Adoption Hearing

What a crazy couple of days! A new supreme court hearing stated that every interested party in an adoption must have their case presented before a judge, so on June 19, 2013 we had a placement hearing with Matthew's dad and step mom, and also in a separate case his half aunt, uncle, grandpa, and grandma.  It was originally scheduled for 9:00 a.m. but the judge forgot and he is from Monticello so they rescheduled for 1:00.  Court started about 1:30 and went until 5:00 p.m.  Matthew's dad represented himself, but his aunt/grandparents had an attorney present.  Matthew is loved by a lot of people, so the judge had the daunting task of deciding who would be best for him in the long run.  Matthew's biological mom wanted Matthew to stay with us because she wanted him to grow up in a home with both parents, loving siblings, and high morals.  The judge actually commended her for her courage in giving us Matthew and for her insight and decision to give him a better life.  The man who may or may not be his biological father represented himself.  He wasn't there for custody, he wanted a paternity test completed.  Because he hadn't filed the proper paper work the judge would not grant him a paternity test.  Matthew's mom was very happy about that because she claims he is very abusive.  Matthews aunt uncle, grandpa, and grandma testified that they would be the best place for Matthew because they are his biological family.  The judge disagreed because of a history of arrests, convictions, DUI's, and excessive alcohol use.  When it was all said and done the judge granted us permanent placement and scheduled an adoption hearing for the next day.  He made us feel so good about ourselves because he raved about our parenting abilities and the way we represented ourselves. The next day, on June 20, 2013 we officially adopted Matthew.  We changed his name from Mathew Jace Jensen to Matthew Max Bradley.  This court hearing took 10 minutes.  We were sworn in and then promised to treat Matthew as our biological son.  We had lots of family support and it was a really special day.   I hope that one day, when Matthew hears the story about his adoption, that he won't resent us or his mom.  I hope he knows that all his biological mom wanted was for him to have a wonderful life, and she wanted us to be the ones to give it to him.  I hope he knows she loved him very much and it took a lot of courage for her to give her son to us.  I hope he realizes we love him unconditionally and fought for him because we truly believed he was meant to be our son.        

Us and our lawyer, Sam Chiara

Our judge, Judge Lyle R. Anderson

All the family who came to support us

Our First Family Photo

Weekend Rendevous

For my birthday Rory SURPRISED me with a night at the Hilton Garden Inn in Salt Lake with Heather and Jessica; two of my very best friends.  It was such a fun surprise and we shopped, laughed, hot tubbed, talked, ate lots of food, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  It was a much needed break and I am so grateful my husband knew exactly what I needed.

Happy Dad's Day!

I love the dad's in my life.  I'm sooooo grateful for them.  Here is a little shout out to the men that have inspired me.

Wally-  He was truly the dad he didn't have to be.  He and my mom were married for a short time, but we have kept in touch my entire life.  I love this guy, he taught me that family is more than blood and there are people out there that love you unconditionally, regardless of your relation.

Gary- He is a sweet guy.  He is so good to me and my kids and I know without a doubt that if I need ANYTHING, he is only a phone call away.  He also takes amazing care of my mom and I really appreciate that because then I don't have to. ;-)

Grandpa Earl- I don't even know where to start with this man.  He is honestly the best man I know.  He truly has a kind soul and I have no doubt he has a ticket straight to the highest levels in Heaven.  He helped to raise me and I give him so much credit for the person I am today.  He has taught me selflessness, kindness, and unconditional love.

Derk-  I honestly could not have asked for a better father in law.  He always lets me hug him even though I know he's not a big hugger.  He is so good to my hubby and kids and I am so grateful he was an example to Rory and taught him to love his wife with all his heart.

Rory-  I saved him for last because he is my favorite.  We have had a rough year, but I honestly wouldn't want a 100 good years without him.  He treats me like a princess, adores our kids, and is a great husband/dad/son/grandson/uncle.  Love him so much it hurts and I am so grateful the fates pushed us together all those years ago.   So so so grateful I have him in my life.

Vernal

Saturday, June 1st was my 31st birthday!  Wow, this year has flown by.  I haven't been a big fan of 2013, I'm hoping this last half of the year will be a lot better than the first half.  Anyway, on my birthday we had Valyssa's baptism and Kadee got to go to a Girl Scout Cookie Party at the South Towne Expo Center.  She had such a great time and was so excited to buy me a birthday present.  She got me a coin from the Living Planet Aquarium for my coin collection and a cute little shark that attaches your water bottle to you when you work out.   Later in the evening Rory and I enjoyed a nice birthday dinner with Mike and Brittnee Miller at Grogg's.  I totally over ate, but it was worth it.

  

Last weekend Connor and his traveling team had their first baseball tournament of the season in Vernal, UT.  We decided to take our new camp trailer and stay at the KOA for a little mini vacation.  We headed over there on Thursday, unloaded the trailer, went to Wal Mart to buy groceries and our truck died  wouldn't start.  Rory was thinking it was just the starter, no big deal.  Luckily Ty & Amanda Alderson were also there for the tournament and didn't mind driving Rory to get a starter and the rest of us back to the KOA camp.  It turned out that it wasn't the starter, so Friday Rory and Kelsey Cripps towed the truck to have it looked at.  We were carless, so we hung out at the park all day and watched Connor play some serious ball. Connor was kind of nervous because this is his first year on a traveling team, but he did really well. 

After the game we caught a ride with Jamie Cripps and hung at the KOA pool the rest of the evening.  The next day Derk and Debbie brought my car and a load of kids and we all watched Connor play ball again.  Their last game was awesome.  It went 9 innings and 2 and a half hours!  They played SO hard and ended up losing by 1 run.  They were a little disappointed that they took 2nd in the tournament but I was so proud of how hard they played.  After the game Zac, Logan, Devin, and Kella wanted to swim with my kids before they headed home so we hung out at the pool again.  Grateful to finally have a car, we went to Wal Mart (again) to pick up some things I had forgotten.  Sunday we had to check out of the KOA so of course the kids swam all morning and then we loaded up and headed to the Vernal Park to camp.  That park is so awesome.  The play area is fabulous and there is even a skate park.  Monday our truck was finally fixed (don't even ask how much we had to pay- it was crazy expensive) so we loaded up and headed home.  Although we had a few hiccups, it was such a fun trip.  I absolutely love my time with my family.