Father's Day, Blake's Birthday, and Elise's Birthday do-over

My not-so-little brother turned the big 15!

(can't you tell he is excited to have his picture taken and open his presents in front of everyone)

Father's Day BBQ at the Olenik's

My brother Dale holding my brother Brent and Jenni's baby Emelia

Elise getting ready to eat her "real" birthday cake

Flour Girls and Dough Boys in American Fork made this cake.

If you haven't been you must go. Everything they have is delicious!!

"Finally, my parents are letting me eat some real food. Damn hippies"

Cheese! it doesn't get much cuter than this. She loves to have clean hands. She has found the best way to clean them off is to run them through her hair.

*warning nudity*

Birthday aftermath

If you read about Elise's first Birthday cake you will know that I made her a sugar/flour free cake. I have felt bad that she wasn't able to properly delve into her cake. So, we decided to have a birthday do-over. She turned 15 months on Father's Day and Blake's Birthday so we rolled them into 1 family celebration.

Elise definintely enjoyed this cake much better than the 1st one!

Joel McHale

We love us some Joel McHale. He is the host of The Soup on E! He performed at A-brave-anal (Abravanal) Hall in Salt Lake City. He is a great comedian and he had us rolling the whole time. Next time he comes to Salt Lake City I will be there!

Kelly Clarkston Concert

On June 11th, Kelly Clarkston played a show in Orem at Brent Brown Ballpark. I decided it would be fun to take Elise to her very first concert, so off we went! Unknown to me, the apparently cash strapped city of Orem required everyone have a ticket no matter their age. So, while 15 month Elise can get into Disneyland for free, she was unable to get into the Orem City Days concert without a ticket. Thankfully some sweet girl who saw what was going on came up and gave me an extra ticket she wasn't using. Very nice of her I thought!

We all had a great time and the weather held out:

Elise hanging out before the concert:

Our friend Ben Truman's band Truman played a song before the concert. It was great -watch out for him folks, he is going to be big!

A "beautiful" night for a concert:




She was so happy to be there....

Okay, so really she was thinking, "How can I get to a real show, like going with Dad to see the Black Eyed Peas and U2 in Vegas?"

Air Force Week Air Show 2009

The Air Force Week Air Show was held the first weekend in June at Hill Air Force Base - the weather was perfect for plane and people watching. Elise did awesome, and loved watching all the people. Jim did okay driving and being surrounded by over 200,000 people. When I told him he would love it he just rolled his eyes. When we left he thanked me for making him go as he was in Jimmy military heaven. Much better than the History Channel he said. Elise didn't get scared at all until until the Thunderbirds started flying at low altitude and high power. All in all it was a great day and a wonderful way to celebrate the dedicated men and women of the United States Air Force.

Elise chillin in "BOB"

Jimmy eating with an aiplane on his head

The boys
Blake, Fred, Cade, Dale and Jim

World famous Air Force Thunderbirds
People watching...my favorite thing to do

Saweeet! (middle of the picture, right above the guy in the hat)

The Thunderbirds were a little too loud for her.

They aren't kidding..."earth shaking flyovers"

Some lame dude ruining Jim's photo op with an Apache helicopter and its stud pilot sitting on top. The first picture I took only had the hotty pilot in it...

Elise 1st Birthday

I know it's over 3 months late...but here are some pictures of Elise at 1 year.

Look at this cutie

Hanging out with dad on a Sunday afternoon.

Eating of the cake

Opening of the presents

The famous pig cake.....

When I was 3 or 4 my mom made me a pig cake just like the one pictured above.
For Elise's 1st Birthday I thought it would be neat to make the same cake, only Elise's hippy dad wanted a sugar-free, wheat-free, apple sauce sweetened (essentially taste free) version for his little girl. Up until this point we hadn't given Elise any sugar and we were hoping to continue the trend. The pig decorations were real candy of course, but we took those off before she ate it.
While the cake turned out cute, Elise had a hard time finding anything to eat because the "all natural" cream cheese frosting had hardened into a substance that can only be likened unto concrete. So, needless to say I felt bad that she wasn't able to enjoy her first birthday cake as I had planned.


There is a continuation of this story....stay tuned.

What We Have Been Up To

The last couple of months have been very busy for us. We have moved to Utah, started working, celebrated holidays, birthdays, Orem City Days, Strawberry Days, spent time as a family and enjoyed the beautiful weather and we have pictures to prove it.

Elise and cousin Emelia

Memorial Day- getting ready to watch the parade.

Elise loves her purse and carries it around on her shoulder, it is so cute.

Memorial Day visiting Uncle Stephen's grave

Hanging out with cousins at the cemetary

Strawberry Days concert in the Park

New shades

Emelia with Great Grandma O

First bath with bubbles (I know my child is deprived)

Cousin Emelia- we love when she comes to visit

Bubbles

Thank you Grandma D. Elise loves her new Nemo bubble machine!

The link to my video

https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/ct/eng/site/pregnant/what-are-my-options/single-parenting/the-choice-i-made/

The NEW itsaboutlove.org

Today is a happy day!

I think one of the great advantages of the internet is to be able to share important ideas, feelings, and events with family and friends. So, that is why I'm writing this post, to share some of those with you!

10 years ago this August I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Mckenzie. Two days later she was placed with her adoptive family. Adoption, and the process it entails, is very near and dear to my heart. It has been a blessing to me, and has shaped my life in ways that I will always be grateful for. I have so much to be thankful for from my experience with it, and because of that, I love to share my story. I have done many speaking engagements for different agencies over the years. I enjoy talking about what a beautiful and wonderful experience this was for me in the hope that it will help someone else.

We found Mckenzie’s family through LDS Family Services. There are so many there who devote so much of their lives to this process of bringing birth parents and adoptive parents together, and I'm grateful for their help and assistance.

About a year and a half ago I was asked to work on a project with the LDS church and LDS Family Services. They had finally received the go ahead to update the website itaboutlove.org I feel so privileged to have been able to be a part of this miracle. There are so many who worked tirelessly on this project and let me tell you...there are perma-grins that it is finally live.
The site it beautiful, there are so many great resources for birth parents, adoptive couples and anyone just interested in adoption.

One of the greatest things about the new site is that it is real people telling real stories. What you see on the website are not actors, but experiences shared from real birth parents and real adoptive families. I know cause I'm on it. :) You might have to search a little to find me, but here's a hint: What are my options…single parenting…the choice I made.

Love,

Yvonne

Some of our Favorites

We love this girl!!!

Family Pictures

While we were in Utah for Spring Break we had our family pictures taken by Maggi Quackenbush. She is amazing and does such a wonderful job. I am officially declaring her our family photographer. She took our engagement photos, bridals, wedding photos, and our family photos. You can see a sneak peak of them on her blog here. Thanks Maggi!!!

I love George!

One of the greatest cyclists ever. I am so excited to see this!

Young Jim starts his dance career