Cornbelly's Pumpkin Patch

We went to the Pumpkin Patch last week and had so much fun. There are tons of activities for all ages. Izzy seemed to have a lot of fun, but we may have had more fun just watching her. Beckham looked so cute in the jack-o-lantern onesie that we had Izzy wear last year. (She was 14 months and he was 3 1/2 months....) Our parents came along to enjoy some time with the kids.

There were so many things to do. We thought we would be there about an hour or so...we ended up staying for almost 5 hours.

1. Lots of slides to splay on

Our little dare devil PUSH PLAY

2011

2010

2. The Pumpkin Princess Playland

A lovely little lady in waiting

Karson trying to get Izzy to do some of her dance moves PUSH PLAY

The kids were excited to have their grandmas there with them.

Beckham didn't care much about the princess playland...all he wanted was a bottle.

Tummy full and ready to party!

Pumpkin Princess Izzy back in 2010

2011, she looks like she is getting so tall...

...but in reality, it's just some special effects.

3. There was a fun area for kids to play in

It was hard to get Izzy away from milking this cow.

She feels like a big girl on the swings.

Starting to show a little bit of a goofy personality..."I wonder where she gets that from?"

4. The Jumping Pillow

"Jumping jumping" on the jumping pillows PUSH PLAY

5. Pig Races

Watching the pig races with Grandma and Grandpa

6. Pedal go-karts

Not sure who was more excited about this one...the big kid or the little kid?

7. The Cow Train

The whole family went "off-roading" in the cow train. It was totally fun!

Momma's Boy

The kids got to ride around in a wagon together.

8. Puppet Shows

Enjoying a puppet show with Grandma and Grandpa.

9. A "sand box" full of corn

They had a huge room full of corn kernels. Izzy and Karson had a fun time playing around in it.

"Are these candy corns?"

"Oh...I wasn't supposed to eat that???"

10. And of course PUMPKINS!

"Hmmm, Beckham appears to enjoy wearing pumpkins on his head..."

"...let's see if we can get this real one on."

Our little cuties...

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

Today is my Dad's birthday. I can't call him today since my parents are out of the country, but I want him to know how much I love him and that I am thinking of him. I am so lucky to have him for a Dad. He has taught me so much through his example. His is truly an amazing guy in all aspects of his life. I know that he is always there for me and he has always made me feel so special. Happy Birthday Dad! I hope you have a great day and an even better year!

Since my parents were going to be gone on his birthday, we had a dinner party last week to celebrate my Dad's and my Great-Uncle Johny's birthdays...

My mom always makes everything so nice

Singing Happy Birthday....Izzy is really into singing the birthday song

Izzy enjoying her cupcake

A 4-Generation Picture....Uncle Johny is my Grandma's brother

We love Uncle Johny

Beckham was as cute as ever

Izzy got my Dad to play "chicken birds" (angry birds) with her... I think he liked it, he even downloaded it to his phone!

Beckham's Story

Beckham will be 4 months old next week and I wanted to write down our memories and the story of how we became so lucky to welcome Beckham into our family. I want him to be able to read this when he is older and realize what a blessing and miracle he is for us and how much his birth family loves him. So here is Beckham's story.....

August 2010: We knew we were able to apply for adoption again when our child was 1 year old. We knew there was another little spirit and couldn't wait to apply for adoption again. So shortly after Izzy's 1st birthday, we started the process of applying again. Believe it or not, you have to do everything over again every time you apply. So we started working on our paper work, doctors appointments, more paper work, background checks, more paper work, legal documents, interviews, more paper work, home studies, references, and all of that fun stuff. We love our case worker Koleen. We were happy to work with her again, and she is so helpful. It took us a few months to get it all completed.

