Apparently it's been a year since we have written in this. enjoy.

We have been Foster Parents to a beautiful boy named , Malachi for over a year now. It has been so magical and heartbreaking and then magical again that words just cannot explain this experience. We are hoping that our Roller Coaster will be over soon as we have past the parental rights termination hearing, past the 60 day appeal period and are now waiting for the adoption social worker to turn in the paperwork. We love him so much and look forward to the day that we can call him something infinitely more amazing, our son.

We celebrated Malachi's first Halloween and dressed him as Superman. He seemed to be a little overwhelmed with all of the activity , but had no problem with his bucket full of candy. His favorite was definitely the suckers. at one point he tried to eat one before I could get the wrapper off. 

 Christmas was pure joy for us as Malachi was old enough to take off the ornaments from off the tree and then hand them to Bob or I to put them back on. His face would light up each time we would turn on the Christmas tree lights. And Tiffany found her strength as she bought, drilled a hole, and put up the 6 feet Christmas tree all by herself. 

He enjoyed all the gifts from his (soon to be official) grandma and grandpa on both sides and gifts from aunts and uncles. What can I say, the kid is well loved.  

On Jan. 25th I came home after a day with my sister in law, Sue and nieces and nephews to a surprise party for my birthday. I was totally surprised a extremely shocked that my loving husband Bob put it together. I mean he's an amazing guy, but planning a party to surprise me, that's a lot of work. I loved it and had lots of fun. Thanks to my sister in law for helping out with the ruse and keeping me out of the house for the day. I had a great time in Desert Palms watching my nephew, Christopher play soccer as part of an all-star team.

It's been a very interesting year and we hope to be visiting family in Texas, Utah, and N. California soon. thank you for reading and may you Adventure On. 

The World is Ending!

Okay, no it's not- as far as I know! Muhahahahahahah!

. It just may seem like that since we haven't blogged in about 5 months. Horrible I know.
Much has happened since October...Most notably the addition to our family of a foster child, a beautiful baby boy who loves to laugh and smile. We got him in November at four days old, and he promptly went back to the hospital for the next three weeks. I guess he just liked it that much. :) He is now happy and healthy, and we live in the terrible, awesome, horrible, wonderful world of waiting to see if we can adopt him. I would post pictures, but we have been told not to, so think of the cutest baby you know and multiply it by a million, and there he is, He has light brown hair and beautiful big blue eyes with long eyelashes he uses to make everyone fall in love with him. :)

There was also Halloween,  Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a birthday, so here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.


Tiffany loves Halloween...and our house showed it.

 We went to Disneyland for our anniversary in November, and loved Cars Land!

 Apparently, we took pictures of Mugsy on Christmas, but not us. Enjoy!

Okay, so here is one picture of Tiffany on Christmas.

 We went to Castle Park in Riverside for Tiffany's Birthday with Laura and Cody and Max and Layla. It was a great time!

 The miniature golf course was amazing- though not stroller friendly, requiring quite the herculean efforts on occasion.

 A golf ball managed to stick somewhere it definitely was not supposed to.

 Max and Layla posed quite well.

 We had a great time and may go back again.

 Afterwards, we went to Texas Road House- our new favorite restaurant- especially because they have fried pickles for Tiffany. :) We even made Tiffany be the birthday cowgirl...which she enjoyed immensely- or hated me for---but it was fun!We will miss hanging out with Laura and Cody when they move...but we will always have Texas Road House!

We also celebrated St Patrick's Day in style....

Well, that about covers it..except for everything we left out! 

Till next time......

Hello.....again

Youth Conference

So, this past weekend we volunteered to be Youth conference parents. For those of you not familiar, the local congregations of our church lumped all the 14-18 yr old kids together for a weekend and split them into temporary housing groups. We got 5 boys who stayed with us Friday night. We spent Thursday and Friday in activities, riding hers on a large group of kids, feeding them,. and seeing all of them be awesome and do things like organize a blood drive and do Meals on Wheels. I wasn't sure how the whole 5 teenage boys in our house would go, but it was okay we got to find out how much of a flirt and a goof off some of the boys are when to this point we thought them just quiet and shy. We also had two rules...which we are thinking of applying to all houseguests-

1. Don't get arrested, because if you do I won't bail you out.
2. Don't wake me up.

We also woke up to a dusting of snow-like toilet paper thanks to some of the girls in other homes. Tfiiany says I should feel loved. I don't know about that. :)

Tiffany is already talking about next time....what do y'all think?

Our New Pool

So, we found a great deal and couldn't pass this up...so we now have a fun new toy. Come and play!

