun flower arrangement. Thank you again.

It was such a blessing so share such a special experience with family. I am so grateful my parents took the time to come share this experience with me. We are also grateful for all those who came to the open house. We have waited 12 long years for this day and it has finally arrived. We now know why we took the leap of faith by moving up to North Idaho.

Corbin, you are such a special little boy, we love you so much. You are such a blessing to us. We are so excited to make you a part of our family forever.