January 2011:

We got approved through LDS Family Services as an adoptive couple. Our profile went on the website and birth families could consider us. We started to spread the word that we were hoping to adopt through our blog and family and friends. We set up our blog so that birth families could get to know about us. We had a very calm feeling during this process. After our first experience adopting Izzy, we saw and felt the Lord's hand in it all. We knew that when the time was right, that sweet little spirit would find our family through his/ her birth mom. Over the next few month, we were contacted by several amazing birth mom's. Can I just say how much respect and admiration I have for these incredible women. Even though none of those worked out, we were able to get to know some really great girls through email and have so much love and respect for them and their courage. Once again, we we felt calm. We knew that when it was right....it would work out.

May 10, 2011:

Happy Day!!!!!!!!! We found out from our caseworker that a birth mother saw our profile and really loved us. She wanted us to be the parents of her baby boy that was due on July 13th! We didn't know much information at that point, but we felt so great about it and couldn't wait to meet his birth family. A BOY!!!!!!! Obviously, we would have been elated for a boy or a girl, but Karson always had a feeling our next child would be a boy. We were so happy! We went out to dinner as a family and celebrated our exciting news. We told our parents and family and they were so happy too! We were so excited to share our new with Izzy's birth family and called them too. They were happy that Izzy was going to be a big sister and I think it has been fun for them to experience adoption on the side of the adoptive family also. :)

May 25, 2011:

We met one of our angels. Okay I know that is super cheesy sounding. But it is so true! Izzy and Beckham's birth parents are our angels. They brought these miracles to us. We were so excited that day because we went to the LDS Family services agency in SLC and got to meet Beckham's birth Mom and her Mom for the first time. We got there first and had Izzy with us too. She only stayed for about 10 minutes and then my mom took her home. We waited in the room with excitement. When they walked in the room and we saw each other...it just felt right. She is such a sweet, energetic, funny, petite, and beautiful girl. Her mom was so great and friendly too. She is such a support. Her case worker and our case worker were also there. We talked for almost 2 hours. There were a lot of tears and emotions. The feeling in the air was so perfect. We got to know a lot about her family. We learned that Beckham had a 3 year old birth sister and saw a picture of her. Wow! She is a little cutie! She told us a little about her decision to place her baby for adoption and about her experience in picking us. She said that she was looking through profiles and came across our picture and immediately had an overwhelming feeling that we were the right ones. Her love for Baby Beckham was so clear every time she talked about him. After it was over, we wanted to keep on visiting, so we decided to all go to lunch together. At lunch, it was a more relaxed atmosphere and we were able to laugh and joke around. It was fun to get to know her sense of humor! When we left we felt so great. Meeting Beckham's birth mom and birth grandma was such a great experience.

(notice the pink ribbon in her hair. It was tied around the gift we brought her that day. She put it in her hair for lunch and the best part is....she kept it and wore it in her hair when Beckham was born! She is awesome!)

June 8, 2010:

We were so excited because Beckham's birth mom invited us to one of her doctor's appointments. It was fun to see how much her tummy had grown since we had seen her just a few weeks before. He was growing so big. It was good to meet her doctor. She invited us to be at the hospital when he was born in the waiting room. She told us that she wanted us to come in the room right after he was born. We were so excited! It was fun to visit again and get to know more about his birth mom and birth grandma. We laughed a lot and had fun. We were able to hear the heart beat and it was amazing. We felt so lucky to be able to go the doctor appointment and spend more time with her!

June 22, 2011:

Beckham's birth mom invited us to go and take a tour of the hospital with her family. We were scheduled to go that night. We got a call from his birth Grandma a couple hours before the tour saying they were excited to come do the tour with us, but they had already had it because his birth mom had started having contractions and was at the hospital earlier. They did send her home and she came back to do the tour. We brought Izzy and she brought Beckham's birth sister. They were so cute together. They had told her about Izzy. She came walking through the doors and walked right up to me and said, "Hi, I am looking for my friend!" And instant friends they were. They had fun playing during the tour. We also got to meet Beckham's birth grandpa. He is very loving and supportive dad. After the tour, we all visited for a while. Beckham's birth mom asked us that night, if we would like to come in the room right after he was born and cut the umbilical cord. Of course...we said yes!!!! We were so excited to be there in the first moments of his life. We went our separate ways. She was still contracting and we all thought Beckham would make his arrival anyday. The next 8 days were very uncomfortable and painful for her as he was not born until July 1. We communicated through email over those 8 days and let her know we were thinking abut her the entire time!