Why Hello again

So, our life still rolls along---except we mow have four more wheels to roll on! Yes that's right we bought two bicycles!

Okay, so I lied. We did get a new (to us) car. 

After a few DMV hurdles to clear  (Thanks AAA- my yearly membership is worth it just for not having to set foot in Purgatory Preview aka CA DMV!)

And Bob does love the 1997 Honda Accord. It runs great, got a clean bill of health from the mechanic and only smells a little of cigarette smoke. Bob also appreciates no longer having to walk to work as the days grow hotter.

Speaking of work, Bob has applied for a new position in the training department of US Bank. So, cross your fingers!

Not to leave Tiffany out- she did buy herself a new pair of sandals and decorate the house for spring- oh and work her tail off watching kids for her nanny family, friends in the ward, family, and random people who call her.

 We also had my Mom and Dad Laney and Steve come down in April- We had a good time!

The most beautiful girl ever- no reason to include this, her awesomeness just deserves to be shared!

Keep Moving Forward

The title to this Blog update is from a quote from Walt Disney about not resting on your laurels(no pun intended Laurel-okay maybe a little) and keep moving forward (I summed up). I thought it was fitting since this is what we seem to be doing at this moment in time.  Couple months ago we got signed off for our home to a Foster Home. We did this in the hopes that there would be children available for us to adopt through the foster care system. So far, the wait continues. We have had several calls for placement, but none have actually happened yet. So, we wait.
On the plus side, while we wait, life is good. Mom and Dad Laney came to visit us....wait, I think I need to go a little further back. This past Christmas (it been a while since we updated) we took a trip to see the Laney family in Fairfield, Ca. This was a special trip because Bob's brother, Jared and his family, were able to make the trip all the way from Texas to visit. So, this would be the first time in three years that we could take a Laney Family picture and spend some time together.

 It was awesome and wonderful. We learned more about our family and had some fun times.

This is Jared and Laurel with their kids, Isaac, Noah, and Ellie. Isaac enjoyed some quality time while I saved him from the swing he was climbing. Then, he showed me his amazing climbing skills and climbed to the top of Grandma Laney's tool shed (we did not tell Grandma Laney). He is quite the smart and imaginative kid.
Noah loves all things that have to do with doing adventurous things. We shot arrows, toy guns, and magic wands. Such an active mind, just like his brother. We enjoyed some special time with Noah as we "hiked" Muir Woods trail. We talked of Harry Potter, Magic, and climbing everything in sight. Such a cool kid.
Ellie was a giggle a minute, except for Bob. The very first day, Bob scared her,-note to Bob- do not jump out from around corners near small children- and after that, she would have nothing more to do with him. Good for me, bad for Bob. Ellie at the end of our trip did discover the great pillow that is Bob and soon they were friends. Her favorite game was being swung from side to side by her arms, the higher you made her swing the happier she was. What a doll.
Christmas was truly a time for family as we spent some time with the family that is farthest away miles wise, but close to our hearts. Thanks again for you time, love, and thoughtful presents.

The New Year came and went and we promised to do better, and be better. Than Jan. 2nd came and we remembered how awesome we are already. Resolution met. We did resolve to be more active though. Bob and I found an awesome hiking trail in our own "backyard" and can't wait to hike to the top of the mountain marked with an "M" for Moreno Valley (for those of you that don't remember where in California we live). It is a 1.87 mile hike up, so we are excited to discover new adventures.

We also managed to have some fun with Max and Layla while Cody and Laura went off to play. We had a blast from sword fights to gymnastics to bedtime stories to all around awesome cuteness. 

Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter were all filled with fun and Tiffany decorating the front room like the holiday aisle of the 99cent only store threw up in it. She loves that kind of stuff.

Easter is always fun because it usually means that Mom and Dad Laney will come visit. This time we were pleased to have Steve Laney along for the ride as well. It was a lot of fun spending Conference weekend with them. We are grateful for their testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and grateful for the time we could spend with them. We especially loved introducing Mom, Dad, and Steve to Harry Potter Clue board game. Bob died on a bad guess while Mom and Tiffany had the winning guess. Next time we hope to see Michael Laney come down with them.

 Then came Easter- we spent dinner at Tiffany's parent's house- sadly we only got one picture -of niece Emily-but it rates a 5 gazillion on the cuteness scale.

so, that's us. Oh, except for the new toy Bob got from work...

Courtesy of cnet.com----- A Kindle Fire! He can now be one of those guys in Elders Quorum who you are never sure if they are playing Angry Birds or following along.

Til Next Time- Adventure On!