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.

Last day of schoolio!

When the kids come home from school Kinlee always runs up to them and asks, "How was schoolio?"  So the word schoolio has stuck at our house.  It makes school sound like so much more fun, don't you think?  Today was Connor's last day of 2nd grade, Kadee's last day of 1st grade, and Kinlee's last school year before she starts preschool.  Where does the time go?  I am so super proud of my kids and all their accomplishments.  I have been blessed with very motivated, intelligent, happy children.  They work hard in school and the activities they participate in and it shows.  Both of them have done fabulous this year and Kadee finished off this quarter with 100% accuracy in reading and math.  She had 99% in spelling, she missed one spelling word this quarter.  Connor's teacher doesn't give us percentages but he finished with all 3's, which is above grade level.  Today they signed yearbooks and had an end of the year assembly.  I went to watch Kadee sing in musical minors one last time and enjoyed it thoroughly.  The school honored myself, Jenifer Stansfield, and Wendi Hicks with gifts and recognition for all the work we have done with the PTA, the new Student Government was sworn in, and the kids danced and sang their favorite songs they learned in choir.  Such a bittersweet day for this mama.  I know they have to grow up, but I will miss these times dearly.   Here are some end of school year pictures.

End of the year musical minor performance, they sang Disney songs.

 

Connor and Gavin at their Un-Birthday Party at school. Cheers!

Connor and Mrs. Judd

Kadee's first piano recital

Kadee & Mrs. Montoya

Singing to Connor at his Un-Birthday party

Yay for cupcakes!

Field Trips and Fun!

Life is always busy, busy busy.  Last week we had Kadee's 1st grade field trip.  I was lucky enough to get to go, it was in Castle Dale at the Museum of the San Rafael and the Pioneer museum, so my mom met me over there to help with Matthew and Kinlee.  I've never been to either museum so it was quite a treat.  I was in love with the pioneer museum, but I love looking at antiques and picturing what life was like for the pioneers.  So many of the items in the pioneer museum reminded me of my great grandparents house and my visits to stay with them in the summer.  I have such great memories. Anyway, back to the field trip, thank goodness my mom was there because there was no way to get the stroller into the Pioneer museum and I am positive Matthew would have broken something, but she took them to the park while we had the tour.  Our tour guide had a prosthetic leg.  I actually didn't even notice, but I guess the kids did, because they asked her what had happened to her leg.  I was really impressed with the way she responded.  Instead of getting upset she sat down and thanked the kids for asking her about it.  She took the leg off and explained to them how to put it on, and that when she is at home she uses a wheel chair.  She told them that it is okay to be curious and ask about a disability, as long as you do it with kindness.  She also talked to them about the Boston Marathon and explained that even though people lost limbs, their lives can still be normal.  It was a great learning experience for our kids and I'm grateful for her taking the time to talk to them about it.  After the museums we had lunch at the park and then played for awhile, then it was back to the bus.  It was a really fun field trip and I loved being there with the kids.

Friday Kadence had talent show rehearsals.  She is going to be playing the piano and has worked  hard to memorize the piece she is playing.  She will be playing Tale As Old As Time from Beauty and the Beast.  Connor's teacher has a ginormous incubator that she brought to school and hatched eggs in.  The kids whose parents gave them permission were able to put their name in a drawing to bring the chicks home. Connor got to bring a turken and a chick home and they are now living under a heat lamp in my garage until they get their feathers.

Monday was Kadee's park day.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it, but Rory took Kinlee and Matthew to the park and played for awhile.  She said it was lots of fun.  Her and her best friend Jordan are pretty much inseparable  so we are going to have to do lots of play dates this summer.  Monday we also got our brand new camp trailer.  I am so excited about it.  It has so much room and we got a smokin' deal.  

Tuesday was Connor's 2nd grade field trip.  I wasn't able to go on this field trip either :(   But Mike Miller went and took pictures for me.  They went to the museum in Price, the fire station, and the Dino Mine Park.  Connor didn't really say much about it, except that 3 kids threw up from heat exhaustion.  I guess that was the highlight of the day, lol.  He said his favorite part was the park and he hung out with Gavin and Chet for most of the day.  Connor was asked to play on a traveling baseball team and is so excited.

My grandparents have been staying with us for the past few days.  I hate seeing them get old.  My grandpa's dimensia is so bad he can't even remember the basic day to day things and has to constantly be reminded to change his clothes, brush his teeth, etc.  My grandma hasn't been doing too well either.  Her health is getting worse, she can hardly walk from the arthritis in her back and has lost most of her upper body strength.  It breaks my heart to see them this way.  We have always had a special relationship and I want to take care of them, but they may be to the point that they need constant care that I just can't give them.

Reader beware.... ranting ahead

Wow, 2013 has been a rough year.  Don't get me wrong, there has been a lot of good and there is so much to be grateful for, I am just struggling with the mean people who try to bring others down.  I usually turn the other cheek and try to be the bigger person, but lately it seems overwhelming.  I think the reason it bothers me so much is that a lot of the negativity has been directed towards Rory. He it's a good man, a loyal friend, a hard worker, amazing father, and caring husband. He volunteers in a community that he loves, has never been in trouble at work (which says a lot with the Carbon County sheriff's office, they have fired 6 employees in a very short period of time), he rescued a little boy from a terrible situation, and is a loyal friend and honestly a genuinely good person who always sees the good in others. Despite all of this, he is treated terribly by an employer, a parent on his baseball team, and others.  It breaks my heart. It's not just his situation, but just the way people treat others, like their feelings don't matter.  People are always complaining about the way I run PTA, we had talent show rehearsals and parents were mad because their song lyrics were inappropriate so they had to pick a different song.  We don't do enough, or we do too much. The negativity sometimes seems to overtake the positive at times, then I take a deep breath, and remember all the good in the world. I remember none if us are perfect and all we can do is try to be the best people we can be. I remember the Savior and the plan of salvation and His commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself. I remember that forgiveness is the only way. We can't control others, but we can control how we react to them.

Sorry about the ranting,  and sorry for any and all grammatical errors, I'm on my kindle and it is super hard to type long posts.  I'd like to share a few quotes that have put the last couple of months into perspective for me:

"Stop letting people who do so little for you, control so much of your mind, , and emotions."

"The only person you have control over is yourself. You can change how you see a situation or remove yourself from it, but you cannot change the other person."

and my favorite:

"I learned the hard way that I cannot always count on others to respect my feelings, even if I respect theirs.  Being a good person doesn't guarantee that others will be good people to. You only have control over yourself and how you choose to be as  person. As for others, you can only choose to accept them, or walk away."