July 1, 2011:

Beckham's birthday! We got a call at about 2:00 in morning from Beckham's birth grandma saying that his birth mom was admitted in the hospital and her water had broke. She said, "Get to the hospital....cause we are having a baby!!!!!" We jumped out of bed and got dress and put sleeping Izzy in our car. My mom met us by the freeway to get Izzy so we wouldn't be late! We arrived at St. Marks hospital and called and told them we were there. We were expecting to wait in the waiting room until he was born, be they invited us in. We got to meet Beckham's birth Aunt. It was great to get to know her. We visited over the next few hours as her labor progressed.

She invited us to be in the room for the delivery! We were so excited. Izzy's birth mom had invited me to be in the room for Izzy's delivery, but as we all know Izzy was born be emergency c-section 3 months early so that did not happen. Beckham's birth mom will never know how blessed we feel to have experienced the miracle of birth. It was the most beautiful and special experience to see our little Beckham come into the world.

He was born at 7:13 am Karson cut the umbilical cord. Everyone was crying tears of joy seeing this new little angel for the first time. His birth mom gave him a love and then they cleaned him up. The next 45 minutes were so special. We were able to watch as his birth mom hold him for the first time. She fed him his first bottle. The love we felt at that moment was indescribable. She snuggled him and just soaked it all in. We also got to see his birth grandma and birth aunt hold him for the first time. I really treasure those 45 minutes I spent watching them have their first moments with little Beckham. They love him so much. At about 8:00 am, Beckham's birth mom smiled at me and motioned me over to her bedside. I was about to hold this little one for the first time. As she handed him to me for the first time, we both had tears in our eyes and so much love in our hearts. My heart was pounding so fast and I felt complete happiness. I love her so much. She is and always will be my angel. Those first moments with Beckham were so sweet. He looked at me for a while and then fell asleep in my arms. Ahh..... After snuggling him for a couple of minutes I handed him to Karson for the first time. Such a happy moment! His birth mom and I were able to give Beckham his first bath while everyone else looked through the window. We gave Beckham's birth family big hugs and little Beck a kiss and ended up leaving the hospital around 10:00 am. Here is more about the day Beckham was born.

July 2, 2011:

Beckham was able to spend this day with his birth family. They told us that a lot of his birth family and friends were able to come and meet him. I know that his birth mom was able to spend a lot of special one on one time with just him and her. She said she never had the nursery come and get him. She kept him right by her bedside the entire time. We spent that day at home with family celebrated the 4th of July. Our thoughts were with Beckham and his birth family that day. We hoped that they were making really special memories and that they knew how much we loved them. We sent her some flowers that day so she knew we were thinking of her.

July 3, 2011:

This was placement day. We arrived at the hospital at about 9:00 am that day and we brought Izzy with us. This was the first time she got to meet her baby brother. She was very excited, but didn't really understand. We were able to spend about a half hour with just Beckham and his birth mom and us. It was really nice. Then her family arrived. We were able to meet Beckham's birth great-uncle, and his birth great-grandparents. Beckham's birth mom invited Karson to stand in on a blessing given by her uncle for her and for Beckham. It was so nice. Here is more about adoption placement day.

Adoption is perfect. It is such a blessing in so many people's lives. Our lives have been forever changed by it. We love little Beckham so much and our family would not be complete with out him. His birth family and our family are tied together forever by the love for Beckham. He is one little boy with a lot of people who love him! I hope that one day when he reads this it will remind of how much love went into getting him here.