Kansas City

Last weekend we made our second annual trip to Kansas City, MO for Old American's awards dinner. Bryan received the Diamond Distinguished Sales Award for his production last year! I am so proud of him for all his hard work! He almost doubled his production from the year before! Way to go babe! He got a diamond ring and an 'Oscar' trophy as well as a bonus that we are going to use to pay our adoption application fee! Every year Bryan's Uncle Mike, who owns the agency that Bryan is associated with, takes all the agents who go to KC and their wives to Bob Jones Shoes. It is this huge shoe store with really good deals on shoes. He lets the guys pick a couple pairs of shoes and gives the wives an allowance too. I am still hoping to someday find the perfect pair of boots that I've been looking for for over a year! Bryan got a pair of black dress shoes and a pair of burgundy snake skin shoes! I got a pair of black Italian pumps. It's so fun to get away for a couple of days and hang out with Uncle Mike, Aunt Susan, the agents and their wives. Old American is a wonderful company and we enjoy visiting with the people that work at the home office in KC. They pay for our airfare and put us in a fancy hotel. They serve us amazing food and show us a really good time. We are looking forward to the next trip that Bryan earned to a resort outside Las Vegas. We had a great time, but are glad to be back home with Parker. We always miss him when we are away!

Lindsey (Lou), Laura, me, Ashley and Tammy outside the shoe store. So fun!

Bryan thought we needed a pic of me, the sign & the Indian.

Bryan with his 'Oscar'

Bryan and I with the Pres of Old American wearing our fancy shoes!

Kyle, Bryan, Tommy, Laythe, Cody and Colton showing off their rings!

Me, Laura, Lou, Tammy and Ashley. Lou is very excited about the song the band is playing!

Lou got up on stage and danced the night away!

The band was a Beatles cover band compete with wigs and British accents!

Me and Bryan in the KC airport ready to come home!

Tagged!

i've been TAGGED...
The Rules:
1. Go to your documents/pictures.

2. Go to your 6th file.

3. Go to your 6th picture.

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 people to do the same.

6. So here we go...



Ok, so if I did this right, here is the picture. It's actually a picture that my sister Heather took while we were visiting our family in Idaho. I think we put some of her pictures on our computer so we could order some prints. Anyway, the kids were sitting at the counter eating pizza. That's my nephew Carson, niece Addison, nephew Jackson and Parker. We got some really cute pics of them, but this isn't one of them. This was the weekend that Parker broke out in hives. I blogged about it a while ago. He had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics he was taking. Well there you go! I don't know who to tag because I can't keep track of who has done this yet. It took me a while to do it because Bryan was out of town and had the computer with the pictures. I also don't know if a whopping six people actually read this! So, if you are reading this and haven't been tagged yet, then tag you're it!

Visiting Baby Matson

Bryan's baby sister Vicki is a mommy! I can't believe it! Matson Dennis was born Fri Feb 6th via c-section weighing in at 7 lbs 11 oz and he's 19 inches long. We went to the hospital Sat to visit him. Parker loved holding him and giving him kisses. He didn't seem to mind me holding the baby, but the next day at church, I "borrowed" a baby from the Stake YW Pres and he didn't let me hold him for long. Maybe it's a good thing it might take us a little while to find our next baby. (ok, not really a good thing) He'll just have to get use to it when it happens!

Dino Museum

Monday was free admission at the Natural History Museum. A friend of ours invited us to go along with them and a couple other kids in the ward. I of course forgot to grab the camera before we left. Luckily my friend took her camera, thanks Lynnie! She got a couple of cute pics of Parker and the other kids, and one that pretty much sums up life with a two-year-old! Enjoy!

Potty Training Take Two!

So a while ago I had a post about what I thought were the beginnings of potty training. Well, that ended up being a fluke, but this time I think it might be sticking. I got him some underwear that have Cars, Incredibles, Nemo, Wall-E etc. on them. That seems to be working. He starting to tell me that he has to go and we aren't having too many accidents. I just need to make sure to take him often enough because sometimes we both get distracted by things and forget. I think he is doing really well for not even being 2 1/2 yet! I took him out in public for the first time in underwear yesterday. We went potty in almost every store we went to, but he did pretty well. We had one accident, but once again, we were grocery shopping and I think I just waited too long between potty breaks. It's been over a week, and I think we are going to stick with it. So here's to hoping we get even better at this potty training thing and find more mini m&m's because he is doing so well, we are almost out of them. They are the preferred reward for our potty training big boy!

Patience

So, there is this amazing adoptive mom that has an awesome blog. I read a quote on her blog that really sums up the 'waiting' to adopt children. "Everywhere in nature we are waiting. We want things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes them all the more precious when they come." (Joseph F. Smith) We are so close (we hope) to putting our application in again that I am starting to feel the anxiety of the 'waiting' part of adoption again. I have been thinking a lot about what I learned from 'waiting' for Parker. Our Heavenly Father knows what is best for us and the righteous desires of our hearts will be given to us when and if He sees fit. I was fortunate enough to receive the blessing of being a mother in this life. I just have to remember this time that I can do what I can to get the ball rolling, but Heavenly Father will decide how fast it rolls after that. I'm hoping having Parker will keep me too busy to think about it too much. Maybe? Here's to hoping for no unexpected expenses in the next month and if anybody hears of any potential birth mothers, don't hesitate to send them our way!

13-0 BABY!!!!

***So, I didn't even think to take any pics of us watching the game. I was going to take a pic of Bryan and Parker with our U of U flag, and maybe still will, but for now, here is this post without a pic***
This post is in honor of the University of Utah football team going undefeated and beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl! We had Matt and Vicki over to watch the big game and my brother Dustin (BYU fan) just happened to be in town as well. He watched and tried to cheer for the Utes. Thanks Dustin! We've had our U of U lights up in our window for weeks in anticipation for the game. We were so excited and nervous and had our Ute gear on all day. It really was an exciting game to watch. So here's to the BCS bustin', Alabama beating, University of Utah football team! As Parker would say, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Go UTES!"