new adoption pass-along cards!

I was so excited to receive our new cards in the mail today! They are business card sized, and have our most recent family picture and the information for our new adoption caseworker at LDS Family Services, the adoption agency we are using. We hand out and mail these cards to pretty much everyone we know in the hopes that someone will hear of a potential adoption situation and pass our information along with a recommendation. If you would like a few of our cards to distribute, please send us an email at adoption.jason.heidi@gmail.com. Thanks!

summer vacation

One of the best perks of Jason being a teacher is the time we spend together over summer break!

We went camping in the Redwoods with some of our siblings and their families.

Emily loves the chocolate part of s'mores the best :)

Emily helps push her cousin on the swings

 

In San Fransisco we found the row of houses called "the painted ladies" that my sister and I remember from a favorite childhood TV show "Full House"

We camped at Crater Lake on our way north and were amazed by its crystal clear blue water!

In Washington we met up with Heidi's cousin and her family to go camping at Mt. Rainier National Park

Emily and her cousin find a tree chewed by a beaver!

We hiked down a trail to view Narada Falls, which was very misty and we all got wet!

In Seattle a friend took us out on his boat to sail around Lake Union.

Emily even got to steer the boat for a few minutes!

We stopped by the Seattle Temple to walk around the gardens there.

Jason loved going to the Ballard Locks and watching the boats move through the locks from one end of the river to the other.

There was a fun sculpture on the other side of the river that Emily and I enjoyed playing around.

Emily took this picture of me in the botanical gardens by my favorite flower- hydrangeas!

The last leg of our journey took us through the rainforest of Olympic National Park. We passed several beautiful waterfalls and took a short hike by the visitor's center.

we love the zoo!

 Heidi and Emily by the Rhinoceros

 Emily tries to be as tall as the polar bear!

Emily loved the acrobats that performed during the summer Nighttime Zoo

spring break

 What is spring break without a road trip? We hopped in the car and camped at two National Parks- Death Valley and Sequoia. Death Valley was different from where we usually camp, but we had never been there before. The highlight was visiting the lowest point in the U.S. called Badwater Basin. It was hot.

Sequoia National Park was gorgeous. The spring flowers were in full bloom and of course the enormous trees were amazing!

new family pictures

Here are our new family pictures! It's amazing how much Emily has grown in the past year!

Happy birthday!

We celebrated Emily's 5th birthday with a trip to Disneyland! It rained on us, but that just meant the lines were shorter :)

epic road trip!

This summer we took a looooong road trip... it was epic!

The first stop was in Colorado, where we went on a scenic drive of the beautiful plateaus. 

We spent the Fourth of July weekend in Nebraska visiting Jason's family. All of his brothers, sisters, and their families also came and we managed to get a family picture taken :)

 Grandma, Grandpa, and all the grandkids. (Emily is the one showing off her blue and white dress)

 Our family

Bowling has become a Nebraska tradition

 Emily pets her aunt's miniature piggy

 Playing at the local park's splash pad

Jason and his dad watch the fireworks they just set off

After leaving Nebraska, we visited as many National Parks, Monuments, and Historic Sites as we could! 

The dandelions were huge- Emily loved blowing the fluff across the fields 

 The orange ladybugs were different from the red ones we see in California

Fly home little lady bug!

 

The formations in the Badlands were amazing with all their layers of colors

We were really looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore! 

 We got a beautiful campsite just five minutes from Mount Rushmore, but because it was by a lake there were... mosquitos. Quick trip to the store for some bug repellent!

We walked around the village, explored some antique shops, and I snapped this photo of Emily by a cool wall

We loved visiting Mount Rushmore! It was so cool to see it in person and walk the path that leads to the base of the mountain. I fell in love with the Black Hills; they were so gorgeous!

Next stop was Devil's Tower, which I thought looked like a giant gumdrop :) We hiked around the entire base of it... it's much bigger than it looks!

Since it was our anniversary, Jason surprised me by getting a cabin instead of tent camping. We were especially glad when there was a huge thunderstorm that night! 

We learned quite a bit in the Windcaves- the ranger guiding our tour spoke at length of the plight of the prarie dogs, among other wildlife in the local food chain...

 We descended over 300 stairs in the network of ancient caves. Fortunately there was an elevator at the end that took us back up! 

Jason loved visiting the site of Custer's Last Stand, and the history teacher in him shone through as he explained the events that occured there. 

He displayed his thirty-seven star Calvary flag with the markers of fallen soldiers in the background. The flag now hangs in his classroom with a picture of Little Bighorn. 

We spent the whole day driving through Yellowstone and saw tons of wildlife and even more wildflowers!

 We showed up early to see Old Faithful, but spent extra long waiting since it blew 20 minutes after the estimated time. The bored crowd even started doing the wave.

Old Faithful was much taller than it shows here, but I love this picture of the two of us :)

 Jason was impressed with the smaller geysers that we could get closer to and their colors were extraordinary

 Emily loves helping her daddy at the gas station! she decided my passenger side window needed some squeegee action.

 My favorite part of Yellowstone was the amazing view from Artist's Point

Jason and Emily play Superman on the way back to the car

 Yay! My favorite mountains- the Grand Tetons. I have fond memories of camping and backpacking here with my family growing up. It was fun to bring Jason here for the first time.

We set up our campsite, went on a hike, and then after lunch we rented a boat to cruise the lake.

Emily takes the wheel... or stick... and shows us how to donut in the water :)

 It was such a beautiful day- one that we will definitely remember!

 Emily helped Jason build the campfire, and then we roasted marshmallows for s'mores... until the rain started and we jumped in the tent!

Our last stop was to visit my mom and sister in Utah. Emily adores her "little grandma" (that's how she decided to tell the difference between grandma and great-grandma). Our last National Parks site was Timpanogas Caves, which includes a pretty steep climb to get to the entrance.

 Another perk of visiting grandma is playing dress-up... this fairy dress was her favorite and she was super cute hiking up the mountain in it. We didn't expect her to make it to the top, but with the help of Daddy's shoulders she did just fine :)

 The caves were freezing! And beautiful. But freezing!

 Jason promised Emily that an ice cream cone was waiting at the bottom of the mountain :)

What an adventure!