**Fireworks**

Tuesday afternoon Derk and Debbie and Rory and I took all 11 of Derk and Debbie's grand kids for an overnight trip to Huntington lake.  The older boys took the boat out a few times, but the girls mostly swam to the dock and jumped on the water trampoline.  It rained on and off, but just enough to cool it down so it ended up being the perfect temperature the whole trip.  It was exhausting keeping track of all the kids and making sure everyone had life jackets and was accounted for, it was worth it though, there is nothing better than spending time with the people you love.

Wednesday afternoon we came home from the lake and had Mike and Brittnee over to watch fireworks.  Rory bought some amazing arial fireworks and of course we had sparklers, tanks, and snakes.  The neighborhood kids made their way to our house and enjoyed watching Rory set off the fireworks.  Kinlee got up this morning and asked if we could do fireworks every day!

Kadee was so excited about her wolf pack poppers

Kinlee showing off all our fireworks

The only picture I took at Huntington lake.  What a cutie!

Sparklers!

Swim Lessons and a girls weekend

The last 2 weeks all the kids except Matty have been doing summer swim lessons.  Connor and Kadee have loved it but Kinlee has been a nightmare little difficult.  She has had a really hard time listening to her teacher and doing what she is supposed to.  Her teacher even wrote her a little note on her Certificate of Acheivement that said, "You remind me so much of myself when I was little!  Stubborn as all get out! ;) Thanks Kin!"  Connor and Kadee on the other hand listened very well and both passed and will be moving on to the next level.  I have loved having them in swim lessons, they always learn so much and are become really great swimmers.

Kinlee's 1st Swim Lessons

This past weekend my mom had her 35th class reunion in Grand Junction, CO so she asked my girls and I to tag along for a girls weekend.  We had so much fun; we ate Rib City at the reunion luncheon, played on the brand new playground, and then went swimming in the awesome pool.  We loved the pool and I literally had to drag my girls out when it was time to go.  The next day we had a yummy Village Inn breakfast and did a little shopping.  On the way home my mom's car over heated so we had to pull over and add some anti freeze.  Kadee was a little stressed, but we only had to stop for about 10 minutes.  All in all it was a wonderful trip and we made some wonderful memories.

All the Girls

Kadee & Nana

Mommy and Kinlee

Happy 9th Birthday Connor!

On Saturday Connor Von turned 9 years old!  He wanted Wendy's for his birthday so we picked up Frosty's and fries and met Rory at the park.  We enjoyed a nice birthday lunch together and that evening we went to a bbq at Hyrum and Paola's and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him and enjoyed more yummy food and cupcakes.  Today we had his friend party at Wellington Park.  It was Baseball themed so the gift bags I made had peanuts, cracker jacks, and Gatorade (I know Gatorade isn't in the song, but I couldn't think of anything else to put in the bags).  They had a throwing competition (Connor was the 1st one to knock the bear off the stand but Ty Anderson got the prize because he hit it the most times), they then played water balloon baseball and a game called 500.  It was a fun day but SO hot, it was 105 degrees out and even the water balloons couldn't cool us down.

I found a birthday interview on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to ask the kids on each of their birthdays, although next year I'll probably forget, lol.  Here's Connor's Birthday Interview for his 9th birthday:

1. Who is your favorite person in the whole world?  Mom & Dad
2. What is your favorite color?  Blue
3. What's your favorite television show? The Fairly Odd Parents or Tom & Jerry
4. What's your favorite outfit?  My black Go Banana's shirt and my plaid black and white shorts
5. What sport do you like best? Basketball
6. What song do you love?  Cruise by Florida Georgia Line
7. What's your favorite cereal?  Frosted Flakes
8. Who is your best friend?  Chet Anderson
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? NBA Superstar
10. What is your favorite book?  The Presidents of the United States of America
11. What are you really good at? Basketball
12. Where do you wish you could go on vacation?  Florida to Disney World
13. What is your best memory?  Going to Disneyland
14. What would you buy if you had $1000?  A motorcycle
15. What vegetable do you hate the most?  Celery
16. If you could have a wish, what would it be? To be a billionaire
17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Chocolate Chip
18. Who is your biggest hero?  My dad
19. What do you like to do with your friends? Play the Xbox
20. What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Go to a Jazz playoff game

Grassy

This weekend we went to Grassy lake to get some fishing and camping in.  It was beautiful and the weather was awesome.  I was a little nervous on the narrow road to get up to the lake, but we made it with no problems and found a great camping spot.  Saturday night my mom and Gary came up and had dinner and S'mores with us and Sunday Derk and Debbie came and enjoyed the day with us.  The kids loved fishing so we spent hours by the water.  Rory bought a little paddle raft to fish in and Connor ended up catching 3 or 4 fish from the raft with his dad and grandpa Derk.  Kinlee and Matthew had their fake fishing poles but didn't seem to notice they weren't really casting anything into the water.  They mostly threw rocks in the water and ate Swedish Fish (that Kinlee was sure she caught in the lake).  They were terrified of the fish when they were reeled in and not in the water.  Matthew would hide behind Kadee and refused to touch one no matter how we tried to convince him.  Kinlee was fine with watching but didn't want to hold one.  She reeled in the 2 biggest fish we caught and was very excited about that.  On Saturday we drove down to Joe's Valley and Rory convinced Connor and Kadee to jump in the Cottonwood river with him.  It was freezing, but they loved it and jumped in (to Rory of course) over and over again.

Joe's Valley Reservoir

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.